![\"Marko](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Marko-Marina-Author-Bart-Ehrman.png\" "\\"Marko")
<\/span><\/p>\nWritten by Marko Marina, Ph.D.<\/a><\/p>\n Author | Historian<\/p>\n Author | Historian | BE Contributor<\/p>\n Verified! See our guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n Verified! See our editorial guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n \nDate written: May 16th, 2025<\/p>\n\nDate written: May 16th, 2025\n Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. – Dr. Bart D. Ehrman<\/p>\n How many apostles did Jesus have? This question reminds me of one of the most important lessons I learned during my graduate studies: Terms and concepts aren\u2019t fixed entities<\/strong>; they are deeply tied to context and can shift in meaning over time and across cultures. <\/p>\n Consider, for example, the swastika. In the context of Nazi Germany, it has become an enduring symbol of death, evil, and destruction. Yet in Hinduism, where it originated thousands of years earlier, the swastika signifies auspiciousness, good fortune, and the cosmic order.<\/p>\n Similarly, when we explore the names of the apostles, we\u2019ll find that the concept of apostleship in early Christianity is far broader and more complex than many assume today.<\/p>\n Most people, when they hear the term \u201capostles,\u201d immediately think of the disciples (Peter, James, John, and the others) who famously accompanied Jesus during his ministry. That association is understandable. The group of the Twelve held tremendous importance in the historical memory of Jesus’ earliest followers and remains central to Christian tradition today.<\/p>\n However, if we approach the historical evidence carefully, we discover that apostleship in the 1st century wasn\u2019t confined to this<\/strong> familiar group. The names of the apostles extend well beyond the Twelve, encompassing figures who never set foot among Jesus’ original group, and whose roles and significance were shaped by evolving needs and perspectives within the early church.<\/p>\n Several excellent articles on this blog have already examined Jesus\u2019 apostles and their crucial place in the development of early Christianity. These studies have offered valuable insights into the names of the apostles, their place within Jesus\u2019 movement, and the stories and legends about their deaths. <\/p>\n In this article, however, I want to highlight another key dimension<\/strong>: How the historical context of early Christianity allowed a broader application of the \u201capostle\u201d category to men and women who were neither among the original Twelve nor necessarily part of Jesus\u2019 earthly ministry.<\/p>\n As we\u2019ll see, understanding how early Christians used the term “apostle” sheds light not only on the diversity of the movement but also on the fluid and dynamic ways in which authority and leadership were negotiated in its formative years.<\/p>\n The term \u201capostle\u201d has its roots in the Greek language, where it originally functioned not as a noun but as an adjective. It derives from the verb apostell\u014d <\/strong>(\u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9), meaning \u201cto send off\u201d or \u201cto dispatch.\u201d From this verb came the adjective apostolos (\u1f00\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2), signifying someone who was \u201csent\u201d or \u201cdispatched\u201d for a particular purpose.<\/p>\n Only later did apostolos come to be used as a substantive noun, designating a \u201cmessenger,\u201d \u201cemissary,\u201d or \u201cdelegate.\u201d In its core meaning, an apostle was someone entrusted with a mission on behalf of another, carrying authority as a representative of the one who had sent them.<\/p>\n Before the emergence of Christianity, the term apostolos was attested only sparingly in Greek literature. According to the Liddell-Scott-Jones Lexicon<\/a> (LSJ), apostolos appears rarely and is typically used in secular contexts to denote an envoy or a bearer of a message.<\/p>\n (Affiliate Disclaimer: We may earn commissions on products you purchase through this page at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our site!<\/em>)<\/p>\n A notable example occurs in Herodotus (Histories 1.21), where the term describes emissaries dispatched by Cyrus the Great. In such pre-Christian usage, apostolos carried no specific religious connotations<\/strong>. Rather, it simply referred to individuals commissioned for diplomatic or communicative tasks.