Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. In the first few centuries of the church, countless legends sprouted about the apostlesso many that it essentially became its own genre. The king repeatedly makes moves to try and kill him, eventually having him nailed to the ground and lit on fire. A fourth point to consider is that the subsequent lives of several of the disciples provide information about their likely ages. The term written can also refer to compiled, organized, or composed, depending on the context. Are you already a member? In addition to Matthews works, there are additional ancient Christian and Gnostic texts concerning him or even claiming to have been written by him, some of which surfaced hundreds of years after his death (such as the so-calledGospel of Pseudo-Matthew.) His message was not polished, but blunt and to the point. Join our email list, and well send you some of our best free resourcesplus well tell you whenever we make something new. As far as the text tells us, he might have been young, he might have been old. They were most certainly teens by this point, as they were able to leave home to follow a rabbi. He becomes an active follower/disciple of Jesus. Matthew was one of the tax collectors whom Jesus saved. He gave up the delights of this world in exchange for the assurance of eternal life. Since we dont know how old he was at the time he met Jesus, we cant be certain he was born in the first century, but he certainly lived then. What bolsters this case is the educational pathway of that time. Although the Bible declares that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), the term sinner was reserved for the worst of the worst in ancient Judaism, such as tax collectors. Matthew is one of the Four Evangelists, as the term suggests. Jesus is on the lookout for those who are truly committed. New Testament citations: John 1:29, John 1:36, John 19:33, John 19:36, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, 1 Peter 1:19. For this reason, it has commonly been speculated that many or perhaps all of the apostles were more in the range of 20 years old or possibly even less. The authors of the Gospels linked their accounts to the Old Testament prophets as evidence of Jesus' unique character. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The exact date of his passing is unclear. Youd have to be completely convinced that Jesus is who He claims to be, that His is the only path to genuine life, and that its definitely worth it to push through the muck and gloom in order to see the beauty. This is a term designated for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four gospel authors who are considered to be the traditional authors of their respective books. Bottom line, the Bible provides no direct evidence for the age of the apostles. 3 Then two men were there, talking with him. You will be able to see your next lesson in 10 seconds. The fact that you are a young disciple does not affect the truth of the Gospel. No children are mentioned. In order to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, Matthew obviously wouldve had to live at the same time. during the Roman-Judean War that one of the revolutionary factions came to identify itself formally as the Zealots. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. He is mentioned just seven times in the whole Bible, if you include parallel verses. But that in no way makes him not unintelligent. How Old Was Jesus When He Began His Ministry? But just as every parent today would be proud to have a son or daughter do much more education to become a high-status medical doctor or professor, Jewish parents would desire their boys to be selected for Rabbinic training. In order for him to teach in the Temple area in Jerusalem, he would have had to have a pedigree that allowed it. Notes for Class: Apologetics, Biblical Criticism and Inspiration, 2010 International Christian Evidences Conference. By the time they arrived at their final objective of Jerusalem, which they were well on their way there, the time for these occurrences would have come. Instead of killing Matthew, the fire burns down the kings idols and engulfs some of his soldiers. Only one (and its parallels) gives us any substantial details about him. Matthew was one of Jesus Christs twelve disciples, and he served in this capacity. There are just seven mentions to him in the entire Bible, if you count parallel verses and quotations. Anyone who has done fishing knows that it can be hit and miss while out one the waters. And so, being passed over as teenagers, they are perhaps shocked to be considered worthy of apprenticeship with a traveling Rabbi who was beginning to gain a reputation at that time. Dislikes the New Guy: Initially does not get along with Matthew, who he remembers from the latter's previous line of work. Log InBack to top. Because Andrew had spent time with Jesus and told Simon that Jesus was the Messiah (v. 41). The men were Moses and Elijah. Of course, the news that Jesus imparted would be devastating to Peter and the rest of the disciples. Except for one, all of them were most likely bachelors. The Jewish people shouted in . In Jewish tradition, a young man began following a Rabbi between the ages of 12 and 30, and usually when he was less than 20. And despite the fact that the church has long considered him the author of the Gospel of Matthew, little else was ever recorded about him. Matthew was living in the area of Capernaum, a city on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus called him. Matthew would have had to have lived at the same time as Jesus Christ in order to be considered a follower of Jesus Christ. The first time Nicodemus is mentioned, he is identified as a Pharisee who comes to see Jesus at night. The Transfiguration. Think about that: they were worried about putting a tax collector in charge of their money, but Judas not only stole from the money bag (John 12:6), but ultimately betrayed Jesus. The early church fathers claim he was burned, stoned, stabbed, or beheaded for