The Twelve Apostles Anciently

This week’s Come, Follow Me lesson discusses the Twelve Apostles who were called anciently by the Savior.  In Matthew 10:2-4, Luke 6:14-16, and Mark 3:16-19 we are given the names of those  whom the Savior chose.  Since at first glance those lists don’t quite match up with each other, here is a brief description of those 12 with the various names that they are called by.    

·        Simon: Mark 3:16 tells us that the Savior surnamed him Peter, the name most of us know this chief apostle by.     

·        Andrew: He was the brother of Peter and also a fisherman.  We know relatively little about Andrew, and his most prominent line in the New Testament is the statement he made at the time of the feeding of the 5000, “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9)

·        James: He was the brother of John, and the two were called “Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17).  He was one of the first martyrs when he was killed with the sword (Acts 12:2).

·        John: He was the Revelator and the Beloved, and he left us the most writing of the apostles, giving us the gospel of John, the three smaller books of John, and the book of Revelation.     

·        Philip: He was from Bethsaida like Peter and Andrew, and he was one of the first to whom Jesus said, “Follow me” (John 1:43).

·        Bartholomew: It is believed that he is the same as Nathanael in the book of John.  The Bible Dictionary explains, “Nathanael is always mentioned along with Apostles, as though of apostolic rank, and that whereas the Synoptists mention Bartholomew (associating him with Philip) and never Nathanael, John mentions Nathanael and never Bartholomew.”

·        Matthew: He was know before his conversion as Levi, for Mark 2:14 records, “He saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me” (Mark 2:14).  He was a publican/tax collector and he wrote the gospel of Matthew.

·        James, the son of Alphaeus: Very little mention is made of him.

·        Thomas: He was also called Didymus, and he declared his willingness to die with the Savior in John 11:16. 

·        Judas (not Iscariot): He was called Thaddaeus by Mark and Lebbaeus by Matthew and is the brother of James. 

·        Simon (the Canaanite): He was also called Zelotes, meaning that he was originally a Zealot.

·        Judas: He was also called Iscariot and was of course the one who betrayed the Lord.    

These Twelve were sent forth by the Savior to preach, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and to heal the sick.  They were told by Christ as He sent them forth: “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8).  This they did, for as Christ gave them new life, so they gave their lives in service to others.  We too can follow that counsel as we seek in our own way to bring others to Him, remembering that as we have received great blessings of the Lord, we too can give freely to those in need.