Commissioning of the Twelve Apostles

Commissioning the Twelve Apostles depicted by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1481.
Events in the
Life of Jesus
according to the Gospels
Portals: Christianity Bible

The commissioning of the Twelve Apostles is an episode in the life of Jesus that appears in all three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 10:1-4, Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:12-16, but not in the Gospel of John. It relates the initial selection of the Twelve Apostles among the disciples of Jesus.[1][2]

According to the Gospel of Luke:

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.[3]

In the Gospel of Matthew, this episode takes place shortly before the miracle of the man with withered hand. In the Gospel of Mark and Gospel of Luke it appears shortly after that miracle.[4]

This commissioning of the apostles takes place before the crucifixion of Jesus, while the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 takes place after the Resurrection of Jesus.

Notes

  1. ↑ The first gospel by Harold Riley, 1992 ISBN 0-86554-409-3 page 47
  2. ↑ Mercer dictionary of the Bible by Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard 1998 ISBN 0-86554-373-9 page 48
  3. ↑ Bible gateway
  4. ↑ The life of Jesus by David Friedrich Strauss, 1860 published by Calvin Blanchard, page 340

See also