Who Were The 12 Apostles? The Complete Guide - OverviewBible

by Ryan Nelson | Sep 4, 2019 | Bible characters | 4 comments

The 12 apostles, also referred to as the 12 disciples or simply “the Twelve,” were Jesus Christ’s 12 closest followers. Each of them were major leaders in the movement which became Christianity and helped spread the gospel throughout the world.

The names of Jesus’ 12 main disciples are:

Peter

(also known as Simon)

Andrew

(Peter’s brother)

James

son of Zebedee

John

(James’ brother)

Philip

Bartholomew

Thomas

Matthew

the tax collector

James

son of Alphaeus

Jude

(also known as Thaddeus)

Simon

the Zealot

Judas Iscariot

Matthias the apostle is technically also one of the Twelve, but usually not included in lists for a couple reasons:

• He was appointed after the death of Judas Iscariot
• He wasn’t called into the group by Jesus

Four passages in the Bible list the names of all 12 apostles (technically the last one only lists 11, because Judas Iscariot was dead). Some of the apostles play key roles in well-known Bible stories. Others are only mentioned in the lists of apostles, or they have a single line of dialogue in the gospels.

A few of the apostles were known by multiple names, which can make these lists and other references to them confusing. In some cases, disciples with common names have been mistakenly identified with other biblical figures who had the same name.

(For example, Philip the Apostle is definitely not Philip the Evangelist, who appears in Acts 6:5, Acts 8:5–6, and Acts 21:8.)

Much of what we “know” about the apostles comes from church tradition. Unfortunately, tradition often embraced legends alongside facts, and it can be difficult to discern details about where the disciples went, what they did, and how they died without assuming the legends surrounding them are rooted in truth. This is especially true for the more obscure disciples.

Today, many Christians simply accept tradition (and therefore the legends) at face value. But if we care about truth and claim to represent it, we have a duty to examine this information more critically, and we need to be willing to accept when we simply don’t know something.

At least that’s our position at OverviewBible.

In this guide, we’re going to look at what the Bible says about each of Jesus’ 12 main disciples and explore the ambiguities and unknowns surrounding them. If you want to learn more about any of the disciples, follow the links below to jump into an in-depth guide on each person.

For starters, let’s take a look at the four lists of apostles.

The four lists of the 12 apostles

Four passages in the Bible give us the names of the apostles: Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:13-16, and Acts 1:13. While the order the names appear in is generally about the same, these lists don’t actually include all the same names, and some of them provide details the others don’t.

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.

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. The list in Acts occurs after Jesus ascends to heaven, and the believers decide to replace Judas Iscariot while waiting for the Holy Spirit.

The apostles are generally listed in order of importance and paired according to their associations. The main exception is Andrew. His brother Peter was the most prominent disciple, but Andrew was less important than James and John, who were part of Jesus’ most inner circle .

To help you see the differences between the lists, here are the names in the order they appear in each passage.

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