In our passage on Sunday, we read the account of Jesus calling a tax collector. Both Mark and Luke (Lk 5:27-32) record the man’s name as “Levi”, while Matthew records the man’s name as “Matthew” in his parallel account (Mt 9:9-13). Later, in listing the original twelve apostles, the one named “Matthew” is further identified as “the tax collector” in Matthew 10:3. It appears that his Hebrew name was “Levi”, while his Greek name was “Matthew”.

In the first century, Israel was a multilingual culture, with many Jews speaking a combination of Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. As such, numerous individuals in the New Testament are identified by multiple names, most notably Simon (Hebrew) / Peter (Greek) / Cephas (Aramaic) (see John 1:42). Recall that Pilate wrote the inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” on the cross in three different languages: Aramaic, Latin, and Greek (John 19:19-20).

It is often claimed that none of the four Gospels name the author within the text of the Gospel itself. However, it is also the case that no manuscript of any of the four Gospels (in any language) has ever been found that did not include a title bearing the name of the associated author (i.e., Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John).

Furthermore, all of the early Christian writings that followed the writing of the New Testament confirm that:

• Matthew’s Gospel was written by the apostle identified as Matthew in Mark 3:18, who was also identified as Levi the tax collector in Mark 2:14.

• Mark’s Gospel was written by the “John-Mark” who traveled with the Apostle Paul (Acts 12:25–13:13) and whom Peter referred to as “my son” in 1 Peter 5:13.

• Luke’s Gospel, along with Acts, was written by the Gentile convert referred to as “the beloved physician” in Colossians 4:14 who traveled extensively with the Apostle Paul (Acts. 16:10-16; 20:1-16; 21:1-26; 27:1-28:16; Col 4:14; 2 Tim 4:11; Philemon 1:24).

• John’s Gospel was written by the apostle identified as John the son of Zebedee in Mark 3:17 and referred to as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in John 21:20.

Let us give thanks to God for the radical transformations that He worked in the hearts of these men and for the way He spoke through them to write each fo the four Gospels.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Evan