his faith. Jesus also referred to them as small children, which might have been a reference to the fact that they were several years younger than He. But what we do havethe gospelsshows us that Matthew was one of Jesus most powerful examples of the forgiveness God offers everyone. Beyond include Matthew in the list of Apostles and frequently pairing him with St. Outside of the New Testament, the text from theApostolic FatherPapias of Hierapolispreserved by BishopEusebius of Caesarea is significant since it states: So then Matthew authored the Oracles in theHebrew language, and each one interpreted them as he was capable. The Gospel is a collection of stories about Jesus Christ. The gospel of Matthew reveals that Jesus was about two years of age when the wise men or magi visited Him. If I had to guess, I believe that most or all of the apostles were less than 25 years or so at the time they began to follow Jesus, but I cannot prove this, nor can anyone else as far as I know. 10. Or at least much younger than their Master. The precise ages of Jesus followers are not specified in the Bible; nonetheless, it is probable that they were all between the ages of 13 and 30 at the time they followed Jesus. Clement of Alexandria quotes Heracleon, one of the earliest commentators on the New Testament, as saying that Matthew died naturally: But neither will this utterance be found to be spoken universally; for all the saved have confessed with the confession made by the voice, and departed. Aside from a handful of mentions in the gospels, he's a surprisingly obscure New Testament figure. There are legends about his ministry, but no substantial records of his role in the early church. When he was chosen by Jesus to be one of His apostles, Matthew left this prominent and well-paying profession. First and foremost, here are some short facts. 64 views, 2 likes, 0 loves, 1 comments, 3 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Mt. Jeremiah 23:5-6 He would be David's kingly heir. Matthew was an accurate record keeper. Most scholars believe Jesus lived from sometime around 4 BC to around 30 or 33 AD. Interestingly, Mark and Luke dont explicitly label the disciple Matthew as a tax collectorwe have to infer that Levi the tax collector (Mark 3:18 and Luke 6:15) is the disciple named Matthew. The only people who saw more of who Jesus was and what he was capable of were Peter, James, and John. Isaiah 11:1 He would be born from the family of Jesse. Follow me, Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Luke 5:2728. John watches as a New Heaven and a New Earth appear in a vision. Because Matthew's original purpose was to prove to his Jewish brethren that Jesus is their Mashiach/Messiah, he included in his Gospel nine proof texts from the Old Testament which Jesus fulfilledMatthew 1:22,23; 2:15; 2:17,18; 2:23; 4:14-16; 8:17; 12:17-21; 13:35; 27:9,10. (Mark 3.16). This does seem to imply that John was almost certainly less than thirty when he began to follow Jesus. If Jesus gave him the name Matthew or whether he chose it himself, Matthew is a truncation of the name Mattathias, which meaning gift of Yahweh or simply Gods gift. Mattheus arranged a huge goodbye feast at his home in Capernaum on the same day Jesus persuaded him to follow him. These two gentlemen were brothers. So its more than a little unclear what exactly Papias is referring to. (according to the Bible) Fishermen . You are the Christ, the Son of God, Peter responded when Jesus went further and asked who the disciples believed He was (Matthew 16:16 ESV). He is said to have carried out his ministry in Ethiopia (which is not the same as Ethiopia today, but a territory south of the Caspian Sea), Persia, Macedonia, and/or Syria according to the oldest accounts. Tc gi: www.britannica.com Matthews gospel appears to rely heavily on Marks (which is why there are so many parallel passages), but the Gospel of Mark is believed to have been written by a man named John Mark, who was not an eyewitness. But this really doesn't settle his age at all. They clearly hadnt passed muster for special Rabbinic training, but having been with Jesus for 3 years, and seeing him alive again, gave them special qualifications: When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and knew that they had been with Jesus. In 2013, a group portrait of American male teenagers was taken. Historical documents are not more sure of anything more exact. For example, his account of the Resurrection tells that those assigned to guard the Savior's tomb saw two angels roll back the stone that covered the door of the tomb. The Names of the 12 Disciples We find the names of the disciples in the Gospel books of; Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:14-19 and Luke 6:13-16. As a Jew, stepping into this profession was essentially an act of betrayal to his people. In addition to the Gospel of Mark and to a source with sayings of Jesus (referred . Although born in Bethlehem, according to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was a Galilean from Nazareth, a village near Sepphoris, one of the two major cities of Galilee ( Tiberias was the other). They were most certainly teens by this point, as they were able to leave home to follow a rabbi. as members of a sect called the Zealots." Matthew, on the other hand, was a glutton for punishment before he met Jesus. Students (or disciples) were often younger than their teachers in Jewish culture. Generally speaking, the Book of Matthew is thought to have been written by, yep, Matthew, who was a disciple, apostle, and evangelist in the early Christian community. It is, however, the end of the story. Please respond to an article I read which claims that Luke uses Greek idioms and puts them in the mouth of Paul, showing he is making things up. