Apostle I
Peter
Simon Peter — Cephas, “the Rock”
Who he was. A fisherman of Bethsaida who worked the nets of Galilee with his brother Andrew. Called from his boat by the Lord’s word, he became the spokesman of the Twelve — first to confess Jesus as the Christ, first to preach at Pentecost, and the apostle to the circumcision (Galatians 2:7 – 8). Bold, impulsive, and tender-hearted in turn: he walked on the water and sank; he swore he would die with Christ, and denied Him with oaths the same night; restored by the risen Lord on the same shore where he was called, with the charge, “Feed my sheep.”
“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”His confession — Matthew 16:16 (KJV)
“He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”His restoration — John 21:17 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He preached the Pentecost sermon (Acts 2), stood before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4 – 5), carried the Gospel first to the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house (Acts 10), was delivered from Herod’s prison by an angel (Acts 12), and spoke at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15). Paul names him a pillar of the church at Jerusalem (Galatians 2:9). From prison of conscience he wrote two epistles — “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ” — including the charge to elders to feed the flock, and the prophecy that “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3:10).
What Scripture records of his end: Scripture itself foretells his martyrdom in the Lord’s own words: “when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee” — and John adds plainly, “This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God” (John 21:18 – 19). The place and the manner beyond that hint, the Bible does not state.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION (not Scripture): Peter labored last at Rome, and was crucified there under Nero (c. AD 64 – 68). Origen, preserved in Eusebius (Church History 3.1), records that he was crucified head-downward, having himself requested that posture as unworthy to die as his Lord died. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs tells the same account. His traditional tomb lies beneath St. Peter’s in Rome.
His Bible Characters study ›
Apostle II
Andrew
Peter’s brother — “the bringer-in”
Who he was. A fisherman of Bethsaida and a disciple of John the Baptist before he was Christ’s. He heard John cry, “Behold the Lamb of God,” followed Jesus, and his first recorded act was evangelism: “He first findeth his own brother Simon… and he brought him to Jesus” (John 1:41 – 42). He appears the same way throughout the Gospel — bringing the lad with the loaves (John 6:8 – 9), and bringing the Greeks who sought Jesus (John 12:22).
“He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.”The first evangelist — John 1:41 (KJV)
“Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.”Bringing the Greeks — John 12:22 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He stood with the other apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem (Acts 1:13) and preached with them at Pentecost; after Acts 1 the Scripture names him no more.
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records nothing of Andrew’s later ministry, his travels, or his death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: Eusebius (Church History 3.1) assigns Andrew the field of Scythia (the lands north of the Black Sea), and later accounts add Greece and Asia Minor. The ancient Acts of Andrew and Foxe record his end at Patras in Achaia: condemned by the governor Aegeas, he was bound — not nailed — to a cross in the form of an X (the crux decussata, still called St. Andrew’s cross), from which he preached to the crowds for two days before he died, c. AD 60 – 70.
His Bible Characters study ›
Apostle III
James
James the Greater — son of Zebedee, a “Son of Thunder”
Who he was. A fisherman in partnership with Peter, called with his brother John from mending their nets. With Peter and John he formed the inner circle: present at the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the Transfiguration, and the agony in Gethsemane. Fiery and ambitious — the brothers were surnamed Boanerges, “the sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17) — he and John asked for the thrones at Christ’s right and left hand, and heard the promise: “Ye shall drink indeed of my cup” (Matthew 20:23).
“And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”The cup promised — Matthew 20:23 (KJV)
“And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.”In the inner circle — Mark 5:37 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He stood in the upper room (Acts 1:13) and preached in the first days of the church at Jerusalem — and his ministry there was cut short sooner than any other apostle’s.
What Scripture records of his end: HIS DEATH IS IN SCRIPTURE — one of only two apostles whose death the Bible records: “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:1 – 2), c. AD 44, at Jerusalem.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: Later Spanish tradition claims James preached in Spain before his death, and his shrine at Santiago de Compostela became one of the great pilgrimage sites of the Middle Ages. The claim is a much later growth and cannot be verified from the early writers; what Scripture fixes is his witness and his sword-death at Jerusalem.
