MATTHIAS mə thī’ əs (shortened form of Ματταθίας, G3478; Heb. מַתִּתְיָ֜הוּ, gift of Yahweh). This name, in various abbreviated forms, is frequently used in the Bible. In the form above, it is the name of the “twelfth apostle,” chosen to take the place of Judas the traitor (Acts 1:23-26). First, two men were put forward (by the “hundred and twenty” not by the smaller group of the eleven apostles, 1:15) who were considered to have the necessary qualifications for apostleship, for they had been followers of Jesus since the time He was baptized by John (prob. the technical term for this was “an early disciple” [21:16] of Mnason). Acts 1:22 prob. also means that they must have encountered the risen Lord; but this would presumably have been true of all the “hundred and twenty.” Human selection was thus involved from the start, even if (with Augustine) the sing. verb be read for the pl.; that would merely substitute selection and appointment by Peter for selection by the whole body of the Church. To make divine selection clear, the sacred lot was cast after prayer, as had been done frequently in OT days (e.g., 1 Sam 14:42). To cast “Urim and Thummim” was the prerogative of the priest under the old covenant (Ezra 2:63), but the early Christian group already may have considered themselves a “royal priesthood” (1 Pet 2:9). After Pentecost, there is no reference to the casting of lots within the Church, evidently because the direct guidance of the Spirit was now enjoyed. Granted Peter’s initial thesis that the number of the “sacred college” must be kept at full strength (Matt 19:28), it was the logical course for a Jew to adopt; Scripture neither blames him, nor asserts that Paul was the true “twelfth man.” However, later vacancies (like that created by the execution of James [Acts 12:2]) were not so filled, unless the appearance of James, the Lord’s brother, is an instance (12:17). Eusebius says that Matthias was one of the “seventy” (Luke 10:1). This is possible in view of the “apostolic qualification” mentioned above. Less likely are identifications with Zacchaeus, Nathanael or Barnabas. He is never mentioned again in the NT. Rival traditions say that he was either martyred in Judea, or that he evangelized the Ethiopians. As usual with such shadowy figures, a “Gospel” and “Traditions” of a Gnostic type were later fathered on him, and samples have been preserved by Clement of Alexandria.

Bibliography Eusebius, History of the Church; E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, II (1965).