The Life of Christ

LESSON 6

SECTION 63

Lk. 6:13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him; and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:

This occurred about one and a half years into His ministry.

• Jesus had spent a great deal of time working with His closest followers, and the time had come to recommend the twelve names for His Father’ s confirmation.

• He spent all night praying over this; what may have required the extended time was the selection of Judas Iscariot.

• He chose His apostles from among His disciples.

Jesus most likely chose twelve by design; twelve also being the biblical number for “government.”

• The number twelve corresponds to the number of the tribes of Israel.

• The church has now become the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).

• These twelve will also hold a future position in heaven: “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mt. 19:28; Lk. 11:28-30).

These twelve would form a unique college of apostles, serving as the foundation upon which the New Testament church would be established.

• One of the requirements was to have been with Jesus since the beginning. Judas’ later replacement would have had to have seen the risen Lord and been with Him since the beginning, even as the other eleven (Acts 1:21-22).

A s the early church grew, the following other apostles were added, but they were never part of the “ Twelve ”:

1. Paul (Rom. 1:1); 16 times he refers to himself as an apostle 2. Barnabas (Acts 14:14) 3. Timothy (1 Thess. 1:1; 2:6) 4. Silvanus (1 Thess. 1:1; 2:6) 5. James (James, brother of Jesus): (1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19) 6. Andronicus and Junia: (Rom. 16:7)

In the three lists of the twelve their names are divided into three groups of four (Mk. 3:16-19; Lk. 6:14-16; Acts 1:13): The same four are in each grouping, although sometimes in a different order:

Group 1: Simon Peter, James, John, Andrew Group 2: Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas Group 3: James, Simon the Zealot, Judas, Judas Iscariot

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