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The Twelve Apostles: Their Identity and Mission

Keith Parker of Prayer for Israel

The Greek word “apostle” represents the Hebrew word Hyls “shaliach”. The meaning is “emissary”: someone who is sent out with a special mission. Jesus chose 12 men to be his special emissaries to establish his testimony to the world, and to give final form to Scripture, by giving us the New Testament, and to lay the foundation of the Church, the ecclesia of the Messiah.

The fact that some of Christ’s apostles had several names can be a cause of some confusion. It would seem also that at least two of them were relatives of Jesus, and others were closely related to one another, there being three sets of brothers in the original Apostolic College.

Looking at the testimony of the Gospel writers, we may compare the lists in Matthew (10:2ff), Mark (3:13ff), and Luke (6:13ff). Luke makes another list in a slightly different order in Acts 1:13, of course excluding Judas Iscariot, and, later in the chapter, explains how Matthias came to be elected to the Apostolic Body to fill the gap caused by Judas’s treachery. Below we have in parallel columns four lists of the Apostles of Christ. I am conforming the order of the other lists to Matthew’s, to make the variations in some names easier to reconcile.

The fact that there are 12 apostles is a parallel to the 12 tribes of Israel.

In fact the Twelve are told “Ye also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). That is why another apostle had to be elected after the demise of Judas Iscariot. Also it suggests that all apostles had to be Jewish. There is no clear example of a non-Jewish apostle in the NT.

There is one reference to “the apostles of the churches” (2 Cor 8:23) by Paul, but these are not MyHyls shlichim sent out by Jesus to establish the church, but rather emissaries sent out by the congregations for various purposes.

Thus the Authorized Version calls them “messengers”, showing the understanding the translators had of the distinction between Christ’s apostles, the direct witnesses of his resurrection, and men sent out by established congregations.

Notes on the Names
Most of the Apostles have Hebrew names: Shimon (Simon) [2 men], Ya‘aqov (James) [2 men], Yochanan (John), Mattai (Matthew) [who is also called Levi, son of Alphæus in Mark 2:14] and Yehudah (Judas) [2 men]. Some names are Aramaic: “Thaddaeus” (Taddai), and “Lebbaeus (Labbai) [referring to the same person]. “Thomas” is also Aramaic “Toma”, related to the Hebrew Muat “T’om”, meaning a twin.

In John’s Gospel only, he is referred to also as “Didymus”, which is Greek for “twin”. Bartholomew is an Aramaic patronymic, meaning, “son of Talmai”.

If we take the name “Nathanael” (lantn) [in John’s Gospel] to refer to him, then his name was “Nathanael son of Talmai”. “Nathanael” is of course a Hebrew name meaning: “God has given”.

Three of the apostles have Greek names, “Andrew” and “Philip”, and of course, “Peter” is the Greek form of the Aramaic “Cephas”. Most of the apostles originated from Galilee, a very multicultural region, where a great deal of Greek would be spoken. Both Jesus and the apostles would be fluent in Koiné Greek, because it was the lingua franca of most of the Roman world, and the “trade language” of the region.

The order of names in the lists varies slightly, but in general we can say that the apostles are listed in pairs, some of them are brothers, like Simon & Andrew, and James & John sons of Zebedee.

The one apostle who has three different names is “Thaddæus” (in Mark), who is also “Lebbæus” (in Matthew), and “Judas the brother of James” (in Luke). This particular ‘James’ has to be “James the son of Alphæus”. Thus these two (James and Judas) are also brothers. Mark tells us that Levi (Matthew) was a son of Alphæus, so perhaps he was a brother of James and Jude.

John does not make a list of the apostles, but he does mention several of them.

1. Simon Peter. John informs us that Jesus called Simon “Cephas” [apk], an Aramaic name (John 1:40-42). [Paul also often calls Peter “Cephas”.]

2. Andrew, Peter’s brother.

3. Philip (1:43).

4. Nathanael (1:45). This may be an alternative name for Bartholomew.

5. Judas Iscariot is frequently mentioned, and so is

6. “Judas, not Iscariot” (14:22). This has to refer to “Judas the brother of James” [or Lebbæus/Thaddæus].

7. Thomas (famed for his doubting the physical nature of the Resurrection of Christ).

8. “The disciple whom Jesus loved” (20:2), by which title John refers to himself.

