Luke 6:12-16--The Twelve Apostles

Luke 6:12-16
English Standard Version
​
The Twelve Apostles
12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

---

Some preliminaries before we get started on the passage today.  First when comparing lists of the Twelve (the 12 apostles), why are there different names in some of the lists?  They do all record the same twelve men, but nearly everyone at that time had both Jewish names and Greek names.  We are more likely to see the Greek names of the disciples here in the Luke since Luke is writing to a Gentile audience.  Usually the two versions of the name have the same or similar meanings in both languages.  In other cases, someone had a nickname--usually because of some character trait that was so pronounced that it was how everyone knew them (Barnabas, the companion of Paul,  for example, means "Encourager."  His given name was "Joseph," but we never call him that).  In rare cases, you'll also see different translators translate names differently (Simon vs. Simeon or vice-versa).  Again, don't worry about it--we're talking about the same 12 men.

So, now that we have that covered, why are these 12 called apostles?  What makes an "apostle" so different than an ordinary disciple?  Can there be modern-day apostles?  I think we've talked about that last one already when we talked about the list of spiritual gifts in several of Paul's epistles, but we'll answer that question quickly today for those that haven't had the benefit of being here for all the articles that I've written as I know many of you joined somewhere along the way.  The word literally means, "one sent forth" (like a diplomatic envoy or ambassador) and is comprised of two Greek words that mean "from" and "to send," so it is someone from somewhere else sent to a place for a specific purpose and usually with a specific message.  In some generic sense, that's all of us because of The Great Commission, but Jesus would train, equip, and send out these specific Twelve on mission for Him (we'll see Jesus do this later).  We see this word used to describe Jesus Himself as the Apostle with a capital "A" that was sent from the Father (see Hebrews 3:1) and it was used of Paul and sometimes some of his companions, though we know that Paul was directly commissioned by Christ to be an "apostle to the Gentiles."  Much of the discussion about the word "apostle" in Scripture revolves around the choosing of someone to replace Judas Iscariot (who we see in this passage called "a traitor" to tip us off to keep an eye on him) and if those qualifications spoken by Peter in Acts 1:22 are inherently part of the definition of an "apostle" or not.  Specifically, Peter says that the Twelve, then the Eleven after Judas Iscariot's death, were with Jesus from the very beginning of His teaching (taught by Him for three years could be another way to look at this so that Paul would meet this qualification) and saw the resurrected Christ, "Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." (again these were the qualifications for choosing someone to replace Judas, but it may be too much to impose these qualifications on what it means to be an "apostle."

As I mentioned before, being an "apostle" is one of the spiritual gifts in some of the lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament, but it's not there in others.  Some argue this means that the gift ceased after a time, or that those who were eligible to be called apostles all died off after a certain generation.  Others argue that the lists are just different because they are being written to different audiences, but the same Sprit that lives within all believers is able to work in every way now that He was able to work then and can manifest Himself in any of the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible (Old or New Testament) at any time that He wishes and that we do still have modern day apostles (though often this is a label/title given to someone in church leadership--for example, the Roman Catholic Church believes that that Pope is their modern-day apostle and that he has been given special gifts to lead and instruct the Church, yet we don't usually see the Pope "sent out" on mission to all the world nor do we see most of the denominations that have leaders wearing the title of "Apostle" being "sent out" on mission, but we clearly see Jesus sending these men out on mission into all the world in The Great Commission and in other places where He sends them out.

Personally, I lean more towards the second group of people that believe that Acts 1:22 is something descriptive of what the Eleven did and not prescriptive of what the Church today should do.  Otherwise it is simply a title that can be bestowed on someone by vote of committee, and what makes someone worthy of bestowing this title upon someone?  We don't see any evidence for that biblically.  I think the arguments of cessationists (that certain spiritual gifts simply ceased to exist) are specious because they don't base their argument on any Scripture and we see that many of these gifts reappear in the end times in the book of Revelation and they have to make an argument why they "disappear" and then "reappear."  Those arguments take the focus off of God the Holy Spirit's position as one of the persons of the Godhead and try to put external constraints on Him that we cannot put onto God, namely that somehow God must operate differently in different times, yet we know God exists outside of time and space because He is eternal and everywhere at all times.  So, I say that God will work in a way that is consistent with His nature that He has revealed to us in Scripture and He can do that wherever and whenever He wants to, including today.  If God wanted to commission modern-day apostles in this day and time, He most certainly could.  Notice that I am intentionally avoiding the argument about if those who call themselves apostles today are genuine or not--Paul argues that point well enough in 1 Corinthians when he talks about those who use the term "apostle" as a title to try to gain credibility to their message.