<\/p>\n However, as Ceslas Spicq has emphasized in Notes de lexicographie n\u00e9o-testamentaire<\/a> (Notes on New Testament Lexicography), none of these Greco-Roman meanings (whether casual or juridical) can account for the profound theological depth that apostolos acquires in the New Testament. <\/p>\n Christian usage, particularly in Paul, presupposes a Semitic background, rooted in the Jewish institution of the shalia\u1e25 (\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05d7), an authorized representative whose acts legally bound the sender. It was within this Jewish conceptual framework that the early followers of Jesus reinterpreted and deepened the meaning of apostleship.<\/p>\n So, with the rise of the Jesus movement, apostolos acquired a distinctive theological weight. As New Testament scholar Francis Agnew<\/a> notes:<\/p>\n The term ‘apostle’ appears in the New Testament 80 times<\/strong>, found in most of the NT books and quite across the time-span which they represent, with concentration in Paul (35x) and Luke (34x) near the beginning and end of the period.<\/p>\n In other words, far from being confined to a single generation or group, the notion of apostleship was pervasive across early Christian writings. It was a central term used by authors in diverse settings to describe those who had been commissioned to carry the message of Christ.<\/p>\n Understanding this background helps frame the larger question that drives our investigation: How many apostles did Jesus have?<\/p>\n As we\u2019ll see in the next section, the New Testament\u2019s application of the term extends beyond the familiar circle of the Twelve, reflecting the fluid and expanding nature of early Christian leadership and identity.<\/p>\n [tcb-script] (function(){ console.log(“Init Widget…”); var API_URL=’https:\/\/dynamic-product-insertion.vercel.app’; var c=document.querySelector(‘.dynamic-product’); if(!c){ alert(“Widget Error: Container .dynamic-product not found!”); return; } var m=c.dataset.mode||’match’; var s=window.location.pathname.replace(\/\/$\/,”).split(‘\/’).pop(); c.innerHTML='<div style=”padding:20px;text-align:center;color:#666;”>Widget Loading…<\/div>’; fetch(API_URL+’\/api\/product?mode=’+m+’&slug=’+encodeURIComponent(s)+’&referrer=’+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href)) .then(function(r){return r.json()}) .then(function(p){ var u=p.affiliateLink+(p.affiliateLink.includes(‘?’)?’&’:’?’)+’utm_source=blog&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=’+encodeURIComponent(s); var h=p.hook||p.description||”; var f=p.isFree; c.innerHTML='<style>.dp-c{position:relative;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;margin:30px 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,”Segoe UI”,Roboto,”Helvetica Neue”,Arial,sans-serif;min-height:340px;box-shadow:0 8px 30px rgba(0,0,0,0.4)}.dp-bg{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;background-image:url(“https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/erhman-new-york-time-best-sellers.jpg”);background-size:cover;background-position:center;filter:brightness(0.35);transition:transform 10s ease}.dp-c:hover .dp-bg{transform:scale(1.05)}.dp-ov{position:absolute;bottom:0;right:0;width:200px;height:auto;opacity:0.85;pointer-events:none;z-index:2}.dp-ct{position:relative;z-index:3;padding:48px 40px;color:#fff;text-align:center;max-width:600px;margin:0 auto}.dp-lb{color:#f7941d !important;font-size:13px;font-weight:800;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:2px;margin-bottom:16px;display:inline-block;padding:4px 12px;background:rgba(247,148,29,0.15);border-radius:4px;border:1px solid rgba(247,148,29,0.3)}.dp-tt{color:#FFFFFF !important;font-family:Georgia,”Times New Roman”,serif;font-size:32px;font-weight:700;margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.2;text-shadow:0 2px 10px rgba(0,0,0,0.5)}.dp-hk{color:#e0e0e0 !important;font-size:17px;line-height:1.6;margin:0 auto 32px;max-width:480px;font-weight:400}.dp-btn{display:inline-block;padding:16px 40px;background:linear-gradient(to bottom, #f7941d, #df800d);color:#fff !important;text-decoration:none;border-radius:50px;font-size:15px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:1px;transition:all 0.3s;box-shadow:0 4px 15px rgba(247,148,29,0.4);border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.2)}.dp-btn:hover{background:linear-gradient(to bottom, #ffbe4d, #f7941d);transform:translateY(-2px);box-shadow:0 8px 25px rgba(247,148,29,0.6);color:#fff !important}@media(max-width:600px){.dp-c{min-height:auto}.dp-ct{padding:40px 24px 100px 24px}.dp-tt{font-size:26px}.dp-hk{font-size:16px;margin-bottom:24px}.dp-btn{padding:14px 32px;width:100%;box-sizing:border-box}.dp-ov{width:140px;right:-20px;opacity:1}}<\/style><div><div><\/div><img src=”https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bart-Lecturing.png”\/><div>’+(f?'