What you say: there were only twelve apostles and not thirteen. Well, read on and learn the truth according to the Bible. Jesus originally chose twelve of His disciples to be apostles. Twelve men who He was to send out to different parts of the land to preach the gospel of salvation. The name apostle means one to be sent. This narrative will center on those men who Jesus called to follow him, whom he taught in the way of God and what they said and did, before and after the Lord's crucifixion. These twelve men were called by many names as was the custom in those days, and have been set forth as follows according to the scriptures.
They were:
Simon Peter, also know as Cephas, the brother of Andrew who also was an Apostle, both being called the sons of Jonas.
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
James, the brother of John who also was an Apostle, they both were the sons of Zebedee.
John, the brother of James, the son of Zebedee.
Matthew, also called Levi, the brother of another James who was the son of Alphaeus. They also had a third brother who was known by three different names; Lebbaeus, Thaddaeus and Judas, who also was an Apostle.
James, the brother of Matthew, also the son of Alphaeus.
Lebbaeus, also known as Thaddaeus and Judas. The brother of Matthew and James, the son of Alphaeus.
Philip, who was from Bethsaida a town in Galilee near the Sea of Galilee .
Bartholomew, who also was known as Nathanael.
Thomas, who was called Didymus.
Simon, the Canaanite, who was called Zelotes.
Judas Iscariot, the son of someone named Simon.
Not much is know about the background of these men. At least four of them were fishermen and one was a tax collector. Some were educated and some were not. Some had leadership qualities which were written about and others had nothing written about what they did. All twelve of these men were mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke but only nine of them were mentioned by name in the gospel of John. These twelve men and many others followed Jesus on his travels to many cities throughout Galilee, Judaea and the surrounding areas. All throughout these travels Jesus taught them of the kingdom of Heaven
SIMON PETER
By far the most prominent and most active of these men was Simon Peter. Peter took a more active part in the ministry before and after the crucifixion than any of the others and has more written about him. Some of the most notable things written about Peter were: His walking on the water to go to Jesus and his revelation about who Jesus was and the subsequent giving of the keys of the kingdom to him by Jesus. Peter also was the one that wanted to build three tabernacles after he saw Jesus talking to Elijah and Moses on the mount. Peter said he would never be offended of Jesus and would even follow him to prison and even death, only to deny knowing him three times after Jesus was taken prisoner by the Jews.
But even through all the problems that Peter encountered and all the weaknesses that he displayed, Jesus knew that Peter was going to be the leader of the brethren and said to Peter "After your conversion, strengthen the brethren". There are many, many other things that could be said about Peter but the most important was his commission to open the doors of the kingdom to the Jews, the Samaritans and the Gentiles. After Pentecost Peter was the one who stood up and preached the first sermon about Jesus and under the power of the Holy Spirit three thousand persons were converted on one day.
Peter also wrote two letters to the New Testament church, instructing them in the way of the Lord and was the leader of the Apostles and elders in setting up churches in future years. Peter was also what we would call the inner circle with Jesus, as it was Peter, James and John who Jesus took with him on special occasions such as the times he went into the mountain to pray, when Jesus went to pray for Jairus' daughter and when he went to pray in the garden just before the crucifixion.
JOHN
According to the bible, John was the only man to be present when Jesus was crucified. There were several women present but most of the men were probably afraid that if they showed up the Jews might take them also. Because of John and his brother James being part of that inner circle, who were so close to Jesus, He and his brother asked Jesus if they could sit on his right and left hand when he entered his kingdom. This made the other disciples somewhat angry and they probably had words about it.
There was also an occasion when John came to Jesus and told him he had seen a man ministering in the name of Jesus who was not part of their party. John said he told the person that he had no right to do that and he made him stop. Jesus mildly rebuked John for this and told him "Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us". It is kind of ironic that the same thing happened to John at a later time when both he and Peter were ordered to stop teaching in the name of Jesus after they had prayed for a lame man.
