Inconsistencies in names of 12 apostles

  • Thread starter Thread starter upbeatjonm
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
U

upbeatjonm

Guest
Two questions that have puzzled me:
  1. Why do the Gospels have slightly different list of the 12 apostles. Thadius is mentioned in Mark, but not Act. Acts names Jude, brother of James, etc. Why the difference?
  2. Why are certain of the apostles almost never mentioned? What happened to them?
Jon
 
upbeatjonm said:
Two questions that have puzzled me:
  1. Why do the Gospels have slightly different list of the 12 apostles. Thadius is mentioned in Mark, but not Act. Acts names Jude, brother of James, etc. Why the difference?
  2. Why are certain of the apostles almost never mentioned? What happened to them?
Jon
Click to expand...
Thaddeus and Jude are the same person.
 
Remember that Our Lord among His apostles had TWO Judes (Judas as in Iscariot is actually the same name as Jude as in Thaddeus), two Simons and two Jameses. Talk about confusing!

So of course surnames and their father’s names were employed to distinguish Thaddeus from Iscariot and James son of Alphaeus from James son of Zebedee. Or other nicknames - ‘Boanerges (Sons of Thunder)’ or ‘James brother of the Lord’ or ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ (traditionally taken to refer to John).

And Simon (Bar Jonah or son of John) Peter was referred to by several names as a result of his renaming by Christ. Of course is easily distinguished from Simon the Zealot (member of a particular politica party).

Similarly many of the others were also referred to by two names - Nathanael (his first name) seems to have been the same person as Bartholomew (Jewish surname - ‘son of Talmai’) and Matthew the Evangelist s referred to as Levi in places (maybe an indication that he came from that particular Jewish tribe?)
 
One must also consider that the authors sometimes used their Greek names, while other authors tended to use their Hebrew or Aramaic names.

I believe that Levi is Matthew?

That’s why you see Peter (Greek) called Cephas (Aramaic) by Paul (Greek) - or is it Saul (Hebrew)? Get the picture?
 
Also, recall that Jews at that time were named in Hebrew but spoke Aramaic (and used the Aramaic forms of their names other than in the Temple), and the Gospels other than John were written in Koine Greek.
 
Hastrman said:
Also, recall that Jews at that time were named in Hebrew but spoke Aramaic (and used the Aramaic forms of their names other than in the Temple), and the Gospels other than John were written in Koine Greek.
Click to expand...
Isn’t it thought that Matthew was written originally in Hebrew (or Aramaic - I’m never sure)?

BTW, what was John written in?
 
NotWorthy said:
Isn’t it thought that Matthew was written originally in Hebrew (or Aramaic - I’m never sure)?

BTW, what was John written in?
Click to expand...
Aramaic and Hebrew are different languages, not just different written languages. Originally Aramaic was written in cuneiform, then in an alphabet derived from Sinaitic; that second alphabet was adopted for writing Hebrew, too.
 
Hastrman said:
Aramaic and Hebrew are different languages, not just different written languages. Originally Aramaic was written in cuneiform, then in an alphabet derived from Sinaitic; that second alphabet was adopted for writing Hebrew, too.
Click to expand...
Do you work for Microsoft? Because even though you were correct, your answer didn’t help me at all!!! 😉

But seriously, what was Matthew originally written in, and what was John written in?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top