Peter assumed it was their duty to select someone to replace Judas, but that doesn’t mean it was, and the fact that God chose Matthias when given the choice between Matthias and Joseph doesn’t mean that the entire process was God’s will. To help you see the differences between the lists, here are the names in the order they appear in each passage. kēf; Engl. Instead, he was appointed by the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot. Jesus responded with one of the most powerful and prophetic statements about faith in all of Scripture: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). So Satan demands them all, but Jesus prays for Peter so that Peter may be able to strengthen the others. Today, many Christians simply accept tradition (and therefore the legends) at face value. This mistake led to the idea that Simon was present at the wedding in Cana in John 2, where Jesus performed his first miracle and turned water into wine, and that he was the same person as Simon, the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55). And the “of James” Luke uses to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot could mean he’s James’ brother, and Jesus had a brother named James. And that is why God used them in such great ways. people named Philip in the New Testament, too. Today, “Judas” is virtually synonymous with “traitor.”. Mark tells us that Jesus nicknamed James and John “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17). The Bible doesn’t explicitly connect these two people, and neither do the early church fathers, but it’s certainly possible that they’re the same person. But John 7:3-5 may suggest Jesus’ brother Jude didn’t believe he was who he said he was until later, and at this point Jesus had already called his disciples: “Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. All we really know is his name, and that he’s closely associated with Philip (aside from the list in Acts 1:13, Bartholomew is always listed alongside Philip, which perhaps indicates some sort of relationship). According to the Gospel of John, Andrew was the first disciple Jesus called, and while Peter gets all the credit for recognizing Jesus as the Messiah (Mattew 16:13–20), Andrew not only brought Peter to Jesus, but he told him Jesus was the Messiah. Like many of the apostles, it’s hard to conclude exactly which tradition (if any) can be trusted: Judas Iscariot is one of the most widely known disciples. Another tradition says James son of Alphaeus was crucified in Egypt, where he was preaching. "Matthew 4:18-22 and Matthean Discipleship: An Audience-Oriented Perspective.". The lists found in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) appear when Jesus calls these 12 disciples aside for a special purpose and officially appoints them as apostles. Technically, it’s a collection of 66 books. ", Carter, Warren. That’s not to say Bartholomew was not also known as Nathanael, just that this isn’t necessarily why he would’ve been known by two names. Jesus tests Philip by asking him where they should buy bread to feed the crowd of 5,000 people (John 6:5–7). He called twelve to be apostles. At least that’s our position at OverviewBible. Since Matthew/Levi was a Jew employed by Rome, that wouldn’t be surprising. But to make matters worse, tax collectors made their money by saying people owed Caesar more than they did and then skimming the extra off the top—and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Two thousand years later, we are not still working on the foundation. But that may not be true. Two books of the Bible claim to be written by Peter (1 Peter and 2 Peter), but scholars debate about whether he wrote them himself or dictated them to a secretary, or if he even wrote them at all. Paul—also known as Saul—is easily one of the most widely-known biblical figures (he. Others are only mentioned in the lists of apostles, or they have a single line of dialogue in the gospels. Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46). For starters, let’s take a look at the four lists of apostles. Somehow none of the other disciples picked up on that though. The only other mentions of Philip in the Bible occur in John: According to Clement of Alexandria, who lived in the second and third century, Philip is also mentioned one other time (though not directly). In some cases, early Christians and modern scholars have assumed this meant some of these apostles went by multiple names—such as Judas son of James, who may be listed by the nickname Thaddeus in Matthew and Mark to avoid confusing him with Judas Iscariot, the infamous traitor. But Matthias takes the cake: he’s only mentioned two times in the entire Bible (Acts 1:23 and Acts 1:26). But unfortunately, Jude was a super common name, and this relies on assumptions. His death is also one of the go-to “gotchas” when people talk about contradictions in the Bible. From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Catholic Encyclopedia: The Brethren of the Lord, Jewish Encyclopedia: Apostle and Apostleship, https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twelve_Apostles&oldid=7169781, Articles containing Ancient Greek-language text, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, Andrew's Brother, Cephas in Latin meaning "The Rock,", Simon Peter’s Brother, disciple of John the Baptist, John's Brother, son of Zebedee and Salome, Bornerges, Son of Thunder, nephew of Joseph and Mary, cousin of Jesus, James' Brother, son of Zebedee and Salome, Bornerges, Son of Thunder, nephew of Joseph and Mary, cousin of Jesus. Some argue that Mark’s attempt to distinguish James the Less suggests there was only one other James to distinguish him from. The 12 apostles were Jesus Christ’s closest followers. Together, they witnessed miracles and moments the other apostles weren’t privy to, including: Peter, also known as Simon, Simon Peter, and Cephas, was one of Jesus’ three main disciples (along with James and John).