Bible Question: How many Apostles are there? I think 12 and Paul... my pastors says there are 16! HELP |
Bible Answer: JodiCF "Surely everyone will agree that there were 12 original apostles. They are mentioned by name in several places including Acts, the first chapter. Because one of those apostles, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Christ and later hanged himself (Matt. 27:5), it became necessary to select a replacement. The Acts account states that Matthias was the one selected by God (Acts 1:26) to replace Judas. The list of named apostles of Christ now totaled 13 in the New Testament. "In the 12th chapter of Acts, we learn that James, the son of Zebedee, one of the original apostles, was killed by King Herod (verse 2). There was another James among the original 12, the son of Alphaeus, who apparently is not mentioned after Acts 1:13. "Continuing in the 12th chapter of Acts, we learn from verse 17 that after James was killed, another James remained." "Who this other James was is explained in Galatians 1:19, 'But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.' This James, who was a half brother of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is in this place called an apostle. This brings the number to 14 named apostles." "The next apostles' names in Acts are mentioned in chapter 14." "Who were these apostles? The previous chapter (13), verse 50, identifies them as Paul and Barnabas. This now brings our total to 16 named apostles. Lest there be any question about Paul and Barnabas, notice also Acts 14:14." God bless |