<div>FREE COURSE!<\/div>’:”)+'<h3>’+p.title+'<\/h3><p>’+h+'<\/p><a href=”‘+u+'” target=”_blank” onclick=”fetch(”+API_URL+’\/api\/track\/click’,{method:’POST’,headers:{‘Content-Type’:’application\/json’},body:JSON.stringify({productId:”+p.productId+”,postSlug:”+s+”,mode:”+m+”,referrer:window.location.href})}).catch(e=>console.error(e))”>’+(f?’GET FREE ACCESS’:’LEARN MORE’)+'<\/a><\/div><\/div>’; }) .catch(function(e){ console.error(e); c.innerHTML='<div style=”border:1px solid red;padding:10px;color:red”>Widget Error: ‘+e.message+'<\/div>’; }) })(); [\/tcb-script] <\/p>\n During Jesus’ public ministry, the term \u201capostle\u201d (apostolos) likely didn\u2019t carry the precise, formal meaning it would later acquire. As John P. Meier, in his book A Marginal Jew<\/a>, has argued, “apostle” wasn\u2019t a fixed title but rather a functional designation<\/strong> for individuals temporarily commissioned for a task.<\/p>\n The Gospels occasionally describe the Twelve being \u201csent out\u201d (apostellein) by Jesus (e.g., Mark 6:30), but the focus is on their immediate mission: Preaching repentance, healing, and casting out demons, rather than establishing a permanent office.<\/p>\n The Twelve were primarily called \u201cdisciples\u201d (math\u0113tai), meaning learners or followers. The use of “apostle” to designate a stable office emerged only after Easter, when the early Jesus followers became convinced of his resurrection<\/a> and the need to spread the message of the coming of the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n In the post-resurrection period, the meaning of \u201capostle\u201d broadened significantly. It no longer referred simply to the original Twelve but extended to a wider circle of individuals who had, in various ways, been entrusted with proclaiming the risen Christ<\/a>.<\/p>\n Paul of Tarsus<\/a>, though not one of the Twelve and indeed a former persecutor of the Church, famously insists on his apostolic status: \u201cPaul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father\u201d (Galatians 1:1).<\/p>\n Paul’s letters contain the highest concentration <\/strong>of the term apostolos in the New Testament, demonstrating his commitment to defending his calling. Likewise, in Romans 16:7, Paul refers to Andronicus and Junia, \u201cwho are prominent among the apostles\u201d (more on that in the Appendix).<\/p>\n Barnabas, too, is called an apostle alongside Paul in Acts 14:14, after their missionary efforts in the cities of Lystra and Derbe. Even the group of seventy (or seventy-two) disciples mentioned in Luke 10 and the 120 followers gathered in Acts 1:15 hint at a broader reservoir of commissioned witnesses.<\/p>\n Although not all were explicitly termed \u201capostles,\u201d they formed part of a dynamic movement that understood mission and testimony as central to Christian identity.<\/p>\n But what precisely qualified someone to be considered an apostle? The early Jesus movement, particularly in its Pauline expressions, seemed to require two key credentials:<\/p>\n #1 \u2013 A commissioning by Jesus<\/strong>, often understood to involve some revelatory encounter#2 \u2013 A mandate to proclaim the gospel publicly<\/strong><\/p>\n Paul appeals to his vision of the risen Lord (Galatians 1:11-12) as the basis of his apostleship, while emphasizing that his mission was divinely authorized rather than institutionally granted.<\/p>\n Similarly, Acts 1:21-22 specifies that Judas\u2019 replacement (Matthias) among the Twelve had to be someone who had accompanied Jesus from the beginning and could bear witness to the resurrection. <\/p>\n In short, apostleship entailed being sent by Jesus with a public, authoritative mission to proclaim his message.<\/p>\n As Ceslas Spicq explains, reflecting on the famous list in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8:<\/p>\n \u201cIn a text whose importance cannot be overestimated, the risen Lord first appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, then to all the apostles, and finally to me (Paul). These apostles named after the Twelve could have been divinely commissioned missionary preachers, charismatics who are listed first among the official ministers of the Church (1 Cor 12:28-31; Eph 4:11); this shows that there is no opposition between institution and charisma.