The Life of Christ

Lk. 6:14-16 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15 and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Simon who He also named Peter.

• Peter is always mentioned first whenever the apostles are listed.

• Simon Peter speaks more in the Gospels than all the other apostles combined.

• He was their leader, the one designated by Jesus to carry a major responsibility in building His church (Mt. 16:18).

• Peter is also considered the writer behind the Gospel of Mark and 1 & 2 Peter.

• The only account that we have of the martyrdom of the Apostle Peter is from the early Christian writer Hegesippus. His account includes a miraculous appearance by Christ on the Appian Way leading to Rome. It seems that when Peter was old (Jn. 21:18), Nero planned to put him to death. When the disciples heard of this, they begged Peter to flee the city (said to be Rome), which he did after much pleading by the disciples. But when he got to the city gate, he saw Christ walking toward him. Peter fell to his knees and said, “Lord, where are you going?” Christ answered, “I’ve come to be crucified again.” By this, Peter understood that it was now his time to suffer the death by which Jesus had told him he would glorify God (Jn. 21:19); so, he turned around and went back into the city. After being captured and taken to his place of martyrdom, he requested that he be crucified in an upside-down position, not considering himself worthy to be crucified in the same position as his Lord. 16

James, son of Zebedee

• He and his brother John are later referred to as the “sons of thunder.”

• He becomes the first apostle to die as a martyr, being beheaded in Jerusalem at the command of Herod (Acts 12:2).

• He was one of the inner three who went with Jesus up the Mt. of Transfiguration (Mt. 17:1); he was invited to pray for Jairus’ daughter (Lk. 8:51); James was also summoned into the deeper part of the Garden of Gethsemane, apart from the other disciples (Mk. 14:32-33). • Clemens Alexandrinus, an eminent primitive writer, wrote that when James was being led to his execution, his extraordinary courage so impressed the Roman guard commanded to watch over James that the guard fell on his knees before the apostle, asked his forgiveness confessing the Christian faith, and then said that James should not die alone. Whereupon they were both beheaded. 17

John, son of Zebedee

• He went from becoming a “son of thunder,” a man known for being a bruiser on the docks, to the “apostle of love.”

• He was the closest of the Twelve to Jesus, leaning upon His breast at the last supper, and repeatedly referring to himself as the “one whom Jesus loved.”

16 John Fox, The New Foxes Book of Martyrs (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos Publishers, 1997), 7. 17 Fox, The New Foxes Book of Martyrs, 5 .

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