What became of the twelve apostles? Legends abound telling us
16. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH What became of the twelve apostles? Legends abound telling us that in fulfillment of Jesus' command to preach the gospel to all nations (Matthew 28:18–20), the apostles spread out to far-flung areas of the globe carrying the word with them. James the Elder, for example, is said to have carried the gospel to Spain, Matthew to Ethiopia, Bartholomew to Armenia, and Thomas as far as India.
In reality, however, apart from Judas – who we are told ended his own life – we do not know what happened to the individual disciples. Jesus may have hinted at how Peter's and John's lives would end (John 21:21–22), but not when or where. The legends that surround them and the other apostles are often untrustworthy, as many come from later times and a number of them contradict each other.
What we do know of the original apostles is that as a group they spread Christianity from Jerusalem to Damascus, to Antioch, to Asia Minor, to Cyprus, to Greece, and finally to Rome. The New Testament tells us this much. But we should understand both that travel beyond this central area of the ancient world was difficult, and that twelve individuals could only accomplish so much. Clearly, the apostles did not reach the whole world – even the whole known world of that time – as Christ had explicitly said that the end of the age would come after that occurred (Matthew 24:14). Yet history shows us that Christianity did quickly spread to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other areas – primarily as a result of the individuals the apostles taught.
We should not forget that the exact wording of the Great Commission Jesus gave to the apostles after his resurrection was to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), meaning that just as he had chosen and trained disciples and sent them out, so should they do in turn. It was in this way, of course, that Jesus' teachings began to spread rapidly and widely, and that Christianity became established.
A Double Commission As Christianity spread, it distinguished itself from the other religions of the ancient world in a unique manner – its double commission. Many believers today are not as aware of that two-fold calling as we should be, and this is a final and important lesson we can learn from the twelve disciples as a group.
We know that during his earthly ministry, Jesus went about "proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people" (Matthew 4:23). Likewise, when he sent out his disciples with their initial commission "he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:2). In fact, the Gospel of Matthew focuses on this important aspect of the disciples' double commission by comparing what Jesus did with the mission he gave to the disciples (Matthew 9:35– 10:8). Matthew shows that Jesus preached the gospel and healed the sick (9:35), seeing the need of the people who were like sheep without a shepherd (9:36) and in need of laborers to be "sent out" by God to help them (9:38). Matthew then skillfully reverses the items in this list by showing in reverse order that the disciples were sent out (10:5) to be "shepherds" to the lost sheep of Israel (10:6) and to preach and heal (10:7–8). He inserts the list of the twelve disciples' names at the center – the focal point – of the story of what Jesus did and what the disciples were called to do (10:2–4), showing the responsibility of these individuals for ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of the world just as Jesus had done.
But Christians today often read the so-called "Great Commission" Jesus gave after his resurrection as a limiting of his original commands to his disciples. When Jesus told his disciples "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8), they see an apparent focus on preaching the gospel which they presume replaced the earlier double commission.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus did not provide an example for his disciples, train them, and commission them to do two things – only later to reduce them to one. As we saw above, Jesus told the apostles after his resurrection "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), showing he intended them to replicate the training and priorities he had given them.
And so, of course, we see that the early church not only preached the gospel fearlessly (Acts 2:14–41; etc.), but also continued its commitment to healing and helping those in need (Acts 3:1–3; 2:43–45; etc.). This is summarized in Acts' statement that "All the believers were one in heart and mind … they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them" (Acts 4:32–34).
We see exactly the same double commission being carried out in the way the apostle Paul later reminded the elders of Ephesus how he "went about preaching the kingdom" (Acts 20:25) and also that he had shown them "that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring … and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:35). For Paul, like Peter, and the whole early Christian church, preaching the gospel and helping those in need were inseparable aspects of the commission they had been given.
Sadly, today, many Christian groups stress only witnessing to the world, and many emphasize only helping those in need. However, the twelve disciples left us an abiding lesson that if we are to truly follow in Jesus' and their footsteps – and continue their work to the ends of the earth – we must help to both carry the word and to help those in need along the way.
APPENDIX: THE DISCIPLES IN THE
FOUR GOSPELS Most readers of the New Testament are aware that each of the four gospels gives a portrait of Jesus from a different angle: Matthew shows the Messiah as King, Mark shows him as Servant, Luke shows his humanity as the Son of Man, and John shows his divinity as the Son of God. But few realize that each of the four gospels also shows the disciples in a very different light, from a different perspective. Mark Beginning with Mark – which was probably the earliest of the four gospels to be written – we find that Mark's portrayal of the disciples is a divided one. On the one hand, he identifies them as Jesus' true family (3:20–35) and shows them as actively sharing in Jesus' ministry (6:7–13, 30–44; 8:1–10). On the other hand, the disciples are frequently characterized as having neither faith nor understanding. For example, in 4:35–41; 6:45–52; and 8:14–21, Mark gives a cycle of three related boat scenes in which the disciples' lack of faith is portrayed. Even by the final scene, the disciples still do not really grasp who Jesus is (8:17, 21).