Another incident happened that was noteworthy. While Jesus and his party were passing through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem
John was very active in the new church after Pentecost and did some traveling with Peter visiting these churches and ministering to them. John also wrote one of the gospels, three letters to the churches and the book of Revelations.
JAMES
The son of
Zebedee
James, who was the brother of John, both the sons of Zebedee was the third Apostle who was part of the inner circle, being closest to Jesus. Other than being one of the three closest to Jesus, being taken on special occasions separate from the other Apostles and being one with his brother John who asked to sit on Jesus right and left hand, James had nothing notable written about him in the gospels. James was active in the early church after Pentecost for a short time but was killed by King Herod about AD44. At the time he was killed, Herod also captured Peter and had him put in prison, intending to give him the same fate as James, but the Lord had Peter released by sending an angel to open the prison doors. The whereabouts of John at this time was not revealed.
MATTHEW
(LEVI)
Matthew also called Levi and two of his brothers were Apostles. Matthew was called a Publican which was a tax collector. Shortly after his call by Jesus, he made Jesus a great feast at his house and invited a number of his tax collector friends there. Matthew did write one of the gospel accounts of the ministry of the Lord but was not mentioned as doing any other notable thing during that period of time. Matthew was listed as being present on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given but was not mentioned thereafter.
JAMES
The son of
Alphaeus
James and two of his brothers, Matthew and Lebbaeus, were Apostles of the Lord. Nothing notable was mentioned about him in the gospels but he was mentioned as being one of the leaders of the new church after Pentecost. This James was also the author of the book in his name.
THOMAS
Thomas, who was also called Didymus, made one statement after the resurrection that made his name a household word even today. The label being a "Doubting Thomas" came because of him. Some time after the resurrection, the other Apostles told Thomas that Jesus had risen from the dead and they had seen him. But Thomas told them unless he saw the nail prints in his hands and put his hand in the wound which was in Jesus' side, he would not believe that he rose from the dead. Shortly after that, the Lord obliged him. Thomas was mentioned a few times in the gospels and was present on the day of Pentecost but was not mentioned in the scriptures dealing with the New Testament church.
JUDAS
Judas, also known as Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus, was the brother of James the son of Alphaeus and the author of the book of Jude. This Judas once asked Jesus how he would manifest himself to them and not the world but other than this he was not mentioned as being very active in the time of Jesus. Judas must have been active in the early church since he did write the book that bears his name.
JUDAS ISCARIOT
Judas Iscariot, called the son of Simon, was mentioned a number of times in the gospels. On one occasion when Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper, Judas complained about Mary wasting a very costly bottle of ointment on Jesus and said instead it should have been sold and the money used to help the poor. Judas also went to the chief priests and for a sum of money plotted to betray Jesus for them.
When Jesus and the Apostles were eating the last supper, Jesus told them that one of them would betray him and Judas had the nerve to ask Jesus if it would be him. After supper was over and Jesus went to the garden to pray, Judas led the Jews to him and identified him to the Jews by kissing him. After Jesus was taken prisoner by the Jews, Judas repented of what he did and went out and hung himself and he died.
*****
After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, he appeared to his eleven remaining apostles, for Judas because of his betrayal had killed himself. Jesus instructed them to remain in Jerusalem
After the apostles returned to Jerusalem
This was the first mistake the apostles under the leadership of Peter made. For it was not up to them to decide who an apostle should be. The original twelve apostles were chosen by Jesus and only he had the right to decide who his apostles should be. The selection of two men and casting lots asking the Lord to let the lot fall upon one who he favored was rather arrogant for them to do. I say this was their first mistake, but not to elaborate on another they made, just to mention here it was starting the false doctrine of speaking in tongues as being the evidence that a person had received the Holy Spirit. This false doctrine remains until today.
In spite of what the apostles did by selecting Matthias as an apostle, Jesus remedied it by later on appearing in person to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus Tarsus
Just a note here to say that these were the only apostles in the church that Jesus ever selected. After Jesus there never has been any legitimate apostles in the church of God
No comments:
Post a Comment