I'd like to return to the text now.  We see that there were thousands of people that would be following Jesus that would call themselves His disciples (they heard Jesus' public teachings that were given to all the crowds), but there were times that Jesus pulled these twelve men aside and explained the meanings of the parables to them, or gave them private lessons that He did not give to the crowds at large.  They were with Him every day it seems and saw Jesus in the good times and the bad times.  They gave up everything to follow Him as Peter would say at one point.  So, for our purposes at this time, that is a distinction that we need to make.  While other "disciples" would come and go and wore that label on their own (they were "followers" of Jesus) only these Twelve were called out by Jesus to follow Him everywhere that He went, no matter the cost and to learn everything that He had to teach them so that they could go out and teach others these same things--people that lived near them, and people who lived far away.  Judas Iscariot was included in this group and at times went out and preached the towns and villages (when Jesus sent out the 70 or 72, depending on your translation), but he was never REALLY committed to Jesus' person and message.  Some will argue that he thought Jesus would be a political Messiah that would overthrow Rome and he wanted to be close to Jesus for political and financial advantage.  Whatever Judas Iscariot's motives, Jesus is the one that called him out and chose him for the specific purpose that Jesus knew that this would be the man who would betray Him.  Yet Jesus invested the same amount of teaching and time into Judas that He did in any of the other apostles.  Jesus also knew that James would quickly die after His resurrection and his earthly ministry would be short-lived, but that didn't stop Jesus from investing in James either.  We need to stop trying to ask if people are "worth it" because if anyone wasn't "worth it" it was the "son of perdition" that Jesus knew would betray Him and was destined to let Satan take control of him and we believe from what Scripture says that Judas died remorseful, but unrepentant and never turning to the blood of Jesus for forgiveness for his sins and that he will suffer an eternity of separation from the blessings of God that come through Jesus.  Jesus knew that from the beginning, and yet, He still chose Judas.

Jesus also knew how hard-headed these men would be and after three years, they wouldn't get it--not until after the Resurrection, and mostly when the Holy Spirit came on them with power at Pentecost to speak the Word of God with boldness (the Spirit also opened the eyes and ears and hearts and minds of those who were listening).  There would be great moments of clarity followed by some low points like when Jesus would tell Peter, "Get behind me, Satan." (For Satan was using Peter's words to tempt Jesus).  There is nothing inherently great among these men that would make Jesus choose them.  If we go that route, Judas was probably the most qualified.  He was from Judea where he would be exposed to more of the Bible, he was wealthy and seemed to know how to handle money (they made him the treasurer) and he seemed to be connected socially and politically.  No, Jesus chose these men because of the great message He was going to give to them that they would take to all the world.

So then, my question to you today is have you too been taught by Jesus through His Word and been sent out on mission by Him?  Does that mean that you too are an apostle (with a lower-case "a")?  Aren't we all His diplomatic envoys and ambassadors?  Let's not idolize and sensationalize this title to in some way mean that someone is a super-Christian.  However, you do have the same Spirit within you if you are a believer that was poured out on these men (and the apostle Paul).  You can speak with boldness and authority when you speak the Word of God.  You know the truth of His teaching and His resurrection as it is evidenced in your changed life.  That doesn't mean that you have physically seen the resurrected Christ like eleven of these twelve did (Judas Iscariot killed himself the night that Jesus was arrested), but people should be able to see Jesus and the power of His resurrection at work inside of you.  I personally don't go around wearing the title of "apostle," but I do tell others that I am an ambassador of the King and His Kingdom, which is a very similar title.  I live on mission not only to proclaim His message, but to promote His culture--to bring His light to the darkness and to help those who are citizens of the kingdom of this world transfer their citizenship to the kingdom of the Son of God and of His marvelous light.  Yes, we have all been sent out on mission by God, and we all have access to His teachings now that we can study for as many years as we need to and we know through the New Covenant in the book of Jeremiah that God Himself will be our Teacher (the Holy Spirit).  We go out on mission and with purpose to make His name great and to bring Him glory through showing and telling the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world, and it is not because of anything we are or have done that He chose us, but for His own good pleasure that He chose us (just like with these men) and bring Him even more glory--for it is obvious when He chooses to use vessels such as us that He is doing the work in and through us since we are clearly unable to do these things in ourselves or by our own strength or will.

"To God be the glory, great things He hath done" and "Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done."