Apostles

An apostle is a special messenger of Jesus Christ; a person to whom Jesus delegated authority for certain tasks. The word apostle is used of those twelve disciples whom Jesus sent out, two by two, during His ministry in Galilee to expand His own ministry of preaching and healing. It was on that occasion, evidently, that they were first called "apostles" (Mark 3:14; 6:30)

These same disciples, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, were recommissioned by Jesus after His resurrection to be His witnesses throughout the world (Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8). After Jesus' ascension, the apostles brought their number to twelve by choosing Matthias (Acts 1:23-26).

The word apostle is sometimes used in the New Testament in a general sense of "messenger". For instance, when delegates of Christian communities were charged with conveying those churches' contributions to a charitable fund, they were described by Paul as "messengers (apostles) of the churches" (II Corinthians 8:23). Jesus also used the word this way when He quoted the proverb, "A servant is not greater than his master, nor he who is sent (literally, "an apostle") greater than he who sent him" (John 13:16). Jesus Himself is called "the Apostle...of our confession" (Heb. 3:1), a reference to His function as GOD's special messenger to the world.

The word apostle has a wider meaning in the letters of the apostle Paul. It includes people who, like himself, were not included in the twelve, but who saw the risen Christ and were specially commissioned by Him. Paul's claim to be an apostle was questioned by others. He based his apostleship, however on the direct call of the exalted LORD who appeared to him on the Damascus road and on the LORD's blessing of his ministry in winning converts and establishing churches (I Cor. 15:10).

Apparently, Paul also counted James, the LORD's brother, as an apostle (Gal. 1:19). This James was not one of the Twelve; in fact, he was not a believer in Jesus before the Crucifixion (John 7:5). It was the resurrected LORD who 'appeared to James' (I Cor. 15:7) and presumable commissioned him for his ministry. When Paul says Jesus was seen not only by James but also by "all the apostles" (I Cor. 15:7), he seems to be describing a wider group than "the Twelve" to whom Jesus appeared earlier (I Cor. 15:5).

In Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11, apostles are listed along with prophets and other saints as part of the foundation of the household of GOD. In its strictly New Testament sense, apostles are confined to the first generation of Christians.

At an early stage in the church's history it was agreed that apostles to the Jews and Gentiles should be divided into separate camps. Paul and Barnabus were to concentrate on the evangelization of Gentiles; Peter, John, and James (the LORD's brother) were to continue evangelizing Jews (Gal. 2:7-9).

As pioneers in the work of making converts and planting churches, apostles were exposed to special dangers. When persecution erupted, they were the primary targets for attack (I Cor. 4:9-13). Paul, in particular, welcomed the suffering which he endured as an apostle because it was his way of participating in the suffering of Christ (Rom. 8:17; II Cor. 1:5-7).

The authority committed to the apostles by Christ was unique. It could not be transmitted to others. The apostles could install elders or other leaders and teachers in the churches, and they could authorize them to assume special responsibilities; but apostolic authority could not be transferred. Their authority has not come to us through their successors; it has come through their writings, which are contained in the New Testament.

Most of the (original Twelve) apostles came from the area of Capernaum, which was despised by polite Jewish society because it was the center of a part of the Jewish state (only recently added) and was known in fact as "Galilee of the Gentiles". Jesus Himself said, "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted into heaven, shalt be brought down to hell" (Matt. 11:23). Yet Jesus molded these twelve men into strong leaders and articulate spokesmen of the Christian faith. Their success bears witness to the transforming power of Jesus' lordship.

None of the Gospel writers have left us any physical descriptions of the Twelve. Nevertheless, they give us tiny clues that help us to make "educated guesses" about how the apostles looked and acted. One very important fact that has traditionally been overlooked in countless artistic representations of the apostles is their youth. If we realize that most lived into the third and fourth quarter of the century and John into the second century, then they must have been only teenagers when they first took up Christ's call.

(I disagree with this, because men in 1st century Judea weren't allowed to have a ministry or get married before they were thirty years old. We know that at least Peter was a married man. And since Andrew and Peter owned a house together, Andrew probably wasn't that young either. Also, if all the apostles had been young men on the day of Pentecost, they wouldn't have had the authority needed to lead the new Christian church. Timothy had a problem as a leader because of his age, so Paul told him, "let no man despise your youth".)

