Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic. Today we’re covering a religious topic a little bit more
in-depth. Today we’re looking at the 12 apostles,
or sometimes called the 12 disciples, of Jesus Christ. During the story of the gospel,
these were the 12 closest friends and followers of Jesus, but you might not know a lot about
these people. So we’re going to recap who the 12 were and what we know about them.
What does the word ‘apostle’ mean? The closest English translation is something like messenger,
someone you’d send out with a message, but also something like a delegate,
representing a person or cause. So in this context, the apostles were sent out with a
message and representing Jesus Christ. So as we talk about these 12 apostles,
we’re going to find their stories in four books of the New Testament referred to as the Gospels.
Four of the apostles wrote these books based on their experiences,
so we have the Books of Mark, John, Luke, and Matthew. There may be some inconsistencies in
these Books in minor ways, usually believed to be due to their different experiences and context for
the events in which they were witnessing. There's also some debate about who wrote
the different books, if it was truly them or someone writing about them.
In these books, they tell of how the apostles became connected to Jesus. While often,
the stories seem to have Jesus meeting the apostles for the first time, others allude
to some of the apostles knowing Jesus before, such as a shared connection to John the Baptist,
who himself baptized Jesus Christ.
Remember that John is not the same John who wrote the Gospel and that we're going to talk about here.
The first apostles that Jesus recruited were four men who were fishing. Peter,
Andrew, James, and John. Peter is specifically mentioned that his original name was Simon, or
sometimes spelled Simeon, but that Jesus gave him the name Peter instead. We see this a few times,
usually indicative of a major character change. It’s referenced that Peter had a wife and maybe
even children, this is debated, but it’s clear that Peter was fishing with his brother Andrew
when Jesus came across them both. Throughout the gospels, Peter has a few significant moments,
including when he witnesses Jesus walking on water and attempts to do the same, though his
lack of faith at that moment caused him to fall into the lake. He also denied Jesus three times
in the events of the crucifixion. Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, Peter was sent
out on missionary trips across the region, one of the most major evangelical forces at the time.
His leadership of the early church forms the basis of what is now known as ‘apostolic succession,’
in which apostles consecrate and make others valid, so some churches today claiming apostolic
succession often go back to Peter. Apostolic succession is very important to some churches,
such as Catholic and Orthodox churches, though most Protestant churches don’t see the need for this.
Back to Peter, his death isn’t clear, but it’s believed that he died via crucifixion at
the hands of the Romans, sometimes even shown as being crucified upside down.
The Basilica of Saint Peter in Vatican City is believed to be built over his burial place.
Now with Peter, his brother Andrew also joined Jesus. Following spreading the gospel after the
resurrection, Andrew was crucified in the city of Patras in Greece, though he didn’t
believe himself worthy to be crucified in the same fashion, so he was crucified on an x-shaped cross,
now known as a Saint Andrew’s Cross. In Patras, there now sits the Basilica of Saint Andrew,
where his remains and relics have been kept. When we learn about Peter and Andrew giving up
fishing to join Jesus, we also learn of two other brothers James and John. There were two James,
with this one being James the Great, with ‘great’ meaning older. James is shown to
have quite a temper in the gospels, even asking Jesus to rain down fire on a Samaritan village
that didn’t welcome him. Jesus of course did not. James is martyred in the pages of Acts,
beheaded by a king named Herod. Following his death, James became the patron saint of Spain,
though there are conflicting theories why. Some believe that James might have spread the gospel
through Spain, before returning to Judea where he was executed. There are conflicting
theories as to why and how this could have happened, and his remains are believed to kept
in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, though how they got there again is up for debate.
James had a little brother that was also an apostle, John. Like his brother James, he also had
a temper. Jesus even went so far as to call the brothers what is translated as “Sons of Thunder.”
Following the death and resurrection, John had a vital role in the spreading of the gospel, as he’s
the only apostle believed to die of old age, so he had time to share and lay the foundation for
the modern church. It’s also believed that John wrote other books in the New Testament, including
the Book of Revelations. Like almost everything here, this is hotly debated as well. John is a
common name, so some believe that multiple Johns wrote these books, and John’s gospel also has some
drastic differences because he wrote the gospel decades after the others, since he lived so long.
Let’s move to Matthew, who is also referenced as Levi in two of the gospels. We believe these are the same person.
We get an occupation for this apostle, who was a tax collector who immediately gives up his job
and invites Jesus and his apostles to a meal. Tax collectors were seen as villains and so this was
an instance of Jesus taking time with and talking to people otherwise looked down upon in the time.
His life after the Resurrection isn’t delved into with detail, though it’s believed his missions led
him to places like modern day Iran and Ethiopia. Now let’s cover Thomas. The story where you may
know Thomas is in doubt at the resurrection of Jesus, giving him the name Doubting Thomas.
Paraphrasing, Thomas would only believe that Jesus had risen from the dead
when he could see and feel the wounds himself. Well, Jesus appeared and showed him.
Now sent out into the world, Thomas is believed to have ventured as far as India to spread the
gospel and his body is buried under now what is called the St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica.
We now move to Philip. There’s not a lot known about the life of Philip before and
after the events of the New Testament. It’s also easy to confuse the apostle Philip with a
prominent evangelist also called Philip. There is a letter believed to be written by Peter to Philip
that asks Philip to return to the group of other apostles, alluding that Philip had left on his own
for some time, though we’re not sure why. There isn’t a definite answer as to how Philip died,
though there are stories of crucifixion.
We also have Bartholomew,
who is often referenced with Philip and they may been introduced to Jesus at around the same time.
Following the resurrection, Bartholomew is believed to have gone into India and ended in the
region near Armenia and Turkey. His cause of death is unsure, but some claim that he was flayed alive
and beheaded after he had converted the then-king of Armenia to Christianity.
I mentioned earlier that there were two James. The second James was often called James the Less,
since he was younger. There is very little written about him, usually only appearing in lists of the
apostles by name. We also have the problem of too many James, so several characters may have been
confused, so even his post-resurrection spreading of the gospel is unsure.
Next up we have Simon the Zealot, so he’s called. He’s called the Zealot in the list
of apostles to distinguish from Simon who becomes Peter. He is often tied to Jude, another apostle,
as they supposedly ventured across Armenia, Egypt, and Lebanon. Both his and Jude’s deaths are unsure
but a popular theory is that they were martyred in Lebanon and both of their remains are
supposedly kept in St. Peter’s Basilica now. The last of the original 12 apostles is Judas
Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus and then hung himself as told in the Book of Matthew.
Judas was replaced by an apostle named Matthias and this is interesting in that his calling was
not made by Jesus, as Jesus had already ascended. He seems to have been in the crowds following
and supporting Jesus but was only called up to be among the few apostles following Judas’ betrayal.
We also have an apostle who wasn’t even one of the 12 apostles but you might have assumed he was.
And that is Paul, generally regarded as a vital pillar to the early days of the church,
but he was actually opposing the original apostles and wanted them jailed, going then by the name
Saul. Another example of a new name for a new life. The ascended Jesus appeared to him and
blinded him for three days, changing the course of Paul’s life forever. He wrote many of the books,
about fourteen, of the New Testament, before he was beheaded by Romans and is believed to be
buried under the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. It exists in Italy but the
Vatican has full ownership of this site. Now I know that’s a brief overview, some of
these apostles have much deeper stories, stories that are contested and debated among historians
and theologians. But hopefully this was an interesting starting place. Thanks for watching!