The Apostles - Overview

 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. - Matthew 10:2‭-‬4

And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house. - Mark 3:13‭-‬19 

Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. - Luke 6:12‭-‬16

The twelve apostles: Simon (Peter), Andrew, James the son of Zebedee, John the son of Zebedee, Philip, Bartholomew (Nathanael?), Thomas, Matthew (Levi), James the son of Alphaeus, Judas the son of James (Lebbaeus Thaddaeus), Simon the Cananite/Zealot, Judas Iscariot.

Out of the multitude of people who followed Jesus, He only invited twelve to intimately disciple. He would later choose these twelve to be His apostles, who would go and preach the good news of the Kingdom throughout the world. The Holy Spirit, along with their faithful efforts, gave birth to the church of which they would be the foundation (Revelation 21:14). 

The Bible doesn't provide much information about the apostles. In fact, it only gives account of when Jesus invited Philip, Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew/Levi to follow Him. We don't know when or how he called the others.

According to the apostle John's gospel, Andrew and probably John, were disciples of John the Baptist. The day after Jesus was baptized, they were with John, baptizing at Bethany. At that time Jesus walked by and John the Baptist said, "Look, the Lamb of God!", and John's two disciples went and spent the day with Jesus. Because Andrew and John were disciples of John the Baptist, they were probably aware that the Messiah was coming soon, and therefore they were being watchful of His arrival. They seemed to have known immediately who John was referring to when he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!", because they immediately followed Him. The apostle John is the only New Testament writer who uses the term, "Lamb" for Jesus. Maybe this is because John the Baptist taught his disciples about the Messiah being the "sacricial lamb" whose blood would atone for the sins of the world. 

They also called Him "Rabbi", which means, "Great teacher", even though He was not an official religious teacher of Judaism. Maybe this was because they knew He was the Messiah, or because they knew He was a prophet. We know that when Jesus was twelve years old, He was found listening to the Jewish teachers and asking questions. The Bible says that Jesus continued to increase in wisdom and stature. Luke says that when Jesus went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, "as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." - Luke 4:16. Jesus regularly went to the synagogue, so maybe he taught in some capacity leading up to this time, and John's disciples were aware of it. However the Bible says that He didn't begin His public ministry until after John the Baptist was imprisoned almost a year later, so I'm not sure why they called Him "Rabbi" the first time they saw Him.

Afterwards, Andrew immediately went to his brother Simon (Peter), and said, "We have found the Messiah", and brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone). This was Peter's first encounter with Jesus, but because his brother Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, he also was likely aware that the Messiah was coming soon. The only response of Peter in the recorded account, is of allowing Andrew to take him to Jesus. This seems to indicate that Peter believed Andrew's allegation of who Jesus was.

The next day, Jesus went to Galilee and "finding" Philip, he said to him, "Follow me". It sounds to me like Jesus went to Galilee in search of Philip, to invite him to be one of his disciples. Philip was the first disciple to be called by Jesus to follow Him, at least that is recorded in the Bible. 

Philip immediately went and told Nathanael that they had found the one Moses and the prophets wrote about - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. The Bible doesn't tell us, but Philip may have been a disciple of John the Baptist, and therefore was aware of what Moses and the prophets said about the Messiah. John says that Philip was from the same town as Andrew and Peter, so it's also possible that they all knew each other, and therefore Philip heard from Andrew about the coming of the Messiah. It's also possible that he knew what the Scriptures say about the Messiah, and he was just waiting and watching for Him, maybe because he understood the times.

Many of the Jews did not, and therefore they were not waiting or watching, and they denied that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. But there was a remnant who were eagerly anticipating His arrival, and Philip, as well as all of the apostles, were of this group. We know because they recognized Him when He came and they did not reject His claims of being the Messiah and the Son of God. In fact, they actually said that is who He was.

John records some dialogue between Jesus and Nathanael, but it does not say that Jesus invited Nathanael to follow Him. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Nathanael is not listed among the Twelve Jesus chose as apostles, however some scholars think that Bartholomew, who is included in all three lists, is the same person as Nathanael. John lists Nathanael as a disciple among six of the other members of the Twelve, when Jesus appears to them before ascending to heaven, by the Sea of Tiberias in John 21, suggesting a strong possibility that he was an apostle. The dialogue between Jesus and Nathanael would suggest that Jesus chose him as an apostle also, but I will explain that later.

Almost an entire year later, after John the Baptist was imprisoned, Jesus invited Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow Him, while they were fishing in the Sea of Galilee. All four of them immediately left their occupations as fisherman to follow Jesus. James and John also left their father in the boat. Because they all had already encountered Jesus and knew that He was the Messiah, there was no hesitation to go when He called them. The Bible tells us that two of them were disciples of John the Baptist, but it's possible that all four of them were. It's interesting that Jesus did not call them to follow Him until after John the Baptist had been imprisoned. Just speculation, but perhaps because they were John's disciples, it was not yet time for Jesus to invite them to become His. But now since John was in prison and would soon be put to death, the time had come.

A few months after inviting "the fishers of men" to follow Him, Jesus was healing and casting out demons throughout various places in Galilee. When He went to Capernaum, He told a tax collector named Matthew to follow Him. Matthew writes in His gospel that he "got up and followed Him". Matthew doesn't say what it was about Jesus that influenced Him to follow Jesus. All we can do is speculate that Matthew was aware of Jesus because He had been performing miracles in Capernaum, and Jesus recognized Matthew as having the qualities of being His disciple. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and the other disciples to dinner at His house. Also present were "sinners", tax collectors, and Pharisees.

Mark and Luke record Jesus calling a tax collector named Levi to follow Him. I think that most Christians believe that Matthew and Levi were the same person, but there are some who believe they were different people. If they were different people, Levi is not among those listed as apostles when Jesus called them to be His apostles in Matthew, Mark or Luke.

One of the arguments given for them being the same person is that "Levi" was the name given to him by his parents, and "Matthew" was the name given to him after he became an apostle. This would kind of make sense given the fact that Matthew would use his apostolic name when writing about himself. 

Furthermore, the accounts are nearly identical with just a few differences. Mark names the tax collector, "Levi son of Alphaeus". The apostle James also had a father named Alphaeus, but most commentators do not believe that James's father Alphaeus and Levi's father Alphaeus are the same man. Luke documents a significant detail regarding Levi after Jesus told him to follow Him, that Matthew or Mark do not: "'Follow me,' Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him". "Leaving everything" indicates Levi's faithful commitment to follow Jesus. Levi demonstrated Immediate, Radical, Costly, Obedience - IRCO. 

Luke says in his gospel that Jesus called his disciples to him, and chose twelve to be apostles, after spending the entire night praying. We will look at each apostle in other posts.