Different biblical accounts list the Twelve in pairs. We are not sure whether this indicates family relationships, team functions, or some other kind of association between them.

I. Andrew
II. Bartholomew (Nathanael?)
III. James, son of Alpheus
IV. James, son of Zebedee
V. John
VI. Judas (not Iscariot)
VII. Judas Iscariot
VIII. Matthew
IX. Philip
X. Simon Peter
XI. Simon Zelotes
XII. Thomas
XIII. Judas' replacement (Matthias>

Other Apostles:

A. Barnabus
B. James, the brother of Jesus
C. Paul

I. Andrew. The day after John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus, he identified Jesus for two of his disciples and said, "Behold the Lamb of GOD!" (John 1:36). Intrigued by this announcement, the two men left John and began to follow Jesus. Jesus noticed them and asked what they were seeking. Immediately they replied, "Rabbi, where dwellest thou?" Jesus took them to the house where He was staying and they spent the night with Him. One of these men was named Andrew (John 1:38-40).

Andrew soon went to find his brother, Simon Peter. He told Peter, "We have found the Messiah..." (John 1:41). Through his testimony, he won Peter to the LORD.

Andrew is our English rendering of the Greek word Andreus, which means "manly". Other clues from the Gospels indicate that Andrew was physically strong and a devout, faithful man. He and Peter owned a house together (Mark 1:29). They were sons of a man named Jonah or John, a prosperous fisherman. Both of the young men had followed their father into the fishing business.

Andrew was born at Bethsaida on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee. Though the Book of John describes Andrew's first encounter with Jesus, it does not mention him as a disciple until much later (John 6:8). The Book of Matthew says that when Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee He hailed Andrew and Peter and invited them to become His disciples (Matt. 4:18-19). This does not contradict John's narrative; it simply adds a new feature. A close reading of John 1:35-40 shows that Jesus did not call Andrew and Peter to follow Him the first time they met.

Andrew and another disciple named Philip introduced a group of Greek men to Jesus (John 12:20-22). For this reason, we might say that Andrew and Philip were the first foreign missionaries of the Christian faith.

Tradition says that Andrew spent his last years in Scythia, north of the Black Sea. But a small book entitled the Acts of Andrew (probably written about A.D. 260) says that he preached primarily in Macedonia and was martyred at Patras.

Roman Catholic tradition says that Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross, a religious symbol that is now known as St. Andrew's Cross. It was believed that he was crucified on November 30, so the Roman Catholic church and Greek Orthodox church observe his festival on that date. Today he is the patron saint of Scotland. The Order of St. Andrew is an association of church ushers who make a special effort to be courteous to strangers.

II. Bartholomew (Nathanael). We lack information about the identity of the apostle named Bartholomew. He is mentioned only in the lists of apostles. Moreover, while the synoptic Gospels agree that his name was Bartholomew, John gives it as Nathanael (John 1:45). Some scholars believe that Bartholomew was the surname of Nathanael.

The Aramaic word bar means "son", so the name Barthanael literally meant "son of Thalmai". The Bible does not identify Thalmai for us, but he may have been named after the King Thalmai of Geshur (II Sam. 3:3). Some scholars believe that Bartholomew was connected with the Ptolemies, the ruling family of Egypt; this theory is based upon Jerome's statement that Bartholomew was the only apostle of noble birth.

Assuming that Bartholomew is the same person as Nathanael, we learn a bit more about his personality from the Gospel of John. Jesus called Nathanael "an Israelite...in whom is no guile" (John 1:47).

Tradition says Nathanael served as a missionary in India. The Venerable Bede said that Nathanael was beheaded by King Astriagis. Other traditions say that Nathanael was crucified head-down.

III. James, Son of Alpheus. The Gospels make only fleeting reference to James, the son of Alpheus (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). Many scholars believe that James was a brother of Matthew, since Scripture says that Matthew's father was also named Alphaeus (Mark 2:14). Others believe that this James was identified with "James the Less"; but we have no proof that these two names refer to the same man (cf. Mark 15:40).

If the son of Alpheus was indeed the same man as James the Less, he may have been a cousin of Jesus (cf. Matt. 27:56; John 19:25). Some Bible commentators theorize that this disciple bore a close physical resemblance to Jesus, which could explain why Judas Iscariot had to identify Jesus on the night of His betrayal (Mark 14:43-45; Luke 22:47-48).

