The Twelve Apostles, Exercises of Christianity

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HISTORY OF

EARLY

CHRISTIANITY

PART TWELVE

THE TWELVE

APOSTLES:

FACTS VS. MYTHS

LECTURE

ONE

QUOTE 1 BY A BIBLICAL SCHOLAR “…our evidence of each of the apostles and of the apostles as a group is thinner than our evidence for a historical Jesus. Jesus’s existence tends to make the apostles more likely, not the other way around .” Anonymous Author.

ADVISORY ON LECTURES - 2

the Apostles based on the books of the New Testament. All the information condensed down from these sources will not fill many pages in even a single book. What is known and not known about the Apostles, including the actual membership of this distinguished group, is a source of much contention and debate.

ADVISORY ON LECTURES - 3

Religious groups, NT scholars, and lay people can and do contend, rather acrimoniously at times, about who is or is not an Apostle and anything else connected to each individual. This lecture will try to lay out the basic facts of the first followers of Jesus. Anything else beyond this is mere speculation, old tradition and wishful thinking.

THE “TWELVE” APOSTLES

HEAD OF A YOUNG APOSTLE BY RAPHAEL Winning bid was $47.8 million. The apostles are quite popular, especially in art.

THE LAST SUPPER

THE VALUE OF THE LAST

SUPPER by Leonando Da Vinci The minimum bid would start at $375 million and grow from there. There is no upper limit.

THE DEFINITION OF APOSTLE - 1

The Greek word for Apostle is “ apostello ” which, literally, means “the sent one or embracery”. This word occurs over 70 times in the NT. Another related word in Greek is “ apostolon ” which translates as “messenger”.

THE DEFINITION OF APOSTLE - 2

Consequently, a set of criteria must be used in order to define who were the Apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. Any set of points will always have more than 12 candidates. Therefore, it must be understood that there are two sets of Apostles.

THE DEFINITION OF APOSTLE - 4

The term “Apostle” will be anyone in the early church who was sent forth to spread the “good news” by Jesus himself or his closest followers. And then there are the Twelve, who all were Apostles, but not all Apostles were members of “The Twelve”.

DEFINITION OF THE TWELVE - 1

There is no general agreement on what criteria should be used or how to define the Twelve Apostles. Most individuals use definitions, criteria, and techniques that usually fulfill their personal agenda or admit that there is an uncertainty.