\u201d (My translation)<\/p>\n This observation highlights Paul\u2019s early observation that apostleship extended beyond the rigid circle of the Twelve and included a broader, Spirit-endowed ministry validated by encounter with the risen Lord and missionary service. <\/p>\n However, the concept of apostleship in the early Church was far from uniform. Different authors and communities held varying understandings of what it meant to be an apostle, leading at times to conflict and sharp polemics. Later Gospel writers provide clear examples of this diversity.<\/p>\n The author of Luke\u2019s Gospel,<\/a> for instance, closely identified the disciples of Jesus during his earthly ministry with the Twelve, effectively creating the category of the \u201cTwelve Apostles.\u201d In Luke\u2019s conception, apostleship was restricted to those who had accompanied Jesus from the beginning and witnessed his resurrection.<\/p>\n This framework had significant implications: It excluded figures such as Paul from being recognized as apostles in the full sense. <\/p>\n For Luke, the Twelve Apostles emerged as the foundational leaders of the Jerusalem church, while missionaries and later emissaries, even if crucial to the movement\u2019s expansion, were generally not called apostles.<\/p>\n However, Paul, as already noted, had a different notion in mind. Hans D. Betz<\/a> explains:<\/p>\n Paul\u2018s reinterpretation of the concept questioned fundamental assumptions<\/strong> held by the church before Paul. He rejected the idea that having known the historical Jesus personally was a valid criterion (2 Cor 5:16). Indeed, the gospels point out that those who knew Jesus best during his life on earth \u2013 his disciples and his family \u2013 came to understand his message only after the resurrection. On the other hand, if witnessing the resurrection was the criterion, Paul qualified as an apostle, since he, too, had a vision of the risen Lord.<\/p>\n Thus, when asking \u201cHow many apostles did Jesus have?\u201d it becomes clear that any simple numerical answer is insufficient<\/strong>. While the number twelve (probably going back to the historical Jesus) was symbolically crucial (representing the twelve tribes of Israel and the renewed people of God), the category of apostle soon expanded beyond this foundational group.<\/p>\n As the early Christian movement spread and adapted to new contexts, the meaning of apostleship evolved to include a wide range of figures: Not only the institutional Twelve but also charismatic leaders, missionaries, church founders, and witnesses to the resurrection.<\/p>\n However, it would be a mistake to imagine that all early Christians agreed on a single definition of what it meant to be an apostle. On the contrary, sharp differences emerged, crafting the future of the nascent movement.<\/p>\n In the end, the question \u201cHow many apostles did Jesus have\u201d invites us to look beyond static lists toward the living and often contested tradition of the early Church. Apostleship was not simply a matter of formal membership in an exclusive group; it was a vibrant, evolving response to the experience of Jesus\u2019 life, death, and resurrection.<\/p>\n Instead of a formal conclusion you might be expecting, I decided to switch things up a little bit here. In this final section, I want to briefly highlight one of the more intriguing <\/strong>developments in the history of biblical interpretation, what might best be called the Curious Case of Junia.<\/p>\n It offers a striking example of how cultural (patriarchal) assumptions<\/strong>, rather than neutral analysis, sometimes shaped how early Christian figures were remembered, or forgotten.<\/p>\n In Romans 16:7, Paul sends greetings to Andronicus and Junia (probably a married couple), praising them as \u201cprominent among the apostles.\u201d For nearly a thousand years, no one in the Church seems to have doubted that Junia was a woman and an apostle.<\/p>\n Early commentators such as Origen, John Chrysostom, and others all assumed she was female. Chrysostom even marveled at her achievement, writing, \u201cOh, how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should be counted worthy of the title of apostle!\u201d<\/p>\n However, the story takes a surprising turn much later in history. As Eldon Epp shows in his book Junia: The First Woman Apostle<\/a>, it was only in the later medieval period, especially with the influence of Martin Luther\u2019s translation and later critical editions, that Junia was transformed into a man<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Motivated by the belief that a woman could not possibly have held the title of apostle, scholars and translators began to subtly alter the tradition. Some introduced the idea of a male \u201cJunias,\u201d even though such a name is unattested in any Greek or Latin texts of the period. <\/p>\n Critical Greek editions of the New Testament, starting with Eberhard Nestle\u2019s 1927 edition (an influential scholarly reconstruction of the Greek text used for Bible translations), began to favor the masculine reading without substantial manuscript evidence, and some English translations followed suit.