Legends say that this James preached in Persia and was crucified there. But we have no concrete information about his later ministry and death.

IV. James, Son of Zebedee. After Jesus summoned Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, He went a little farther along the shore of Galilee and summoned "James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets" (Mark 1:19). Like Peter and Andrew, James and his brother responded immediately to Christ's invitation.

James was the first of Twelve to suffer a martyr's death. King Herod Agrippa I ordered that James be executed with a sword (Acts 12:2). Tradition says this occurred in A.D. 44, when James would have been quite young. (Although the New Testament does not describe the martyrdom of any other apostles, tradition tells us that all except John died for their faith).

The Gospels never mention James alone; they always speak of "James and John". Even in recording his death, the Book of Acts refers to him as "James the brother of John" (Acts 12:2). James and John began to follow Jesus on the same day, and both of them were present at the transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2-13). Jesus called both men the "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17.

The persecution that took James' life inspired new fervor among the Christians (cf. Acts 12:5-25). Undoubtedly, Herod Agrippa had hoped to quash the Christian movement by executing leaders such as James. "But the Word of GOD grew and multiplied" (v. 24).

Strangely, the Gospel of John does not mention James. John was reluctant to mention his own name, and he may have felt the same kind of modesty about reporting the activities of his brother. Once John refers to himself and James as the "sons of Zebedee" (John 21:2). Otherwise he is silent about the work of James.

Legends say that James was the first Christian missionary to Spain. Roman Catholic authorities believe that his bones are buried in the city of Santiago in northwestern Spain.

V. John. Fortunately, we have a considerable amount of information about the disciple named John. Mark tells us he was the brother of James, son of Zebedee (Mark 1:19). Mark says that James and John worked with the "hired servants" of their father (Mark 1:20).

Some scholars speculate that John's mother was Salome, who observed the crucifixion of Jesus (Mark 15:40). If Salome was the sister of Jesus' mother, as the Gospel of John suggests (John 19:25), John may have been a cousin of Jesus.

Jesus found John and his brother James mending their nets beside the Sea of Galilee. He ordered them to launch out into the lake and let down their nets to catch fish. They hauled in a tremendous catch - a miracle that convinced them of Jesus' power. "And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him" (Luke 5:11). Simon Peter went with them.

John seems to have been an impulsive young man. Soon after he and James entered Jesus' inner circle of disciples, the Master labeled them "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17). The disciples seemed to relegate John to a secondary place in their company. All of the Gospels mentioned John after his brother James; on most occasions, it seems, James was the spokesman for the two brothers. When Paul mentions John among the apostles at Jerusalem, he places John at the end of the list (Gal. 2:9).

John's emotions often erupted in his conversations with Jesus. On one occasion, John became upset because someone else was ministering in Jesus' name. "We forbade him", he told Jesus, "because he followeth not us" (Mark 9:38). Jesus replied, "Forbid him not...For he that is not against us is on our part" (Mark 9:39-40). On another occasion, James and John ambitiously suggested that they should be allowed to sit on Jesus' right hand in heaven. This idea antagonized the other disciples (Mark 10:35-41).

Yet John's boldness served him well at the time of Jesus' death and resurrection. John 18:15 tells us that John "was known unto the high priest". A Franciscan legend says that John's family supplied fish to the high priest's household. This would have made him especially vulnerable to arrest when the high priest's guards apprehended Jesus. Nevertheless, John was the only apostle who dared to stand at the foot of the cross, and Jesus committed His mother into his care (John 19:26-27). When the disciples heard that Jesus' body was no longer in the tomb, John ran ahead of the others and reached the sepulcher first. However, he allowed Peter to enter the burial chamber ahead of him (John 20:1-4,8).

If John indeed wrote the fourth Gospel, the letters of John, and the Book of Revelation, he penned more of the New Testament than any of the other apostles. We have no sound reason to doubt John's authorship of these books.

Tradition says that John cared for Jesus' mother while he was pastor of the congregation in Ephesus, and that she died there. Tertullian says that John was taken to Rome and "plunged into boiling oil, unhurt, and then exiled on an island". This was probably the island of Patmos, where the Book of Revelation was written. It is believed that John lived to an old age and that his body was returned to Ephesus for burial.

VI. Judas (not Iscariot). John refers to one of the disciples as "Judas, not Iscariot" (John 14:22). It is not easy to determine the identity of this man. Jerome dubbed him Trionius - "the man with three names".