Significantly, the disciples do not particularly progress in their faith and understanding as Mark's narrative moves toward its climax – in fact, their lack of understanding (1:1–8:26) seems to increase, which leads them to misunderstanding (8:27–10:45), and finally to deserting and denying Jesus (14:50, 71). Also, the disciples consistently misunderstand Jesus' message of the kingdom. Rather, they are continually shown to be preoccupied with their own status within their own idea of the coming kingdom (8:27–10:45). In fact, Mark seems to contrast the disciples with individuals like the blind man Bartimaeus and the woman who anointed Jesus who are shown as having true faith and understanding.
This negative portrayal is clearly not accidental. In Mark's Gospel, the verb dialogizomai ("to argue") is used to describe the unbelieving rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders (2:6, 8; 11:31); and Mark 9:33 uses the same verb to describe the disciples' unbelieving failure to understand Jesus' predictions of his coming rejection, suffering, and death. Mark even frequently uses the expression "hardness of heart" of the disciples – which he also uses of the Jewish religious leaders (3:5; 10:5 ESV) – in order to indicate the disciples' lack of faith (6:52; 8:17–18; etc.). This negative portrayal of the disciples continues to the end of the Gospel: "Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen" (16:14 BSB).
What is remarkable about this candid description is that Mark's Gospel ends before showing how the disciples were transformed after the coming of the Holy Spirit. His portrait of the disciples can thus be seen to be at least partly a teaching one, showing how we should not respond to Christ and his message. The fact that this Gospel was probably the earliest written – and that Peter is believed to have been one of Mark's main sources – doubtless affected its partly negative portrait, as the earlier failures of the disciples were understandably still very clear in their own minds.
Matthew Matthew's portrayal of the twelve disciples is one of many indicators that his Gospel was written after that of Mark. Matthew seems to attempt, at least partially, to give a more positive portrayal of the disciples than Mark does. For example, the disciples in Matthew are not shown as being ignorant of Jesus' identity (something stressed repeatedly in Mark). They are shown to have some spiritual understanding (13:10–11; etc.) but are said to be men "of little faith" throughout Matthew's Gospel (6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; 28:17). That this is repeated so many times indicates there was a conscious desire on Matthew's part to stress the disciples' lack of faith rather than their hardness of heart.
An interesting example of this more positive portrayal can be seen in the story of Jesus walking to the disciples' boat on the Sea of Galilee. Matthew (14:22–33) follows the description given by Mark (6:45–52) almost exactly in most details. The only differences between the accounts are significant ones: Matthew omits Mark's comment "They were astounded. They had not understood … their hearts were hardened," and includes instead a more positive description of Peter's attempt to walk to Jesus on the sea, followed by Jesus' mild exclamation "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
The disciples' lack of faith is not only stressed often in Matthew, but also some of his stories are given primarily (if not entirely) to show this – as in the case of the story of the disciples' failure to cast the demon out of a young boy (17:19). The portrayal continues all the way down to the final episode in the Gospel of Matthew (28:16– 20) where the disciples are portrayed – after the resurrection – as still doubting and being of little faith.
Despite their lack of faith, Matthew stresses the commissioning of the disciples in chapter ten and from that point they are shown as a major focus of Christ's ministry. Before this the disciples are only mentioned nine times. From chapter ten onwards they are mentioned over sixty times.
While Mark uses the same negative terms both of the disciples and the hard-hearted Jewish religious leaders and people, Matthew uses different terms to distinguish the disciples from the people. Matthew also shows the disciples understanding more than the people (13:10–11; etc.) and shows that the disciples were much more committed to following Christ than others were (19:27) – something not stressed at all in Mark.
In contrast to Mark's frequent comments about Peter, Matthew often portrays the disciples as a collective group. The disciples are portrayed as having a more important role in Matthew's Gospel, which shows them being called in Galilee of the nations (Isaiah 9:1) at its beginning (4:12–22) and being sent out from Galilee to all the nations at its end (28:1–20).
Luke The Gospel of Luke tells the story of the disciples in considerably greater detail than Mark and Matthew do, and his account is augmented, of course, by a great deal of additional information in the book of Acts – making a much fuller and more complete portrait of the disciples possible.
