Matthew in the Bible: Life, Death & Interesting Facts

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

Most readers assume that the Gospel of Matthew is the earliest of the four Gospels simply because it appears first in the New Testament. However, this order reflects not chronology but status. The Gospel of Matthew gained immense popularity in the early Church due to its careful structure, extensive teaching content, andJewish-Christian orientation. 

But behind its prestige lies a deeper mystery: Who was Matthew in the Bible? What can we, as historians, say about his life, identity, and the tradition that connects him to this foundational text?

In what follows, we’ll explore Matthew in the Bible in two dimensions: As a figure who briefly appears in the New Testament narrative and as the name traditionally attached to one of Christianity’s most influential texts. 

We’ll trace how the early Church came to associate the apostle with the Gospel, examine why modern scholars reject that attribution, and review what historical evidence (if any) exists for Matthew’s life and death.

In the end, the story of Matthew (both the man and the Gospel) is as much about the shaping of cultural memory as it is about history.

However, before we embark on our pursuit to uncover the identity of Matthew, readers interested in the broader landscape of Gospel origins should check out Dr. Bart D. Ehrman’s course The Unknown Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In eight engaging 30-minute lessons, Dr. Ehrman explores how these foundational texts emerged, navigating the boundaries between history, myth, and tradition.

Who Was Matthew in the Bible: A Brief Overview

Matthew in the Bible is mentioned only a handful of times, yet his name has become one of the most recognizable in Christian tradition. 

In the Gospel of Matthew (9:9), he is introduced as a tax collector sitting at a toll booth, whom Jesus calls to follow him: “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.”

Matthew is then listed among the twelve disciples in Matthew 10:3. Interestingly, the Gospel of Mark (2:14) and the Gospel of Luke (5:27-29) narrate the same calling story but refer to the tax collector as “Levi,” not Matthew. Both of these Gospels also include lists of the Twelve, and in those lists, the name Matthew appears, but without any mention of Levi.

This discrepancy has long puzzled scholars and sparked debates about whether Matthew and Levi were the same person, different individuals, or the result of redactional decisions made by later Gospel writers.

John P. Meier favors the last option. He notes:

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Despite the level of uncertainty that Meier affirms, the Matthew-Levi identification became largely accepted within Christian tradition, which brings us to our next question: How did St. Matthew become the evangelist? 

The traditional attribution of the first Gospel to Matthew the apostle arises not from the Gospel text itself but from early Christian writings, particularly those of the 2nd century.

One of the earliest (possible) references is found in the writings of Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, whose statement is preserved by the 4th century historian Eusebius. As Mark A. Powell explains in Introducing the New Testament:

Papias’ comment was interpreted by later figures such as Irenaeus, writing toward the end of the 2nd century, as solid evidence that the apostle Matthew had composed the only of the four Gospels that mention “Matthew” as the tax collector. 

In his work Against Heresies (3.1.1), Irenaeus confidently stated that “Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church.”

Such affirmations reflect an emerging tendency in the early Church to ascribe apostolic authorship to texts that held theological and liturgical authority within the community. The association between Matthew the apostle and the Gospel attributed to him would become foundational for centuries of Christian thought. However, that wouldn’t last forever!

Matthew in the Bible: Assessing the Traditional Theory

At the end of the 16th century, as Europe was shaken by profound social and religious transformations, the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne perceptively documented the rising tensions within society. Reflecting on the religious wars that tore through families and communities, he wrote:

The centuries that followed (particularly the Enlightenment) saw the rise of secular approaches to religious texts. For the first time, Christian Scripture was subjected to historical and literary scrutiny, and long-standing assumptions, such as the apostolic authorship of the Gospel of Matthew, began to be questioned in earnest.

Today, most critical scholars reject the traditional theory that Matthew in the Bible — the tax collector — was the author of the Gospel that bears his name. 

One of the most basic but essential observations is that the Gospel itself is anonymous. Nowhere does the text identify its author by name, not even in the passage that introduces Matthew as a character (Matt. 9:9). The narrative remains in the third person throughout.

A key turning point in modern scholarship came with the recognition that the Gospel of Matthew used the Gospel of Mark as one of its primary sources. Through careful redactional and literary analysis, scholars such as A. M. Honore and Robert H. Stein have demonstrated that over 90% of Mark’s content appears in the Gospel of Matthew, often with high levels of verbal agreement.

This raises a significant question: Could someone who personally followed Jesus rely so heavily on a text written by someone like Mark — who, according to tradition, wasn’t an eyewitness? In other words, it seems improbable that an eyewitness would borrow so extensively from a second-hand source.

The tradition, as noted in the previous section, traces back to Papias, who stated that Matthew compiled the sayings of Jesus in the “Hebrew dialect.” However, our current Gospel of Matthew wasn’t written in Hebrew or Aramaic but in Greek.

Moreover, it’s not a mere collection of sayings (like the hypothetical Q source might have been) but a fully developed narrative Gospel, complete with infancy stories, a structured passion account, and carefully arranged teaching blocks.

Additionally, the style and vocabulary indicate that the author was a highly literate Greek-speaking Christian with a deep understanding of Jewish scripture in its Greek form (the Septuagint). 

This is difficult to reconcile with what we know (or rather, what little we know) about Matthew in the Bible. 

He was a telōnēs, a tax collector likely tasked with door-to-door revenue collection or toll booth duties in Roman Galilee. There is no historical basis to assume that such a person would have received the kind of literary education required to compose a sophisticated Greek narrative of this magnitude.