<\/p>\n Today, careful examination of the textual and historical evidence has largely reversed this error. As Epp and many others have demonstrated, the objective data (early manuscripts, early Church commentary, and Roman naming practices) consistently point toward Junia being a woman<\/strong>, recognized as an apostle by Paul himself.<\/p>\n In recovering her rightful place, scholars remind us of an important lesson: Our interpretations of the past are often shaped by the assumptions of our own time. But when we return honestly to the sources, voices once muted can speak again.<\/p>\n TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE of the Historical Jesus!<\/p>\n Think you know the Jesus of the Bible? Uncover the historical figure behind the texts!<\/p>\n __CONFIG_colors_palette__{“active_palette”:0,”config”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“name”:”Main Accent”,”parent”:-1}},”gradients”:[]},”palettes”:[{“name”:”Default”,”value”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“val”:”rgb(255, 133, 34)”}},”gradients”:[]},”original”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“val”:”rgb(19, 114, 211)”,”hsl”:{“h”:210,”s”:0.83,”l”:0.45,”a”:1}}},”gradients”:[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__ <\/span> sTART QUIZ<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <\/a> <\/p>\n It’s free!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How Many Apostles Did Jesus Have? (HINT: More Than 12!) Written by Marko Marina, Ph.D. Author | Historian Author | Historian | BE Contributor Verified! See our guidelines Verified! See our editorial guidelines Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. – Dr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":20141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":" Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman<\/p><\/div> How many apostles did Jesus have? This question reminds me of one of the most important lessons I learned during my graduate studies: Terms and concepts aren\u2019t fixed entities<\/strong>; they are deeply tied to context and can shift in meaning over time and across cultures. <\/p> Consider, for example, the swastika. In the context of Nazi Germany, it has become an enduring symbol of death, evil, and destruction. Yet in Hinduism, where it originated thousands of years earlier, the swastika signifies auspiciousness, good fortune, and the cosmic order.<\/p> Similarly, when we explore the names of the apostles, we\u2019ll find that the concept of apostleship in early Christianity is far broader and more complex than many assume today.<\/p> Most people, when they hear the term \u201capostles,\u201d immediately think of the disciples (Peter, James, John, and the others) who famously accompanied Jesus during his ministry. That association is understandable. The group of the Twelve held tremendous importance in the historical memory of Jesus' earliest followers and remains central to Christian tradition today.<\/p> However, if we approach the historical evidence carefully, we discover that apostleship in the 1st century wasn\u2019t confined to this<\/strong> familiar group. The names of the apostles extend well beyond the Twelve, encompassing figures who never set foot among Jesus' original group, and whose roles and significance were shaped by evolving needs and perspectives within the early church.<\/p> Several excellent articles on this blog have already examined Jesus\u2019 apostles and their crucial place in the development of early Christianity. These studies have offered valuable insights into the names of the apostles, their place within Jesus\u2019 movement, and the stories and legends about their deaths. <\/p> In this article, however, I want to highlight another key dimension<\/strong>: How the historical context of early Christianity allowed a broader application of the \u201capostle\u201d category to men and women who were neither among the original Twelve nor necessarily part of Jesus\u2019 earthly ministry.<\/p> As we\u2019ll see, understanding how early Christians used the term \"apostle\" sheds light not only on the diversity of the movement but also on the fluid and dynamic ways in which authority and leadership were negotiated in its formative years.