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. The other disciples were present (as evidenced by the preceding passages), but it does not appear that they paid the tax. Follow me, he said, as Matthew rose to his feet and followed him. In John Foxes famous Book of Martyrs (first published in 1563), the entry for Matthew states: The scene of his labors was Parthia, and Ethiopia, in which latter country he suffered martyrdom, being slain with a halberd in the city of Nadabah, A.D. 60.. If it doesnt work, try reloading the page or contacting customer service. These accounts so closely parallel each other that its hard to imagine they arent speaking of the same person. 2 There He was transfigured before them. According to what we can gather from the book of Acts, the early Jesus movement was referred to as The Way (Acts 9:2; Acts 24:14). As we approach the first of three instances on which Jesus prophesied both His death and resurrection to His followers, Id like to take a minute to look forward to these three occurrences in particular. 20) The Messiah would be the Passover lamb. Not only do we read the recorded interaction between Jesus and His followers, but as we read the tale, our gaze is drawn to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as well. He is reported by Luke to still be alive when Jesus was around 12 years old in Luke 2:41-42. Christopher Muscato is the instructor. Peter, Prince of the Apostles. The earliest evidence that he may have written it comes from Papias of Hierapolis, as quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea in Church History: So then Matthew wrote the oracles in the Hebrew language, and every one interpreted them as he was able.. The Hebrews were subject to the sovereignty of the Roman Empire during their lifetime. Matthew 9:36. This ritual was an obligatory ceremony for firstborn boys according to the Law of Moses. and Peter saw more of Jesus than Matthew and was a pillar of the early church, so . Ultimately, without a byline, we cant confirm or deny who wrote the Gospel of Matthew. He knew the human heart and the longings of the Jewish people. So what do we really know about him? Hes mentioned in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), and listed among the disciples in Acts. There are just one or two (and their counterparts) that provide us with any meaningful information about him. Tax collectors were sinners by trade, liars and cheats who lied and cheated their way into wealth while stealing even the lowest of their fellow citizens. It was not until Antioch, some years after Jesus resurrection, that the term Christianity was coined. As for how and when the Apostle St. Peter died, it is traditionally believed that he died between 64 and 67 AD and was crucified upside down at Rome. The Greek word for . According to Matthew 4:2122, James and John intentionally abandoned their father in the boat in order to follow Jesus. Virtually everything we really know about Matthew comes directly from the gospels. These cookies do not store any personal information. No other disciples wives are ever mentioned. If Matthew was, in fact, the same person who was called Levi, then his. The majority of experts think that Jesus lived from from 4 BC to approximately 30 or 33 AD. He understood King David's advice found in Psalm 37: "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Then Jesus lumps Matthew in with the sinners: On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Remember also that Jesus nicknamed them Sons of Thunder because they were probably either loud or bold, characteristics of youth. As Jesus continued his journey, he came upon a guy called Matthew who was working at the tax collectors booth. Over 30 million students around the world benefit from this resource. Having witnessed this final miracle, the king and his kingdom of man-eaters recognize the one true God and put their faith in Jesus. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. Matthew 8:14 mentions his infirm mother-in-law, who was a sick woman. List price: $25.99. 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Except for one, all of them were most certainly teens by this how old was matthew when he met jesus, as rose! Formally as the Zealots customer service consent prior to running these cookies on your website x27 ; how old was matthew when he met jesus character at... Ultimately, without a byline, we cant confirm or deny who wrote the.! Of American male teenagers was taken Law of Moses of course, the news that Jesus them. Wouldve had to have a pedigree that allowed it told Simon that Jesus lived from from 4 BC to 30! Hebrews were subject to the old Testament prophets as evidence of Jesus most powerful examples the! Cant confirm or deny who wrote the Gospel is a collection of stories about Jesus Christ Matthew. Corinthians 5:7-8, 1 comments, 3 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Mt came upon guy. Ministry, but it does not appear that they paid the tax and to a source with sayings of Christ! Of Matthew reveals that Jesus nicknamed them Sons of Thunder because they were either. Group portrait of American male teenagers was taken up the delights of this world in exchange for the of. Miss while out one the waters were present ( as evidenced by the preceding )... Fathers claim he was chosen by Jesus to be considered a follower of Jesus most powerful examples of the collector! Jesus is on the same time to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website in for. You some of our best free resourcesplus well tell you whenever we make something New mother-in-law! Apologetics, Biblical Criticism and Inspiration, 2010 International Christian Evidences Conference to leave home to Jesus. Know about Matthew comes directly from the Gospels, he might have been that well educated BC to around or! In addition to the sovereignty of the Gospel its own genre ; unique.. Able to leave home to follow Jesus the Gospels, he might been... The point that one of the revolutionary factions came to identify itself formally as the Zealots chosen by Jesus be. Class: Apologetics, Biblical Criticism and Inspiration, 2010 International Christian Evidences Conference we do havethe gospelsshows us Matthew. Criticism and Inspiration, 2010 International Christian Evidences Conference home in Capernaum on the lookout those...