Dutch Reformed theologian Herman N. Ridderbos summed up the arguments in the following way:

While the traditional theory linking the apostle to the Gospel has been largely set aside, this doesn’t mean we are left entirely in the dark. In the next section, we’ll explore what can be said about the author of the Gospel of Matthew, not the tax collector mentioned in the Bible, but the anonymous writer who shaped one of Christianity’s most influential texts.

Who Was Matthew in the Bible?

The name “Matthew” became associated not only with one of Jesus’ twelve disciples but also with one of the most influential Gospels in the New Testament. Yet, beyond his fleeting appearances in the biblical text, what do we truly know about him?

In what follows, we’ll explore what can be known (or at least plausibly inferred) about the life and death of Matthew in the Bible, drawing on both biblical references and early Christian traditions.

Matthew in the Bible: Birth and Life

When it comes to the birth of the author of the Gospel of Matthew, the historical record is silent. Unlike some key figures in early Christianity (such as Paul, whose background is partially accessible through both his letters and Acts), there are no biographical details in the New Testament about where the author of Matthew was born or raised. 

Later traditions attempted to fill in this void, locating his origins in places such as Capernaum or even Antioch, but these accounts are speculative and stem from much later centuries. As such, scholars today uniformly agree that there is no reliable historical data regarding the birthplace or early life of the person responsible for the Gospel of Matthew.

Regardless of the naming issue (Matthew-Levi?), the story of Matthew’s acceptance of Jesus’ call is very memorable: Matthew is a tax collector, a profession regarded with suspicion and even contempt in 1st century Jewish society. Yet, Jesus’ call overrides social stigma and draws him into the circle of followers.

This raises an important question: Was Matthew merely a disciple, or was he also an apostle? As John P. Meier explains in A Marginal Jew, the category of “disciple” in the Gospels refers broadly to those whom Jesus calls and who choose to follow him.

Meier outlines two basic conditions for becoming a disciple: 

#1 – Jesus must take the initiative in calling the individual.
#2 – The person must literally leave behind home and possessions to follow. 

The category “apostle” is more specific, referring to the twelve men chosen by Jesus to represent the twelve tribes of Israel and to participate in his mission symbolically and organizationally. 

Matthew, listed among the Twelve in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matt 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15), is thus considered both a disciple and an apostle.

What can we say, then, about his cultural background and the broader contours of his life? Virtually all scholars agree that the Matthew who appears in the Bible was of Jewish origin. So was the author of the Gospel! 

As William Davies and Dale Allison emphasize in their commentary, the Gospel of Matthew displays a pervasive Jewish character: It’s saturated with quotations from the Hebrew Bible, it shows a deep concern for the Law, and its theological motifs often emerge from debates within Jewish tradition.

R. T. France, in his book Matthew: Evangelist and Teacher, likewise highlights the Gospel’s profound engagement with Jewish identity and its tensions with emerging Christian self-understanding. 

Though there are harsh criticisms of the Pharisees and Jewish leadership, these shouldn’t be taken as evidence of Gentile authorship. Rather, they reflect the polemical tone of intra-Jewish disputes in the late 1st century.

As for the Gospel’s place of composition, scholarly opinion has varied over time, but the most likely candidates are cities with vibrant Jewish-Christian communities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Antioch in Syria has long been favored due to its early Christian prominence and proximity to Judaism, though, as R. T. France notes, the evidence remains circumstantial.

How Did Matthew Die?

When it comes to biblical clues about the death of the author of the Gospel of Matthew, historians find none. The New Testament offers no indication of how or where this individual died, nor does it provide any information about the later stages of his life. 

Unlike figures such as Paul or Peter, whose deaths are at least hinted at, the Gospel writer known as Matthew leaves no biographical trace beyond the text itself. As a result, we have no historical data concerning his fate.

However, later Christian tradition didn’t remain content with this silence. Over the centuries, a number of legends emerged surrounding the death of St. Matthew. These legends, of course, (wrongly) assume that the apostle and the Gospel author were one and the same. 

The most widespread version of the story appears in hagiographical texts such as the Acts of Matthew and in later medieval compilations like the Golden Legend. According to these accounts, Matthew traveled to distant lands (often named as Ethiopia or Persia) to preach the Gospel.

In one popular version, he is said to have converted the daughter and wife of a local king, which enraged the ruler. As a result, Matthew was martyred while celebrating the Eucharist at the altar. Referring to this narrative, Hans-Josef Klauck explains:

While these stories are rich in narrative detail and reflect the theological values of the communities that produced them, they aren’t historically reliable.

Scholars agree that these legends were written many generations after Matthew's time and contain numerous anachronisms, miraculous embellishments, and literary tropes common to other apostolic martyrdom stories.

Conclusion

The figure of Matthew in the Bible remains enigmatic. While he appears briefly in the Gospel narratives as a tax collector called to discipleship and listed among the Twelve, the historical trail quickly fades. The Gospel attributed to him, though central to Christian tradition, offers no internal claim to apostolic authorship.

Modern scholarship has shown that the Gospel’s sophisticated literary structure, reliance on Greek sources like Mark, and theological depth all point to a highly educated, anonymous Jewish-Christian author writing in the latter part of the 1st century.

And yet, the memory of Matthew the apostle endured and evolved through tradition, legend, and liturgical devotion.

What we encounter in both text and tradition isn’t a fully recoverable biography, but a layered figure shaped by tradition, legends, and the early Church’s desire to root its foundational texts in apostolic witness. In the end, the historical Matthew didn’t end up making history. The remembered Matthew did!