For example, in the account of Jesus calling some of his disciples from their fishing nets, while Mark and Matthew sketch the story briefly (Mark 1:16–20; Matthew 4:18–22), Luke's version (Luke 5:1–11) is over twice as long and includes a great many details about the disciples not found in the other gospels.
Luke's portrayal of the twelve disciples is overall a positive one and by presenting them in more detail in his Gospel than Matthew and Mark do, Luke is able to more fully redeem their "image." The apostles are then even more positively depicted in Acts. There, they are shown as prayerful, bold, guided by the Holy Spirit, and frequently performing miracles.
Another important aspect of Luke's Gospel is that the disciples are not shown as representing a closed group. Luke stresses the roles of many of Jesus' other disciples. For example, the Galilean women followers are more actively involved in Jesus' work in Luke's account (8:1–3) than in Matthew or Mark. The seventy disciples sent out by Jesus are emphasized (10:1–12), as are Mary and Martha of Bethany (10:38–42) and the tax collector Zacchaeus in Jericho (19:1–10). For Luke, although the twelve disciples are important, discipleship is more clearly open to everyone who chooses to follow Christ. Luke also adds some twenty unique parables not found in the other gospels and when we look at the themes and messages of these extra parables, we see he is particularly interested in recording teachings that show what disciples should understand and how they should act.
In contrast to Mark, and even more so than Matthew, Luke improves the portrayal of Jesus' core disciples: they have more understanding than in Mark, and their frequent lack of faith is not
stressed as it is in Matthew. Overall, the disciples are shown as being positive role models for believers.
John John's Gospel tells us very little about most of the twelve disciples. There is no list giving the names of the Twelve in his Gospel; it does not mention them till a third way through (6:67); and it does not even mention a number of them by name. What John does say about the disciples is mainly in the form of detailed stories about the two leaders – Peter and John. John gives us: 1) A de-emphasized portrayal of Peter. Three scenes in John's Gospel – the foot-washing (13:2–11), the prediction of the denial (13:33–38), and Peter cutting off the ear of the high priest's servant (18:8–11), all portray Peter as resisting the idea that Jesus would suffer or sacrifice his life. In fact, wherever the Synoptic Gospels seem to portray Peter favorably, John seems to show a more restrained picture. The Synoptics read as though Peter was the first called to follow Jesus (Mark 1:16); and later, as though Peter was the first to declare that Jesus was the Messiah (Mark 8:29). In John 1:40–41, however, Peter is only the third disciple to follow Jesus, and is called by his brother Andrew, who tells Peter that Jesus is the Messiah. 2) A de-emphasized portrayal of the apostle John himself. John is never mentioned by name in the fourth Gospel, only as the "other disciple" (18:16; etc.) and "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (13:23; etc.). Although he was obviously one of the leading disciples (especially after the death of James), and he is featured in many key sections of the narrative, John's identity is carefully glossed over. While all the Gospels were written anonymously, the other Gospels at least mention their authors by name when they appear in their narratives. John keeps himself completely in the background.
So, by its portrayal of both Peter and John himself, John's Gospel specifically deemphasizes the two remaining "leading" apostles. This could possibly be because by the time it was written Peter was dead and beginning to be unduly venerated, and because John did not want the same excessive focus on himself.
On the other hand, John's Gospel – more than any other – emphasizes the importance of other disciples and especially female disciples. John uses stories of three women in particular to show them as important and effective disciples. In all three stories a woman is shown carrying an announcement: The Samaritan woman (4:4–42) carries the announcement of Jesus' proximity to her village; Martha of Bethany (11:17–28) carries the news of Jesus' arrival to Mary and the mourners in her home; Mary Magdalen (20:1–18) carries the announcement about Jesus' resurrection to the disciples. Interestingly, John does not describe any of these women in relationship to men as was customary in that society (and seen elsewhere in the New Testament) – in fact, John does the opposite by identifying the husbands of the Samaritan women in relation to her, and Lazarus by his relationship to Martha and Mary.
Four Portraits, Four Views So, just as each of the four gospels presents a different perspective on the life of Jesus, each also presents a different perspective on the characters and actions of the disciples – ranging from the somewhat cautionary portrayal given by Mark through the more positive image given by Matthew and Luke and the humbly deemphasizing portrayal provided by John. By understanding these different perspectives and carefully putting them together, we can find much with which we might identify with the disciples in their human weaknesses and failings, but also much by which we might be inspired by their well-meaning intentions, dedication, and love of their Lord.
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