Who Were The Apostles?

Reference

Mark 3:13-21

All four Gospels and Acts include Jesus calling the first disciples and who they were.

Mark 3:16-19

Matthew 10:2-4

Luke 6:12-16

John 1:29-2:2, John never names all the disciples in full.

Acts 1:13 names all the disciples except Judas Iscariot since he betrayed Jesus and killed himself.

The men at the heart of the verses we are looking at here in Mark…at the point of these verses already knew who Jesus was, heard of Him, seen Him and were following Jesus.

So who were these followers, or disciples that Jesus would call Apostles?

The majority were fisherman or did some other type of work

They were not scholars.

They did not have a Christian education.
They did not go to seminary and get an MDIV (Master of Divinity)
They did not go to college and get a minor, associate, bachelor, or doctorate degrees in Christian Studies.
They were simply Followers of Jesus!

They listened to Jesus.
They learned from Jesus.
They studied everything about Jesus.
They walked with Jesus.
They talked with Jesus.
Jesus claimed them as His own! (Sounds like the song doesn’t it?)

So who were the fisherman?

Andrew
Peter
James
John
Philip - possibly a fisherman also
Thomas - possibly a fisherman
James
Thaddeus

The others:

Nathanael - (aka Bartholomew) we don’t know
Matthew - tax collector for Rome
Simon the Zealot - Zealot, supported anarchy, and plotted to overthrow Roman rule
Judas Iscariot - treasurer, dealt with money

To follow Jesus is tough…the Disciples learned this.

Following Jesus cost the original disciples their lives except for one.

Andrew - (Brother of Peter) Crucified on an X shaped cross
Peter - (Simon or Cephas) Crucified upside-down on a cross
James - (Son of Zebedee) (aka “Son of Thunder”) Acts 12:2 Killed by the sword
John - (Brother of James, aka “Son of Thunder”) Boiled in oil, survived, sentenced to prison on the isle of Patmos where he wrote the Book of Revelation, later freed and returned to modern-day Turkey where he then died of natural causes, the only Apostle to die naturally
Philip - Martyrs death, likely crucified but possibly beheaded or stoned
Nathanael - (Bartholomew) Flayed alive
Matthew - (aka Levi) Martyred and killed by sword in Ethiopia
Thomas - (Didymus “the twin”) Martyred and killed with a spear
James - (the son of Alphaeus) Stoned and clubbed to death with a fuller’s club
Thaddeus - (aka Jude or Judas, son of James) Martyrs death, possibly an ax
Simon the Zealot - Died a martyrs death, possibly sawed in half
Judas Iscariot - betrayed Jesus, Suicide-Hung Himself
Matthias - possibly stoned and beheaded
Paul - likely beheaded

There were 12 original Apostles

1 killed himself (Judas)
11 Apostles left
1 died of natural causes (John)
Of the 11 remaining apostles, 10 died for their faith in Jesus, and John was willing to die.

91% of the Apostles died for their faith in Jesus.

Why were 91% of the Apostles willing to die?

Truth

The truth and proof of Jesus.
They were eye witnesses of Jesus and the amazing miracles He did

Including walking on water
Healings
Raising the deceased from the dead
Rising from the dead Himself

Acts 1:3 “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 says “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

Taken from “The Case for Christ”.

Homer’s Iliad - 1,565 copies in existence today.

Homer composed the Iliad 800 years before Christ.
The earliest dating of copies place it 3 century A.D.
The gap is 1,000+ years from the time Homer composed the Iliad to the earliest copies of it.

“There are over 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.”

The earliest writings of the NT dates to within 30 years of Jesus death.

Want more proof?

People don’t willingly die for what they believe is a lie.

Jim Jones followers died for what they thought was truth, not because they knew Jim Jones was a false prophet.
Jim Jones commanded his followers to die with him. 900+ died.

Jesus did not, Jesus died so we, His followers could live.

The followers of Jim Jones didn’t continue living to spread his message, instead Jim Jones’ message died with him.

If Jim Jones would have been the real messiah, he would have asked his followers to live, continue spreading the truth of his message, and then, if he were really the messiah, he would have returned again to save them and his followers would have been witnesses.
That didn’t happen.

People do not die for what they know is a lie.

People will die for what they believe is the truth.
The truth will be the proof needed for others to become followers as well.

Fun Fact:

Our average attendance is about 55 on a Sunday.

If we are devout followers of Jesus like the Apostles…
If you were treated the same as the 12 disciples…
Then 50 of us will be martyred for Jesus.

Only 5 people would live to an old age and die of natural causes.

So who were the Apostles?

They were people like you and I, chosen by Jesus to spread the Good News.

We are not Apostles…but we are disciples.

We will be persecuted but we are still called into action.

Matthew 28:19 “Go and make disciples…”

How are we as Christians living today?

Does anything talked about today apply to you?
Are you ready to give up everything and follow Jesus who gave up everything for you?
Are you ready to begin living out your Christianity and become true disciples of Jesus?

When Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness.