活动时期西元1世纪
耶稣十二使徒之一，相传为第一部福音书的作者。依据福音书的记载，当耶稣召唤马太跟从他时，他是一名税官，叫利未（Levi）。其他关于他的记载极少。〈马太福音〉是用来在犹太人中对犹太－基督教徒传教的，原文可能是用希伯来语所写，但目前有人怀疑〈马太福音〉是不是由马太所作。传闻中马太曾在被派往衣索比亚和波斯传教后又到犹太传教。关于他是不是殉教而死，传闻不一。
One of the Twelve Apostles, traditional author of the first Gospel. According to the Gospels, he was a tax collector known as Levi when Jesus called him to be a disciple1. Other information about him is scarce. The Gospel of Matthew is directed at a Jewish-Christian audience in a Jewish environment and may have been written originally in Hebrew, but it is now doubted that the Apostle Matthew was its author. Tradition holds that Matthew conducted his ministry2 in Judaea, after which he served as a missionary3 to Ethiopia and Persia. Legend differs as to whether he died a martyr's death.
