It may come as a surprise to many, but Christianity, if we define it as a religious movement intentionally separate and distinct from Judaism, is not apostolic. Let me state my thesis a bit more fully and then provide the evidence. First, to remind readers of the obvious, all of the apostles were Jews. Historically, …
Category: Apostles
The First “Apostle to the Gentiles”? The Possessed Man from Gergesa
Among the earliest messengers (Greek = apostolos) proclaiming the messiahship of Jesus were the twelve specially chosen disciples and, later, secondary followers of Jesus who learned about him from those who knew him. Initially, these messengers limited their target audience to Jews; after all, the Jewish messiah had come; they based their belief on prophecies …
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The Twelve Apostles Part 6: Thaddaeus, Simon, Judas & the Rest
With this post, we complete our historical survey of the lives of the twelve apostles. Here, we discuss the apostles Thaddaeus, Simon, Judas, “and the rest.” Thaddaeus/Lebbaeus/Judas son of James It is possible, though unlikely, that these three names all refer to the same person. Some suggest that the names Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus ultimately …
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The Twelve Apostles, Part 5 – Matthew, Thomas, James
We continue our historical survey of the lives of the twelve apostles. In this post, we discuss the apostles Matthew, Thomas, and James. Matthew The Greek word, Matthaios, from which we derive Matthew, comes from the Semitic Mattiyah meaning “gift of Yahweh.” Beyond that, and the appearance of his name in the lists of …
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The Twelve Apostles, Part 4 – The Hellenists: Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew
We continue our series of historical investigations into the twelve specially-chosen followers of Jesus with this look at three who bore Hellenist names: Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew. Andrew Andrew is a Greek name (Andreas = “manly”). All four New Testament gospels (Matt 4:18, 10:2; Mark 1:16; Luke 6:14; John 1:40, 6:8) identity him as …
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The Twelve Apostles, Part 3: The Thunder Brothers, Sons of Zebedee
We continue with our series of historical investigations into the twelve specially-chosen followers of Jesus with this combined look at James and John, the sons of Zebedee. James, son of Zebedee The New Testament features a number of men named James (Greek Iakōbos from the Hebrew Ya’akov or Jacob). Most of what we know …
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The Twelve Apostles Part 2: Simon Peter
We carry on with part 2 of our historical investigation of the Twelve special persons chosen by Jesus to supplement his work. This blog will focus on Simon Peter. “Simon” is the Greek form of the Semitic name Šim`ôn, one of the most common Jewish names known to us from antiquity. It means “Yah(weh) has …
The Twelve Apostles: Who Were They?
In this series of posts, we will explore the history of Jesus’s closest followers as recorded across numerous ancient Christian traditions. Along the way, we will find that these traditions are often confused, contradictory, or seriously lacking in details. Nevertheless, we will attempt to distill all the historical data possible and, at times, risk delving …
David Christian Clausen 