Apostles not mentioned in John’s Gospel by name are

1. James, John’s brother,

2. James, son of Alphæus,

3. Matthew,

4. Simon the Zealot.

5. Though the name “Bartholomew” is not there, “Nathanael” is believed to be the same person.

Both John and Matthew mention the name of Peter’s father, Jona (Matt 16:17; John 1:42).

The Identity of James the son of Alphæus
“James the son of Alphæus” is the same as “James the Lord’s brother” (Gal 1:19).

That means that this James is therefore the same one who wrote the epistle (James 1:1), and also that “Judas the brother of James” is Jude, who also wrote an epistle (Jude 1).

“Alphæus” is a Græcized form of the Aramaic name “Chalfai” iflH. This may also be represented by the names Cleophas (John’s Gospel) and Cleopas (Luke 24). They could all be referring to the same person. If the two “sons of Alphæus” are “brothers of the Lord”, it means that Alphæus could have been a brother of Mary (Miriam) the mother of Jesus.

Thus “brother”, in this case, would have the wider sense of “close kinsman”.

John 19:25 tells us that “there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene”. It is unlikely that two full sisters would have the same name (Mary).

Probably that Mary is the sister-in-law of Mary Mother of Jesus, married to her brother Chalfai. Mark, referring to the same occasion, but after Mary the mother of Jesus had departed with John, says, “There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less, and of Joses and Salome”.

Putting the lists together, we have a “Mary”, who is both “the wife of Cleophas” and “mother of James the less”. Who is “James the Less” (or “little James”)? James the Less would appear to be “James the son of Alphæus”, an apostle of less rank than James the brother of John. But after “Big James” had been murdered by Herod (Acts 12:2), “Little James” became the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. Paul gives him great honour, listing him as one of the prime witnesses of the risen Christ (1 Cor 15:7), and calling him “the Lord’s brother” (Gal 1:19).

I used to think that that particular James was one of Jesus’s brothers, as listed in the next section, but I have had to change my mind.

Luke 24 mentions “two of them”, who went walking to Emmaus on the Sunday of Christ’s resurrection, and had the dramatic meeting with the risen Jesus. One of these two is specifically named as “Cleopas” (Was the other one his wife, Mary?) This ‘Cleopas’ could be Alphæus the father of James and Jude, and therefore the uncle of Jesus.

Brothers of Jesus

Other “brethren of Jesus” are mentioned in Matthew 13:55 as “James (Ya‘aqov) and Joses (Yosei) and Simon (Shimon) and Judas (Yehudah)”. The context in which these names are mentioned implies that they were probably Mary’s later sons by her husband Joseph, thus making them Jesus’s half-brothers. Otherwise they could have been Joseph’s sons by an earlier marriage.

The fact that three of the four have the same names as some of Christ’s apostles seems to be a coincidence.

The James and Jude, who wrote the Epistles named for them, are not, therefore, the Lord’s immediate brothers, sons of Mary, but His brothers in the wider sense of being ‘close kinsmen’, or cousins.

John, when giving his account of the miracle at Cana of Galilee, tells us that both our Lord’s disciples, and his mother were present (John 2:1-2). After that, “he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples” (verse 12). Thus we have a distinction drawn between Jesus’s disciples, and his brethren.

This distinction is further emphasized in Matthew 12:46-50, when Jesus’s mother and brothers stand outside, desiring to speak with him. His response is, “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother”. It could not be made clearer, that at this time his closest relatives were not within the fold of his disciples. Possibly his mother Mary was having her doubts, too, at that particular time. She was only human, after all.

Judas Iscariot

The surname ‘Iscariot’ is Hebrew, ‘Ish Kriyot’ [man of Kriyot – plural of Kiryah, meaning town]. In the Book of Joshua (15:25), the city of Kerioth is mentioned.

Perhaps he was a native of this town, and thus the only Judæan in the Apostolic band. This man might be seen as somewhat of a mystery.

Did Jesus make a mistake when he chose him?

Did Judas have a calling to “sit on a throne” and judge one of the tribes of Israel?

Did he indeed have a spiritual ministry, and did he miss out on it?

Could he have avoided his self-incurred destruction?

Natural questions to ask, but all clearly answered if one studies John’s Gospel.