Apostle IV
John
The beloved disciple — son of Zebedee, a “Son of Thunder”
Who he was. The younger of Zebedee’s sons, who left his father in the ship at Christ’s call. He leaned on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper, stood at the cross when the others fled, and received the Lord’s mother into his own home from that hour (John 19:26 – 27). He outran Peter to the empty tomb and “saw, and believed” (John 20:8). He wrote the fourth Gospel, three epistles, and the book of Revelation — the apostle of love who is also a son of thunder against error (2 John 10 – 11).
“When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”At the cross — John 19:26–27 (KJV)
“This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.”His own witness — John 21:24 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. With Peter he healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate and faced the council (Acts 3 – 4), and went down to Samaria to pray for the new believers (Acts 8:14). Paul calls him a pillar at Jerusalem (Galatians 2:9). Scripture last shows him in exile: “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation… was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9).
What Scripture records of his end: John is the only apostle whose death Scripture nowhere records; the rumor of his living on until the Lord’s return grew out of the Lord’s own saying, which John himself corrects: “Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die” (John 21:23).
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: John spent his last years at Ephesus, released from Patmos after Domitian’s death, and died there in old age (c. AD 100) — the only one of the Twelve, by the united testimony of the early church, to die a natural death. Tertullian tells that under Domitian he was first plunged into boiling oil at Rome and came out unharmed before his exile. Irenaeus, who learned from John’s own disciple Polycarp, confirms his Ephesian ministry and his Gospel written there.
Apostle V
Philip
Philip of Bethsaida
Who he was. Of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Called by the Lord’s direct word — “Follow me” — he at once found Nathanael with the testimony, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write… Come and see” (John 1:45 – 46). Practical and calculating — it was Philip who reckoned the cost of bread for the multitude (John 6:7) — and it was he who spoke the request of the Upper Room: “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us” (John 14:8).
“And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.”Come and see — John 1:46 (KJV)
“Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”Shew us the Father — John 14:8–9 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He stood in the upper room (Acts 1:13); after the first chapters of Acts the Scripture does not follow him further. (Philip the evangelist of Acts 6, 8, and 21 is a different man — one of the seven deacons — and the two must not be confounded.)
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records nothing of Philip the apostle’s later ministry or death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: Polycrates of Ephesus, quoted by Eusebius (Church History 3.31), testifies that “Philip, one of the twelve apostles,” sleeps (died) at Hierapolis in Phrygia, with his daughters. Later accounts give him a ministry through Scythia and Phrygia and a martyr’s end at Hierapolis — crucified, in some accounts stoned first — c. AD 80. Foxe preserves the tradition of his preaching and death in Phrygia.
His Bible Characters study ›
Apostle VI
Bartholomew / Nathanael
Bartholomew, called Nathanael in John’s Gospel
Who he was. The three first Gospels and Acts list Bartholomew among the Twelve, always beside Philip; John’s Gospel never names Bartholomew but tells of Nathanael of Cana, brought to Christ by Philip — the church has therefore generally understood Bartholomew and Nathanael to be one man (Bartholomew being a surname, “son of Tolmai”). Nathanael is the guileless Israelite of whom the Lord said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” — who asked, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” and within minutes confessed, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (John 1:47 – 49). He stood among the seven at the sea of Tiberias when the risen Lord appeared (John 21:2).
“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”No guile — John 1:47 (KJV)
“Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.”His confession — John 1:49 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He was in the upper room at Jerusalem (Acts 1:13); beyond that the Scripture is silent concerning him.
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records nothing of his later ministry or his death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: Eusebius (Church History 5.10) records that Bartholomew preached in India and left there a Hebrew copy of Matthew’s Gospel, which the missionary Pantænus found still treasured a century later. Other accounts carry him to Armenia; his martyrdom is placed at Albanopolis in Armenia, where tradition says he was flayed alive and then crucified or beheaded, c. AD 68 – 71. The details vary among the early accounts; the constancy of his Indian and Armenian witness does not.
His Bible Characters study › · His Bible Characters study ›
Apostle VII
Thomas
Thomas, called Didymus — “the Twin”
Who he was. The apostle history nicknames “Doubting Thomas” — but his record in John’s Gospel is braver and deeper than the nickname. When the Lord would return to Judea where they sought to stone Him, Thomas said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). Honest in his ignorance — “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5) — he drew from Christ the great answer, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Absent at the first appearance of the risen Lord, he demanded the evidence of his own hands; given it a week later, he made the highest confession in the Gospels.
“Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.”Let us also go — John 11:16 (KJV)
“And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.”My Lord and my God — John 20:28 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He stood in the upper room (Acts 1:13) and was at the sea of Tiberias for the Lord’s appearing (John 21:2). After the book of Acts opens, Scripture does not follow him.
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records nothing of Thomas’ later ministry or death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: One of the most widely attested of all the apostolic fields: Thomas preached to the Parthians and on to India. The early Acts of Thomas and the unbroken tradition of the St. Thomas Christians of Malabar agree that he landed in India (c. AD 52), planted churches on the Malabar coast, and was martyred at Mylapore near Madras — run through with a spear by men his preaching had offended, c. AD 72. Eusebius and the early writers number India and Parthia to his lot; Foxe tells the same story of his Indian martyrdom.
His Bible Characters study ›
Apostle VIII
Matthew
Matthew the publican, called Levi
Who he was. A publican — a Jewish tax-gatherer for Rome, despised by his countrymen as a collaborator and a thief by trade — sitting at the receipt of custom when Jesus passed: “Follow me. And he arose, and followed him” (Matthew 9:9). He left the tax table, the accounts, and the income in one motion, and made Christ a great feast in his own house full of publicans and sinners. He wrote the first Gospel — fittingly, the most carefully ordered and the most Old-Testament-saturated of the four, presenting Jesus to his own Jewish people as the promised Messiah and King.
“And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.”His call — Matthew 9:9 (KJV)
“And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.”His feast — Luke 5:29 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He stood in the upper room (Acts 1:13) among the apostles of the Pentecost church; the Scripture traces him no further by name.
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records nothing of Matthew’s later ministry or death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: The early writers agree Matthew preached first to his own people in Judea, leaving them his Gospel in Hebrew (Papias, quoted by Eusebius). Later accounts carry him to Ethiopia — some say also to Persia and Parthia. His death is placed in Ethiopia (at Nadabar, in the common telling), by the sword, c. AD 60 – 70; the accounts differ on the place and manner, and honest history labels them tradition, not certainty.
His Bible Characters study ›
Apostle IX
James the Less
James the son of Alphæus
Who he was. The quietest of the Twelve — named in every list of the apostles, and recorded as speaking or acting nowhere in the Gospels. He is usually identified with “James the less” (Mark 15:40), whose mother Mary stood at the cross and the tomb. What Scripture gives us of him is precisely his ordinariness: chosen, present, sent — a standing proof that Christ builds His church with men whose names the world, and nearly the record itself, passes over.
“Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;”In the list — Matthew 10:3 (KJV)
“And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.”In the upper room — Acts 1:13 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He was in the upper room and in the Pentecost company (Acts 1:13); Scripture follows him no further in his own name.
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records neither his later ministry nor his death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION — with an honest caution: James the son of Alphæus is often identified in tradition with James the Just, the Lord’s brother, who led the church at Jerusalem and whose death Josephus records (stoned at Jerusalem, c. AD 62), and whose martyrdom Foxe tells in fuller form — cast from the Temple pinnacle, stoned, and finished with a fuller’s club. Other careful readers distinguish the two Jameses, since Scripture names the Lord’s brother separately (Galatians 1:19). We present the identification as tradition holds it, and the question as Scripture leaves it: not fully settled.
Apostle X
Thaddaeus / Jude
Thaddæus, called Lebbæus; Judas the brother of James — the apostle Jude
Who he was. He appears under three names in the New Testament: Thaddæus (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18, where some call him Lebbæus, “whose surname was Thaddæus”), “Judas the brother of James” (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13), and “Judas, not Iscariot” in John’s Gospel — where his one recorded question drew one of the tenderest promises of the Upper Room: “Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” (John 14:22). He wrote the short, thundering epistle that bears his name Jude — “the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James” — contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
“Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”Not Iscariot — John 14:22 (KJV)
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”Contend for the faith — Jude 1:3 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He stood in the upper room (Acts 1:13) and preached in the first days of the Jerusalem church; his epistle, written against creeping teachers of error, is his lasting ministry in Scripture.
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records nothing of Jude’s travels or his death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: The eastern accounts send Thaddaeus to Edessa in Mesopotamia — bearer, in the famous Abgar tradition (preserved by Eusebius, Church History 1.13), of the healing and the Gospel to King Abgar’s city — and on through Mesopotamia and Syria. Western tradition joins him with Simon the Zealot in Persia and gives the two a martyr’s end there together; other accounts name Beirut. The fields (Edessa, Mesopotamia, Persia) are widely agreed; the manner of his death is told with variation.