The New Testament refers to several men by the name of Judas - Judas Iscariot (See below), Judas the brother of Jesus (Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3), Judas of Galilee (Acts 5:37), and "Judas, not Iscariot". Clearly, John wanted to avoid confusion when he referred to the man, especially because the other disciple named Judas had such a poor reputation.

Matthew refers to this man as Lebbeus, "whose surname was Thaddeus" (Matt. 10:3). Mark refers to him simply as Thaddeus (Mark 3:18). Luke refers to him as "Judas the son of James" (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13). The KJV incorrectly translates Luke as saying that this man was the brother of James.

We are not sure who Thaddeus' father was. Some think he was James, the brother of Jesus - making Judas a nephew of Jesus. But that is not likely, for early church historians report that this James never married. (It's also unlikely because Jesus' brother James was younger than Jesus who began his ministry when he was "about thirty years old". If Judas was James' son, that would make him a child when he became a disciple of Jesus.) Others think that his father was the apostle James, son of Zebedee. We cannot be certain.

William Stuart McBirnie suggests that the name Thaddeus was a diminutive form of Theudas, which comes from the Aramaic noun tad, meaning "breast". Thus, Thaddeus may have been a nickname that literally meant "one close to the breast" or "one beloved". McBirnie believes that the name Lebbeus may be derived from the Hebrew noun leb, which means "heart".

The historian Eusebius says that Jesus once sent this disciple to King Abgar of Mesopotamia to pray for his healing. According to this story, Judas went to Abgar after Jesus' ascension to heaven, and he remained to preach in several cities of Mesopotamia. Another tradition says that this disciple was murdered by magicians in the city of Suanir in Persia. It is said that they killed him with clubs and stones.

VII. Judas Iscariot. All of the Gospels place Judas Iscariot at the end of the list of Jesus' disciples. Undoubtedly this reflects Judas' ill repute as the betrayer of Jesus.

The Aramaic word Iscariot literally meant "man of Kerioth". Kerioth was a town near Hebron (Josh. 15:25). However, John tells us that Judas was the son of Simon (John 6:71).

If Judas indeed came from the town of Kerioth, he was the only Judean among Jesus' disciples. Judeans despised the people of Galilee as crude frontier settlers. This attitude may have alienated Judas Iscariot from the other disciples.

The Gospels do not tell us exactly when Jesus called Judas Iscariot to join His band of followers. Perhaps it was in the early days when Jesus called so many others (cf. Matt. 4:18-22).

Judas acted as the treasurer of the disciples, and on at least one occasion he manifested a penny-pinching attitude toward their work. When a woman named Mary came to pour rich ointment on the feet of Jesus, Judas complained, "Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence, and given to the poor?" (John 12:6).

As the disciples shared their last meal with Jesus, the LORD revealed that He knew He was about to be betrayed, and He singled out Judas as the culprit. He told Judas, "That thou doest, do quickly" (John 13:27). However, the other disciples did not suspect what Judas was about to do. John reports that "some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, "Buy those things that we have need of against the (Passover) feast...'" (John 13:28-29).

Scholars have offered several theories about the reason for Judas' betrayal. Some think that he was reacting to Jesus' rebuke when he criticized the woman with the ointment. Others think that Judas acted out of greed for the money that Jesus' enemies offered him. Luke and John simply say that Satan inspired Judas' actions (Luke 22:3; John 13:27).

Mathew tells us that Judas in remorse attempted to return the money to Jesus' captors: "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself" (Matt. 27:5). A folk legend says that Judas hanged himself on a redbud tree, which is sometimes called the "Judas tree". In most modern works, Judas is portrayed as a zealot or extreme patriot who was disappointed at Jesus' failure to lead a mass movement or rebellion against Rome. There is, as yet, little evidence for this viewpoint.

VIII. Matthew. In Jesus' day, the Roman government collected several different taxes from the people of Palestine. Tolls for transporting goods by land or sea were collected by private tax collectors, who paid a fee to the Roman government for the right to assess these levies. The tax collectors made their profits by charging a higher toll than the law required. The licensed collectors often hired minor officials called publicans to do the actual work of collecting the tolls. The publicans extracted their own wages by charging a fraction more than their employer required. The disciple Matthew was a publican who collected tolls on the road between Damascus and Accho; his booth was located just outside the city of Capernaum and he may have also collected taxes from the fishermen for their catches.

