Now the names of the twelve apostles are these;
//I won’t bore you with the rest of the verse. You probably won’t recognize some of the names anyway. Ever hear of Lebbaeus?
The four gospels, the book of Acts, and Paul all agree there were twelve. In fact, they insist. Twelve men, to govern the twelve tribes of Israel when the Messiah returns. But who are these twelve men?
Different writers give different lists, and this has led to endless research, tracking down just exactly who is whom. Here’s the full collection, borrowed from the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, if you’d like to try your hand at this exercise.
| APOSTLES of JESUS |
MAT
|
MAR
|
LUK
|
JOH
|
ACT
|
GAL
|
|
|
1
|
ANDREW |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
|
2
|
BARTHOLOMEW |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
|
3
|
JAMES ALPHAEUS |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
|
4
|
JAMES, BROTHER of JESUS |
X
|
|||||
|
5
|
JAMES ZEBEDEE |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
6
|
JOHN ZEBEDEE |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
7
|
JUDAS, BROTHER of JAMES |
X
|
X
|
||||
|
8
|
JUDAS ISCARIOT, SON of SIMON |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
|
9
|
JUDAS, NOT ISCARIOT |
X
|
X
|
||||
|
10
|
LABBAEUS THADDEUS |
X
|
X
|
||||
|
11
|
LEVI ALPHAEUS, the PUBLICAN |
X
|
X
|
||||
|
12
|
MATTHEW, the PUBLICAN |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
|
13
|
NATHANAEL of CANA |
X
|
|||||
|
14
|
NICODEMUS? |
?
|
|||||
|
15
|
PHILIP |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
16
|
SIMON PETER |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
17
|
SIMON the CANAANITE |
X
|
X
|
||||
|
18
|
SIMON ZELOTES |
X
|
X
|
||||
|
19
|
THOMAS DIDYMUS |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|