<\/p><\/div> The term \u201capostle\u201d has its roots in the Greek language, where it originally functioned not as a noun but as an adjective. It derives from the verb apostell\u014d <\/strong>(\u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9), meaning \u201cto send off\u201d or \u201cto dispatch.\u201d From this verb came the adjective apostolos (\u1f00\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2), signifying someone who was \u201csent\u201d or \u201cdispatched\u201d for a particular purpose.<\/p> Only later did apostolos come to be used as a substantive noun, designating a \u201cmessenger,\u201d \u201cemissary,\u201d or \u201cdelegate.\u201d In its core meaning, an apostle was someone entrusted with a mission on behalf of another, carrying authority as a representative of the one who had sent them.<\/p> Before the emergence of Christianity, the term apostolos was attested only sparingly in Greek literature. According to the Liddell-Scott-Jones Lexicon<\/a> (LSJ), apostolos appears rarely and is typically used in secular contexts to denote an envoy or a bearer of a message.<\/p> (Affiliate Disclaimer: We may earn commissions on products you purchase through this page at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our site!<\/em>)<\/p> A notable example occurs in Herodotus (Histories 1.21), where the term describes emissaries dispatched by Cyrus the Great. In such pre-Christian usage, apostolos carried no specific religious connotations<\/strong>. Rather, it simply referred to individuals commissioned for diplomatic or communicative tasks.<\/p> However, as Ceslas Spicq has emphasized in Notes de lexicographie n\u00e9o-testamentaire<\/a> (Notes on New Testament Lexicography), none of these Greco-Roman meanings (whether casual or juridical) can account for the profound theological depth that apostolos acquires in the New Testament. <\/p> Christian usage, particularly in Paul, presupposes a Semitic background, rooted in the Jewish institution of the shalia\u1e25 (\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05d7), an authorized representative whose acts legally bound the sender. It was within this Jewish conceptual framework that the early followers of Jesus reinterpreted and deepened the meaning of apostleship.<\/p> So, with the rise of the Jesus movement, apostolos acquired a distinctive theological weight. As New Testament scholar Francis Agnew<\/a> notes:<\/p><\/div> The term 'apostle' appears in the New Testament 80 times<\/strong>, found in most of the NT books and quite across the time-span which they represent, with concentration in Paul (35x) and Luke (34x) near the beginning and end of the period.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div> In other words, far from being confined to a single generation or group, the notion of apostleship was pervasive across early Christian writings. It was a central term used by authors in diverse settings to describe those who had been commissioned to carry the message of Christ.<\/p> Understanding this background helps frame the larger question that drives our investigation: How many apostles did Jesus have?<\/p> As we\u2019ll see in the next section, the New Testament\u2019s application of the term extends beyond the familiar circle of the Twelve, reflecting the fluid and expanding nature of early Christian leadership and identity.<\/p><\/div> During Jesus' public ministry, the term \u201capostle\u201d (apostolos) likely didn\u2019t carry the precise, formal meaning it would later acquire. As John P. Meier, in his book A Marginal Jew<\/a>, has argued, \"apostle\" wasn\u2019t a fixed title but rather a functional designation<\/strong> for individuals temporarily commissioned for a task.<\/p> The Gospels occasionally describe the Twelve being \u201csent out\u201d (apostellein) by Jesus (e.g., Mark 6:30), but the focus is on their immediate mission: Preaching repentance, healing, and casting out demons, rather than establishing a permanent office.<\/p> The Twelve were primarily called \u201cdisciples\u201d (math\u0113tai), meaning learners or followers. The use of \"apostle\" to designate a stable office emerged only after Easter, when the early Jesus followers became convinced of his resurrection<\/a> and the need to spread the message of the coming of the Kingdom of God.<\/p> In the post-resurrection period, the meaning of \u201capostle\u201d broadened significantly. It no longer referred simply to the original Twelve but extended to a wider circle of individuals who had, in various ways, been entrusted with proclaiming the risen Christ<\/a>.