Normally a publican charged 5 percent of the purchase price of normal trade items and up to 12.5 percent on luxury items. Matthew also collected taxes from fishermen who worked along the Sea of Galilee and boatmen who brought their goods from cities on the other side of the lake.

The Jews considered a tax collector's money to be unclean so they would never ask for change. If a Jewish man did not have the exact amount that the collector required, he borrowed from a friend. Jewish people despised the publicans as agents of the hated Roman Empire and the puppet Jewish king. Publicans were not allowed to testify in court, and they could not tithe their money to the temple. A good Jew would not even associate with publicans in private life (cf. Matt. 9:10-13).

Yet the Jews divided the tax collectors in two classes. First were the gabbai, who levied general agricultural taxes and census taxes from the people. The second group were the mokhsa, the officials who collected money from travelers. Most of the mokhsa were Jews, so they were despised as traitors to their own people. Matthew belonged to this class of tax collectors.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus approached this unlikely disciple as he sat at his tax table one day. Jesus simply commanded Matthew to "follow me", and Matthew left his work to follow the Master (Matt. 9:9).

Apparently Matthew was fairly well-to-do, because he provided a banquet in his own house. "And there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them" (Luke 5:29). The simple fact that Matthew owned his own house indicates that he was wealthier than the typical publican.

Because of the nature of his work, we feel quite certain that Matthew knew how to read and write. Papyrus tax documents dating from about A.D. 100 indicate that the publicans were quite efficient with figures. (Instead of using the clumsy Roman numerals, they preferred the simpler Greek symbols.)

Matthew may have been related to the disciple James, since each of them is said to have been a "son of Alphaeus" (Matt. 10:3; Mark 2:14). Luke sometimes uses the name Levi to refer to Matthew (cf. Luke 5:27-29). Thus some scholars believe that Matthew's name was Levi before he decided to follow Jesus, and that Jesus gave him the new name, which means "gift of GOD". Others suggest that Matthew was a member of the priestly tribe of Levi.

Even though a former publican had joined His ranks, Jesus did not soften His condemnation of the tax collectors. He ranked them with the harlots (cf. Matt. 21:31), and Matthew himself classes the publicans with sinners (Matt. 9:10).

Of all the Gospels, Matthew's has probably been the most influential. Second-century Christian literature quotes from the Gospel of Matthew more than from any other. The church fathers placed Matthew's Gospel at the beginning of the New Testament canon, probably because of the significance they attributed to it. Matthew's account emphasizes Jesus' fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. It stresses that Jesus was the promised Messiah, who had come to redeem all mankind.

We do not know what happened to Matthew after the day of Pentecost. In his Book of Martyrs, John Foxe stated that Matthew spent his last years preaching in Parthia and Ethiopia. Foxe says that Matthew was martyred in the city of Nadabah in A.D. 60. However, we do not know from what source Foxe got this information (other than from medieval Greek sources) and we cannot judge whether it is trustworthy.

IX. Philip. John's Gospel is the only one to give us any detailed information about the disciple named Philip. (This Philip should not be confused with Philip the evangelist - cf. Acts 21:8.)

Jesus first met Philip at Bethany beyond the Jordan River (John 1:29, RSV). It is interesting to note that Jesus called Philip individually while He called most of the other disciples in pairs. Philip introduced Nathanael to Jesus (John 1:45-51), and Jesus also called Nathanael (or Nathanael Bartholomew) to be His disciple.

When 5,000 people gathered to hear Jesus, Philip asked his LORD how they would feed the crowd. "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little", he said (John 6:7).

On another occasion, a group of Greek men came to Philip and asked him to introduce them to Jesus. Philip enlisted the help of Andrew and together they took the men to meet Him (John 12:20-22).

While the disciples ate their last meal with Jesus, Philip said, "LORD, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us" (John 14:8). Jesus responded that they had already seen the Father in Him.

These three brief glimpses are all that we see of Philip in the Gospels. The church has preserved many traditions about his later ministry and death. Some say that he preached in France; others that he preached in southern Russia, Asia Minor, or even India. In A.D. 194, Bishop Polycrates of Antioch wrote that "Philip, one of the twelve apostles, sleeps at Hierapolis". However, we have no firm evidence to support these claims.

