Archives
The Twelve Apostles of Jesus
At the beginning of his Ministry, Jesus Christ chose a few men to be his disciples. From these he chose twelve to be special messengers or apostles. They were:
Simon (renamed Peter)
Andrew
James (son of Zebedee)
John
Philip
Bartholomew
Matthew
Thomas
James (Son of Alphaeus)
Simon (the Zealot)
Judas (Son of James)
Judas Iscariot)
Peter (Simon)
Peter was a fisherman and the first disciple to be called. He was also the first apostle. Peter was the most outstanding of the 12 apostles.
Andrew
Andrew was Peter's brother and a fisherman as well. He was called to be a disciple together with his brother Simon (Peter).
James (Son of Zebedee)
James, son of Zebedee was also a fisherman. He is always mentioned together with his brother John. Jesus nicknamed them 'Sons of Thunder' (Mark 3:17).
John
John was the brother of James and a fisherman. Apparently he was the younger of the two as he was always mentioned second in the Bible. These two brothers were called 3rd and 4th respectively after Peter and Andrew. Peter, James and John were Jesus' closest disciples.
Philip
Philip is fifth on the list of the 12 apostles. He is also brother of Bartholomew.
Bartholomew
Bartholomew is 6th on the list of the apostles and the brother of Philip.
Matthew
Matthew or Levi was a tax collector and 7th on the list. It is interesting that Jesus chose a tax collector to be one of his disciples and apostles as tax collectors were a despised set of people among the Jews as they were very corrupt.
Thomas
Thomas was the apostle who did not believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Because of him the term "doubting Thomas" was born. (John 20:25)
James son of Alphaeus
This James was the 9th of the Apostles.
Simon the Zealot
Simon the Zealot was also known as Simon the Canaanite. He was probably a member of a Jewish political party known as the zealots, hence his name. A zealot was a member of a Jewish sect that opposed the Roman domination of Palestine during the first century AD.
Judas the son of James
This Judas was also called Thaddeus as well as Judas the Zealot, probably to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot.
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot, as we all know, was the one who betrayed Jesus. He was the only one of the apostles who was not from Galilee. He was also the groups treasurer. Judas commited suicide after he betrayed Jesus.
Images were taken from Visual Bible Alive
