A hallmark of Jesus’ ministry on the earth was when he selected the disciples that would follow him for the next 3 ½ years. Most Christians can recite the names of at least a few of these twelve men: Simon (Peter), Andrew, James (Son of Zebedee), John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (Son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (the zealot), and the infamous Judas. You will likely notice that the names of two men, Mark and Luke, who wrote two of the gospels were not part of this group of twelve. Read my other article about the seventy disciples to learn about these two men and many others. Jesus also gave these men the title of apostle and if we dig deeper into Scripture, we will discover that others also carried this title. An apostle is one who is sent or commissioned as a messenger who operates with the authority of the commissioner. They had a clear overseeing and evangelistic role within the early church.
Jesus is listed as an apostle in Hebrews 3:1, but that should be a given. The original twelve are listed in Matthew 10:2-4. Because Judas committed suicide, the disciples replaced him with Matthias in Acts 1:26. This is the only place he is mentioned in the Bible, so we do not know of any of his future accomplishments. Barnabas is listed as having the apostolic title in Acts 14:14. He is the one who introduced Paul to the other apostles after the conversion (Acts 9:27-28). He also traveled with Paul on some missionary journeys and later split off to minister in Cyprus. Paul, of course, is also listed as an apostle in Acts 14:14 and we are all aware of his massive contributions to the faith. A few others who are mentioned without sharing any details about their lives are Andronicus and Junia (Rom. 16:7).
Having Junia listed as an apostle has raised some interesting debates with people who believe women should not serve in a leadership capacity within the church, since it is a female name directly attached to an important leadership title. Some have proposed that Junia is a contraction of the male name Junianus, but Craig Keener has noted that these are Latin names, and the method others have used to contract the name is a Greek method.[1] One cannot apply a Greek grammar method to a different language and expect an accurate result. Historically, at least one leader within the fourth-century church, John Chrysostom, has affirmed that Junia was a woman.[2]
Another interesting historical element about Junia is that most Bibles translated before the thirteenth century render the name Junia. It was not until after the reformation that translations started favoring Junias as the translation. More recently, some translations that were using Junias have reverted to using Junia. These include the NIV, REB, NABRE, and NRSV. As a side note, the 1952 and 1971 editions of the RSV inserted the phrase “they are men,” which is a clear attempt to modify Scripture to support an opinion. Regarding Andronicus, who is mentioned with Junia, many theologians believe they were a husband and wife team, which would make perfect sense if they were traveling together in the first century. Another entry on the list of apostles that makes sense is James, the half-brother of Jesus.
Why would the half-brother of Jesus not be an apostle? John 7:3-5 clues us in that Jesus’ brothers did not believe in him, but at some point, that must have changed because Paul refers to James as an apostle in Galatians 1:19. James also wrote one of the books of the Bible.
Apollos, who Paul refers to as an apostle in 1 Corinthians 4:6-9, is known to have helped spread the gospel in Ephesus, Achaia, Corinth, and Crete.[3] This brings the list to 19 named apostles in the New Testament.
What every believer should learn from this, the fact that Jesus had another 70 disciples and that Ephesians 4:8-13 instructs that Christ gave apostles as gifts to the church, is that apostles had an important role in the early church. We can also infer that the role of the apostle has continued to modern times since the church has not yet arrived at a place of being fully equipped or unified (Eph 4:12-13). This last note is heavily argued today as true or false and I will take up that argument in a later article.
[1] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2014), 456.
[2] See Homily 31 on Romans.
[3] See Acts 18:24-19:1 and Titus 3:13.