X. Simon Peter. The disciple named Simon Peter was a man of contrasts. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked, "But whom say ye that I am?" Peter immediately replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living GOD" (Matt. 16:15-16). But seven verses later we read, "Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him..." Going from one extreme to another was characteristic of Peter.

When Jesus attempted to wash Peter's feet in the Upper Room, the intemperate disciple exclaimed, "Thou shalt never wash my feet". But when Jesus insisted, Peter said, "LORD, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head" (John 13:8-9).

On their last night together, Peter told Jesus, "Although all shall offend thee, yet will not I" (Mark 14:29). Yet within hours, Peter not only denied Jesus but cursed Him (Mark 14:71).

This volatile, unpredictable temperament often got Simon Peter into trouble. Yet the Holy Spirit would mold Peter into a stable, dynamic leader of the early church, a "rock-man" (Peter means "rock") in every sense.

The New Testament writers used four different names in referring to Peter. One is the Hebrew name Simeon (Acts 15:14), which may mean "hearing". A second name was Simon, the Greek form of Simeon. A third name was Cephas, Aramaic for "rock". The fourth name was Peter, Greek for "rock"; the New Testament writers apply this name to the disciple more often than the other three.

When Jesus first met this man, He said, "Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah: thou shalt be called Cephas" (John 1:42). Jonah was a Greek name meaning "dove" (cf. Matt. 16:17; John 21:15-17). Some modern translations render this name as "John".

Peter and his brother Andrew were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4:18; Mark 1:16). He spoke with the accent of a Galilean, and his mannerisms identified him as an uncouth native of the Galilean frontier (cf. Mark 14:70). His brother Andrew led him to Jesus (John 1:40-42).

While Jesus hung on the cross, Peter was probably among the group from Galilee that "stood afar off, beholding these things" (Luke 23:49). In I Peter 5:1 he wrote, "I...am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ..."

Simon Peter heads the list of apostles in each of the Gospel accounts, which suggests that the New Testament writers considered him to be the most significant of the Twelve. He did not write as much as John or Matthew, but he emerged as the most influential leader of the early church. Though 120 followers of Jesus received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Scripture records the words of Peter (Acts 2:14-40). Peter suggested that the apostles find a replacement for Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:22). And he and John were the first disciples to perform a miracle after Pentecost, healing a lame man at the Beautiful Gate of Jerusalem (Acts 3:1-11).

The Book of Acts emphasizes the travels of Paul, yet Peter also traveled extensively. He visited Antioch (Gal. 2:21), Corinth (I Cor. 1:11), and perhaps Rome. Eusebius states that Peter was crucified in Rome, probably during the reign of Nero.

Peter felt free to minister to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 10) but he is best known as the apostle to the Jews (cf. Gal. 2:8). As Paul took a more active role in the work of the church and as the Jews became more hostile to Christianity, Peter faded into the background of the New Testament narrative.

The Roman Catholic church traces the authority of the Pope back to Peter, for it is alleged that Peter was bishop of the church at Rome when he died. Tradition says that the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome is built over the spot where Peter was buried. Modern excavations under the ancient church demonstrate a very old Roman cemetery and some graves hastily used for Christian burials. A careful reading of the Gospels and the early segment of Acts would tend to support the tradition that Peter was the leading figure of the early church. The tradition that Peter was the leading figure of the apostolic church has strong support.

XI. Simon Zelotes. Matthew and Mark refer to a disciple named "Simon the Canaanite" (modern translations have "Canaanean", which is more correct), while Luke and the Book of Acts refer to one named "Simon Zelotes". These names refer to the same man. Zelotes is a Greek word that means "zealous one"; "Canaanite" is an English transliteration of the Aramaic word kanna'ah, which also means "zealous one"; thus it appears that this disciple belonged to the Jewish sect known as the Zealots.

(The Zealots were a Jewish political party and a fanatical sect that militantly opposed the Roman domination of Palestine during the first century A.D. When the Jews rebelled against the Romans and tried to gain their independence, a group of the most fervent Jewish nationalists called themselves "Zealots". They thought of themselves as following in the footsteps of men like Simon and Levi (Gen. 34:1-31), Phinehas (Numb 25:1-13), and Elijah (I Kings 18:40; 19:10-14) who were devoted supporters of the LORD and His laws and who were ready to fight for them.