His Bible Characters study › · His Bible Characters study ›
Apostle XI
Simon the Zealot
Simon the Canaanite — Simon Zelotes
Who he was. Named in every list and given no recorded word or deed in the Gospels — yet his surname is itself a sermon. “Canaanite” (Matthew 10:4) is not his hometown but the Aramaic qan’ana, the Zealot: a man of the party that burned for Israel’s deliverance from Rome. Christ set a former zealot of the sword beside Matthew the former tax-farmer for Rome in the same apostolic band — and made them brethren. He is not Simon Peter, nor Simon the Lord’s brother, nor Simon the leper; Scripture asks us to keep the Simons distinct.
“Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,”In the list — Luke 6:15 (KJV)
“And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.”In the upper room — Acts 1:13 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. He was in the upper room (Acts 1:13); Scripture gives him no further notice.
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records nothing of Simon’s later ministry or death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: The accounts send Simon preaching through Egypt and North Africa, and — in the best-known western tradition — onward with Jude (Thaddaeus) into Persia, where the two were martyred together; the manner is differently told (sawn asunder, or crucified). Some eastern accounts place his end at the Black Sea or in Britain, which cannot be verified. What tradition holds steadily is a wide missionary field and a martyr’s death, c. AD 65 – 107 by the various reckonings.
Apostle XII
Judas Iscariot
The one who fell — “the son of perdition”
Who he was. Chosen with the Twelve, keeper of the common bag, witness of every miracle and hearer of every sermon — and a thief who helped himself to what was put in the bag (John 12:6). For thirty pieces of silver — the price of a slave — he covenanted with the chief priests, and sealed the betrayal with a kiss in Gethsemane. The Lord had named him from the beginning: “have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (John 6:70); and at the table, “that thou doest, do quickly” (John 13:27).
“Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”One of you is a devil — John 6:70 (KJV)
“And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.”The betrayal price — Matthew 26:15 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. Judas had no ministry after Pentecost — he did not live to see it. When he saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse, cast the silver down in the Temple — “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” — and went out from the presence of God’s house to hang himself (Matthew 27:3 – 5). His remorse is Scripture’s standing lesson in the difference between sorrow for consequences and repentance toward God (2 Corinthians 7:10).
What Scripture records of his end: HIS DEATH IS IN SCRIPTURE: he hanged himself (Matthew 27:5); and Peter in Acts gives the ghastly complement — falling headlong where he hung, he burst asunder and his bowels gushed out, in the field his money bought, Akeldama, “the field of blood” (Acts 1:18 – 19). Peter’s verdict on his apostleship stands as his epitaph: he “by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place” (Acts 1:25). His office was filled by Matthias, that the number of the Lamb’s apostles might stand at twelve forever (Revelation 21:14).
What early church tradition records: None is needed and none is offered: where Scripture speaks this fully, tradition has nothing to add.
Chosen in the Place of Judas
Matthias
The twelfth, chosen by lot — chosen by lot in the place of Judas Iscariot, who fell (Acts 1:15–26).
Who he was. The apostle Scripture almost only introduces — and his introduction is his whole testimony: he was of the company that had been with Jesus “beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us” (Acts 1:21 – 22). For three years he followed, unnamed, unrecorded, faithful in the crowd. When Judas fell, the hundred and twenty prayed and cast lots between Joseph Barsabas and Matthias, “and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:26).
“Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.”The qualification — Acts 1:21–22 (KJV)
“And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”The choosing — Acts 1:26 (KJV)
His ministry after Pentecost. His choosing is itself his recorded ministry in Scripture: he completes the Twelve before Pentecost, and with them receives the Spirit; the book of Acts does not single him out again.
What Scripture records of his end: The Bible records nothing of Matthias’ later labors or his death.
What early church tradition records: EARLY CHURCH TRADITION: Clement of Alexandria preserves sayings ascribed to Matthias on mortifying the flesh. Later accounts give him a ministry in Judea and then in Ethiopia (the Colchis and Caspian regions in some tellings), and a martyr’s death — stoned by the Jews at Jerusalem and beheaded after death, in the most common account; others place his end in Ethiopia. The tradition is old but its details differ, and we give it as tradition.
