When we talk about Jesus’ disciples, we often talk about the 12 disciples that Jesus chose from a bigger group of disciples to represent him. These would later be called “apostles”.
How many disciples did Jesus have?
Jesus chose twelve disciples and gave them special training. It was only these twelve and the apostle Paul who was given the ability to give the miraculous abilities passed to the other disciples. Later, some other disciples would be called apostles, that was messengers for their congregations.
The apostles played a central role in the foundation, organisation and leading of the Christian congregation. Later, this supervisory task was shared with others, but they made up the majority of the growing Christian congregation leadership.
The names of the twelve originals that were chosen:
- Simon (also Peter)
- Andrew
- James
- John (brother of James)
- Philip
- Bartholomew
- Thomas
- Matthew
- James (son of Alphaeus)
- Thaddaeus (also called Jude, son of James)
- Simon Canaanite
- Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed Jesus)
Matthias, who had known Jesus personally and had been a witness to his deeds, his miracles and especially his ascension, was later chosen instead for Judas Iscariot. When one of the most loyal apostles died no replacement were chosen.
They were considered as unlearned and common people by the religious leaders in Israel.
They were called disciples up until Whit Sunday, but thereafter, they were consistently called apostles. There is no testimony that one single apostle had a higher rank than any other in the established Christian church.
