After getting through Peter, James, and John many of us rack our brains before coming up with Paul, George, and Ringo as our next best guesses.
While some apostles are featured prominently throughout the New Testament, others are merely mentioned in passing. Although these men lived and ministered with Jesus we often have a difficult time remembering much about them.
While the following outlines won’t give you a complete view of each of these men, they will help you understand more about these men and keep track of who wanted to sit at the right hand of Jesus, who was present at the transfiguration, and who thought it would be wise to start cutting off ears when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane.
The following passage from the book of Mark lists each of Jesus’ 12 apostles.
Mark 3:14-19
Click a name to learn about each apostle
“And He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.”
Simon (Peter)
As recorded in John 1:42, Simon was given the name Cephas by Jesus, which is the Aramaic equivalent of Peter. The son of Jonah, or Jonas (Matthew 16:17; Bar means ‘son of’) he was from the city of Bethsaida (John 1:44). He worked as a fisherman with his brother Andrew (Matthew 4:18). Mark 1:21-31 tells us that Jesus came to his home and miraculously healed Peter’s mother-in-law, so we know that this apostle either had a wife or had at least been married previously.
Peter is considered the leader of Christ’s apostles, and as such there is a wealth of information regarding his life and ministry recorded in the New Testament. Below are some of Peter’s highlights (and lowlights) as recorded in Scripture.
Matthew 14:22-33 | Here we see Peter step out in faith to step out of the boat and walk on water towards Jesus. However, when he took his eyes off of the Lord, and noticed the wind and waves, he began to sink. Jesus caught him with His hand and said to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matthew 16:13-20 | When Jesus asked the apostles who people thought He was, they replied that some thought He was John the Baptist, some thought he was Elijah, and still others believed Him to be one of the prophets. When the Lord asked Peter directly who he thought He was, Peter boldly and truthfully proclaimed that “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Keep in mind that Christ is not a name, but a title identifying Jesus as the Messiah. Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah is profound.
To this Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
Luke 22:31-34 | While the previous passage is certainly a high point of Peter’s faith, this section of Luke shows Jesus telling Peter of an upcoming low point. Jesus tells Peter that Satan has desired to “sift [Peter] as wheat,” to which Peter states “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” However, Christ informs Peter that he will deny the Him three times before the rooster crows.
John 18:10-15 | We see some of Peter’s characteristic rashness in the garden of Gethsemane after Jesus is arrested. It is Peter who deems it best to take up his sword and cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants. This earned him a rebuke from Jesus, who did not resist His captors, but willingly went to the cross.
Mark 14:66-72 | This passage, and a parallel in Luke 22:54-61, records a terrible lapse in Peter’s faith. Here we see Jesus’ words come to fruition that Peter would deny Him three times. Not only did the apostle deny following Jesus as a disciple, he denied even knowing Him at all. Once this had occurred, and Peter heard the crow of the rooster, he recalled Jesus’ words and wept.
John 21:15-19 | After having witnessed the empty tomb, Peter returned to fishing. It was while doing so that he encountered the resurrected Christ. As Peter previously had denied Jesus three times, the Lord asks Peter three times, “Simon, son of Johnah, do you love Me?” This incident is often referred to as the restoration of Peter.
From here Peter would return as the leader of the apostles and of the early church. Many of the apostle’s sermons are recorded for us in the book of Acts, in passages such as Acts 2:14-47 and Acts 3:11-26. Acts also records for us Peter’s extensive ministry, his brief arrests (Acts 4:1-22; 12:1-19), and miraculous healings (Acts 3:1-10).
John Foxe records that Peter met his death by crucifixion at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero. It is reported that he asked to be, and was, crucified upside down as he felt unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord (Foxe’s Book of Martyrs).
The apostle Peter was a man of great range and passion, and his life exhibits both failures and successes throughout the New Testament narrative. This apostle is the author of the New Testament books 1 and 2 Peter.