<\/p> Paul of Tarsus<\/a>, though not one of the Twelve and indeed a former persecutor of the Church, famously insists on his apostolic status: \u201cPaul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father\u201d (Galatians 1:1).<\/p> Paul's letters contain the highest concentration <\/strong>of the term apostolos in the New Testament, demonstrating his commitment to defending his calling. Likewise, in Romans 16:7, Paul refers to Andronicus and Junia, \u201cwho are prominent among the apostles\u201d (more on that in the Appendix).<\/p> Barnabas, too, is called an apostle alongside Paul in Acts 14:14, after their missionary efforts in the cities of Lystra and Derbe. Even the group of seventy (or seventy-two) disciples mentioned in Luke 10 and the 120 followers gathered in Acts 1:15 hint at a broader reservoir of commissioned witnesses.<\/p> Although not all were explicitly termed \u201capostles,\u201d they formed part of a dynamic movement that understood mission and testimony as central to Christian identity.<\/p> But what precisely qualified someone to be considered an apostle? The early Jesus movement, particularly in its Pauline expressions, seemed to require two key credentials:<\/p> #1 \u2013 A commissioning by Jesus<\/strong>, often understood to involve some revelatory encounter Paul appeals to his vision of the risen Lord (Galatians 1:11-12) as the basis of his apostleship, while emphasizing that his mission was divinely authorized rather than institutionally granted.<\/p> Similarly, Acts 1:21-22 specifies that Judas\u2019 replacement (Matthias) among the Twelve had to be someone who had accompanied Jesus from the beginning and could bear witness to the resurrection. <\/p> In short, apostleship entailed being sent by Jesus with a public, authoritative mission to proclaim his message.<\/p> As Ceslas Spicq explains, reflecting on the famous list in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8:<\/p><\/div> \u201cIn a text whose importance cannot be overestimated, the risen Lord first appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, then to all the apostles, and finally to me (Paul). These apostles named after the Twelve could have been divinely commissioned missionary preachers, charismatics who are listed first among the official ministers of the Church (1 Cor 12:28-31; Eph 4:11); this shows that there is no opposition between institution and charisma.\u201d (My translation)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div> This observation highlights Paul\u2019s early observation that apostleship extended beyond the rigid circle of the Twelve and included a broader, Spirit-endowed ministry validated by encounter with the risen Lord and missionary service. <\/p> However, the concept of apostleship in the early Church was far from uniform. Different authors and communities held varying understandings of what it meant to be an apostle, leading at times to conflict and sharp polemics. Later Gospel writers provide clear examples of this diversity.<\/p> The author of Luke\u2019s Gospel,<\/a> for instance, closely identified the disciples of Jesus during his earthly ministry with the Twelve, effectively creating the category of the \u201cTwelve Apostles.\u201d In Luke\u2019s conception, apostleship was restricted to those who had accompanied Jesus from the beginning and witnessed his resurrection.<\/p> This framework had significant implications: It excluded figures such as Paul from being recognized as apostles in the full sense. <\/p> For Luke, the Twelve Apostles emerged as the foundational leaders of the Jerusalem church, while missionaries and later emissaries, even if crucial to the movement\u2019s expansion, were generally not called apostles.<\/p>![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/How-Many-Apostles-Did-Jesus-Have.png\" "\\"How")
<\/span><\/p>\nHow Many Apostles Did Jesus Have? Starting With the Etymology<\/h2>\n
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<\/span><\/p>\nBeyond the Twelve: Other Early Apostles<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n![\"Names](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/names-of-the-apostles.png\" "\\"names")
<\/span><\/p>\nAppendix: A Female as an Apostle: Resistance and Rejections in the Early Church<\/h2>\n
How Many Apostles Did Jesus Have? (HINT: More Than 12!)<\/h2><\/div>
<\/span><\/div>How Many Apostles Did Jesus Have? Starting With the Etymology<\/h2><\/div>
<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>Beyond the Twelve: Other Early Apostles<\/h2><\/div>
#2 \u2013 A mandate to proclaim the gospel publicly<\/strong><\/p><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>