Mark 2:14

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And as he passed by, he saw Levi the [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. (ASV)

Pro

What Was The Name of the Tax Collector?

Per "Mark" the name of the Tax collector was "Levi".

Verses:

Per "Matthew" the name of the tax collector was "Matthew" Matthew 9:9

"Editing of "Mark"

You Put The Words Right Into My Mouth

Continued from Mark 1:1 Inventory of Significant Editing in the First Gospel: Significant Variant #12:

Mark 2:14

 ??? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ????????? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ????? ???? ????????? ??? ??? ??????? ?*?????????? ????

"And as he passed by, he saw Levi the [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. (ASV)"

And Metzger commentary: "2.14 ????? {A} The reading ??????? in Western witnesses shows the influence of 3.18, where ??????? ??? ??? ??????? is included among the twelve."

Metzger, B. M., & United Bible Societies. 1994. A textual commentary on the Greek New Testament, second edition; a companion volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (4th rev. ed.) . United Bible Societies: London; New York "

JW: The Specific question here is which Disciple is the Tax Collector. The Manuscript evidence indicates "?????" (Levi) is likely original. However, there is spelling variation for ????? which can be a clue for unoriginality as Copyists were not simply copying and had to decide on a spelling for an Edit. Bezae and some OL have ??????? (James).

Origen also confesses to us that "Levi" was likely original here:

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/origen161.html

"It is manifest to us all who possess the Gospel narratives, which Celsus does not appear even to have read, that Jesus selected twelve apostles, and that of these Matthew alone was a tax-gatherer; that when he calls them indiscriminately sailors, he probably means James and John, because they left their ship and their father Zebedee, and followed Jesus; for Peter and his brother Andrew, who employed a net to gain their necessary subsistence, must be classed not as sailors, but as the Scripture describes them, as fishermen. The Lebes also, who was a follower of Jesus, may have been a tax-gatherer; but he was not of the number of the apostles, except according to a statement in one of the copies of Mark's Gospel."

"Lebes" here probably refers to the "Levi" of 2:14. The "b" sound transliteration probably just reflects the Hebrew letter "bet" which has a "v" sound when it lacks a dot in the middle.

The General problem here for Christianity is who exactly were the Disciples/Apostles of Jesus who supposedly passed on all things Jesus? The PriMary and practically soul Authority for the answer were the Gospels. Competing Christan sects claimed authority for their brand of Christianity based on supposed Tradition from a specific Apostle. Thus, supposed support for a claimed Tradition could be the specific Manuscript that your Sect Possessed (understand Dear Reader?).

The identity of the tax collector of Mark 2:14 was especially Significant to Christianity because by the end of the second century Orthodox Christianity claimed that the tax collector with the similar/parallel story in "Matthew" was "Matthew", the author of that Gospel, and probably the most important supposed Witness for Christianity.

Let's look now at how each Gospel named the tax collector and Possible reasons for the differences:

Mark: "And as he passed by, he saw Levi the [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. (ASV)"

"Mark" wrote a Gospel indicating that none of the Disciples became Apostles so it didn't matter who the Disciples in the Gospel were. The Point of "Mark" was that the Witness was the Author and none of the Disicples in the Gospel.

Matthew: "And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. (ASV)"

This Community rejected "Mark's" assertion that there was no Disciple witness. The Apostolic authority for this Community came from their Gospel's "Matthew" who was the supposed tax collector in the Gospel.

Luke: "And after these things he went forth, and beheld a publican, named Levi, sitting at the place of toll, and said unto him, Follow me. (ASV)"

This Community did not claim Authority from "Matthew" (too Jewish) thus there was no reason to Edit "Mark's" "Levi". "Luke" Believed largely in Spirit/Personal Revelation allah Paul.

John: John has no mention of "Matthew" or "Levi". The problem with "Luke's" claim to authority by Spirit is that it was too easy to claim leading to too many competing Sects. This Community Rejected "Mark's" assertion that there was no Disciple Witness. Rejected "Matthew's" assertion that "Matthew" the tax collector was the PriMary witness by Exorcising the entire call of Levi/Matthew story. Rejected "Luke" for being too open ended. In this Gospel John is made a leading witness.

--JoeWallack 08:25, 6 Dec 2006 (CST)

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