Several scriptures in John’s Gospel (chiefly the end of chapter 6) make it clear that Judas Iscariot was chosen by Jesus in the full knowledge that he would betray the Lord. Jesus also calls Judas “the son of perdition” (John 17:12), which is also the title of the ‘man of sin’ described by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. “Son of perdition” implies that Judas was foreordained to destruction. In fact, his ‘ministry’ was an important one. He was the man who led the Lamb of God to those, who would put him to death.

Arguably, without Judas, there would have been no atonement. Or, to put it another way, God, in his sovereignty chose to use Judas, an antichrist figure, to deliver up Jesus to the cross, for the benefit of mankind.

Saul of Tarsus, later the apostle Paul

Some Bible expositors have suggested that the Apostles made a mistake in electing Matthias, and that they should have waited till God called Saul of Tarsus.

The truth is that Saul/Paul was never one of the Twelve, but was uniquely chosen and appointed by the risen and ascended Messiah. We have the story in the Acts, of how Jesus sovereignly met with Saul on the road to Damascus, and prepared him to be the apostle par excellence to the Gentiles. He became the human author of the largest section of the New Testament, and the man who did the most to systematize the doctrines of salvation.

This gives us the clue as to why Jesus chose Paul as a “supernumerary” apostle: because probably nobody else among the Twelve would have the qualifications to put the gospel into a systematic form, especially to spell out the doctrine of Justification By Faith in forensic terms, and to explain how the gospel message differs from, and in many ways replaces the Torah.

The Ministry of the Twelve

Of the Twelve, several became actual writers of Scripture. Matthew, according to reliable early testimony from the Church Fathers, authored the Gospel named for him. Mark calls Matthew “Levi son of Alphæus”. Perhaps he was a brother of James and Jude, unless it is a coincidence that their fathers had the same name.

John wrote his Gospel, 3 epistles, and the Book of Revelation. James [son of Alphæus] and Jude [Judas, the brother of James], Jesus’s cousins, both wrote important epistles. Peter was the apostolic authority behind the Gospel of Mark, and also left us two epistles.

Maybe the Gospel of Luke includes the testimony and memoirs of some of the non-writing apostles (see Luke 1:2). Luke’s Gospel, by the way, has the apostolic authority of Paul behind it, because Luke was part of Paul’s team, as we see in the Acts of the Apostles, which book, of course, Luke also authored.

The rest of the apostles, Andrew, James the brother of John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, and Simon the Zealot were not used by the Holy Spirit as Scripture writers, nor was Matthias, though doubtless they were given missions as planters of churches in many places. Some, like (big) James [the brother of John], may well have been martyred at an early date.

Just as great Old Covenant prophets like Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist left no writings, and yet are honoured for their great ministries, so these self-effacing apostles of the Messiah worked, but did not write.

Interestingly, the Gnostics, and other anti-Christian groups, wrote false books, such as “The Gospel of Thomas”, to try and foist their errors on the Church through claimed “apostolic authority”.

Through the faithful ministry of the Church Fathers their false scriptures and false gospel were rejected.

During the 20th Century the Gnostic scriptures have been rediscovered, translated, and turned into tools of the New Age movement, which, like the earlier Gnosticism has sought to infiltrate the Church. The feminists within the professed church, as well as the homosexuals and lesbians have been grateful for the Gnostic ‘scriptures’, because they have found the canonical books unfriendly towards their newfangled doctrines.

The enduring importance of the apostolic writings for the Church today is therefore underlined. The efforts of infiltrators within the professed Church to destroy “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3) can only be resisted by faithfulness to the ministry of the NT apostles. The claim of the apostles to be the exclusive channels of revelation is therefore crucial.

Note

A recent (October 2002) report from Israel mentions that an inscribed ossuary (container for human bones) was found near Silwan, Jerusalem, inscribed “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”. It has been dated around AD63, roughly the date of the martyrdom of James, the leader of the Jerusalem congregation. If it does refer to that particular “James”, then my thesis that James of Jerusalem was ‘James the son of Alphæus’ would fall to the ground.

However, it may well be that it is the ossuary of the half-brother of the Lord (mentioned in Matthew 13:55), and that, as I have concluded, he was neither the chief pastor of the Congregation in Jerusalem, nor an apostle. As we have seen, he was certainly not one of the Twelve. Since the breaking of this news, Israeli archaeologists have claimed the ossuary to be a forgery.

J. K. T. Parker

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