Like the Pharisees, the Zealots were devoted to the Jewish law and religion. But unlike most Pharisees, they thought it was treason against GOD to pay tribute to the Roman emperor, since GOD alone was Israel's king. They were willing to fight to the death for Jewish independence.

The Zealots eventually degenerated into a group of assassins known as Sicarii (Latin, daggermen). Their increasing fanaticism was one factor that provoked the Roman-Jewish war. The Zealots took control of Jerusalem in A.D. 66, a move that led to the siege of Jerusalem and its fall in A.D. 70. The last stronghold of the Zealots, the fortress of Masada, fell to the Romans in A.D. 73.)

The Scripture does not indicate when Simon Zelotes was invited to join the apostles. Tradition says that Jesus called him at the same time that He called Andrew and Peter, James and John, Judas Iscariot and Thaddeus (cf. Matt. 4:18-22).

We have several conflicting stories about the later ministry of this man. The Coptic church of Egypt says that he preached in Egypt, Africa, Great Britain, and Persia; other early sources agree that he ministered in the British Isles but this is doubtful. Nicephorus of Constantinople wrote: "Simeon born in Cana of Galilee who...was surnamed Zelotes, having received the Holy Ghost from above, traveled through Egypt and Africa, then Mauretania and Libya, preaching the Gospel. And the same doctrine he taught to the Occidental Sea and the Isles called Britanniae".

XII. Thomas. The Gospel of John gives us a more complete picture of the disciple named Thomas than we receive from the synoptic Gospels or the Book of Acts. John tells us he was also called Didymus (John 20:4) the Greek word for "twins" just as the Hebrew word t'hom means "twin". The Latin Vulgate used Didymus as a proper name and that style was followed by most English versions until the twentieth century. The RSV and other recent translations refer to him as "Thomas called the Twin".

We do not know who Thomas might have been, nor do we know anything about his family background or how he was invited to join the apostles. However, we know that Thomas joined six other disciples who returned to the fishing boats after Jesus was crucified (John 21:2-3). This suggested that he may have learned the fishing trade as a young man.

On one occasion Jesus told His disciples that He intended to return to Judea. His disciples warned Him not to go because of the hostility toward Him there. But Thomas said, "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16).

Yet modern readers often forget Thomas' courage; he is more often remembered for his weakness and doubt. In the Upper Room, Jesus told His disciples, "Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know". But Thomas retorted, "LORD, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" (John 14:4-5). After Jesus rose from the dead, Thomas told his friends, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (John 20:25). A few days later Jesus appeared to Thomas and the other disciples to give them physical proof that He was alive. Then Thomas exclaimed, "My LORD and my GOD" (John 20:28).

The early church fathers respected the example of Thomas. Augustine commented, "He doubted that we might not doubt".

Tradition says that Thomas eventually became a missionary in India. It is said that he was martyred there and buried in Mylapore, now a suburb of Madras. His name is carried on by the very title of the Marthoma or "Master Thomas" church.

XIII. Judas' replacement (Matthias>. Following the death of Judas Iscariot, Simon Peter suggested that the disciples choose someone to replace the betrayer. Peter's speech outlined certain qualifications for the new apostle (cf. Acts 1:15-22). The apostle had to know of Jesus "from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us". He also had to be "a witness with us of his resurrection" (Acts 1:22).

The apostles found two men who met the qualifications: Joseph surnamed Justus and Matthias (Acts 1:23). They cast lots to decide the matter and the lot fell to Matthias.

The name Matthias is a variant of the Hebrew name Mattathias, which means "gift of GOD". Unfortunately, Scripture tells us nothing about the ministry of Matthias. Eusebius speculated that Matthias would have been one of the seventy disciples that Jesus sent out on a preaching mission (cf. Luke 10:1-16). Some have identified him with Zaccheus (cf. Luke 19:2-8). One tradition says he preached to cannibals in Mesopotamia; another says he was stoned to death by the Jews; yet a third says that he worked in Ethiopia and was martyred by crucifixion. However, we have no evidence to support any of these stories.

Some scholars have suggested that Matthias was disqualified and the apostles chose James the brother of Jesus to take his place (cf. Gal. 1:19; 2:9). But there appear to have been more than twelve men thought of as apostles in the early church and Scripture gives us no indication that Matthias left the group.

This was taken from the "Illustrated Dictionary of the Bible" and "Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible" published by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

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