How Many Apostles Were There?
You may be surprised at what a careful examination of God's Word tells us.
-rory moore
Acts 1:2 Until the
day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given
commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen:
Acts 1:13
And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphæus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
At this point,
there are 11 named as apostles.
#12 Matthias replaced Judas.
Acts 1:26
And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was
numbered with the eleven apostles.
#13 Paul
#14 Barnabbas.
Acts 13:2 While they
were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set Barnabas
and Saul apart for Me for the work to which I have called
them.” Then, when they had fasted, prayed,
and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. 4 So, being sent
out by the Holy Spirit they went.
Acts 14:4 confirmed: But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they rent their clothes
#15 Silvanus
#16 Timothy
58 plurals regarding the "apostles":
"we" "our" "us", used with the context of “apostles” are found in 1Thessalonians
1Thessalonians 1:1 Paul,
and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
(9 remember, brethren, our labor and travail: working night
and day, that we might not burden
any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.
ch.
2:4) but even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God
who prove our hearts. 5) For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye
know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness; 6) nor seeking glory of men, neither from you
nor from others, when we might
have claimed authority as apostles
(plural) of Christ.
Again, Paul, Silvanus, and
Timothy in
2Thessalonians:3
(6 Now we command
you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you keep away from every brother or sister who leads
a disorderly life and not one in accordance with the
tradition which you received from
us.
7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined way
among you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but
with labor and hardship we working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of
you; 9 not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to
offer ourselves as a role model
for you, so that you would follow
our example. 10 For even when we were with you, we
used to give you this order:
if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.
11 For we hear
that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work
at all, but acting like busybodies.
12 Now we
command and exhort such persons in the Lord Jesus Christ
to work peacefully and eat their own bread.
In 2
Thessalonians chapter 3, there are 14 plurals used in context of the apostles
ministry. And 24 plurals total. “—because our testimony to you was believed.”
in 1Thess. 2:6 “as apostles…” : there
are a total of 58 plural references from them, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, as
“apostles”, from Paul the writer.
I see solid evidence of 16 apostles through
these passages, perhaps there are others such as Apollos?
#17 Apollos.
1
Corinthians 3:5 Who then is Paul, and
who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to
every man?
1
Corinthians 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or
death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1 Cor 4:6 And these things, brethren, I
have in a figure transferred to myself to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might
learn in us not to think of men above that which is written
#18 Luke an apostle. The writer of Acts. Paul's companion who *may* have replaced Barnabas when Barnabas and Paul separated later in the Acts narrative. Luke was in the field with Paul ministering.
In Acts he affirms traveling with Paul
#19 Epaphroditus
Philippians 2:25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my
brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your *messenger and minister..
*The translators should have said “apostle”
here because the Greek word is “apostolos”.
"apostolos": noun-masculine.
Definition: a delegate, messenger, one
sent forth with orders
specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ
in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers
of Barnabas of Timothy and Silvanus.
Titus: #21
2Cor. 8:23 about Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you. Or if our brethren be inquired about, they are the *messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. *apostolos.
John Mark #22
Acts 12:25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. (this is not John the son of Zebedee)
#23 Judas
#24 Silas.
Both were sent, both were prophets (as were Paul and Barnbbas before they were sent out)
Acts 15:27/32/40 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same by mouth.
Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and strengthened them. Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
If this is accurate, we have 24 apostles who are the elders in Revelation 4:4, 4:10 and several more mentions.
"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold."
Junia? Some assert "Junia" was an apostle.
Let's test.
1. apostle is "apostolos" in the Greek, a masculine noun. Like husband, brother, prophet.
2. Paul credited Junia and Andronica as fellow prisoners, kinsmen, and that they were "IN CHRIST" before him.
This means they were serving the Lord before Paul's conversion. There is no mention of either Andronicus or Junia named as apostles ever.
3. Paul and Barnabbas were the first apostles added and called apostles in Acts 13. Prior to them, there is no other apostles named after Acts 1 where the Eleven were mentioned, and they cast lots to replace Judas who fell. Two MEN were selected and the Lord's lot fell upon Matthias.
Acts 1:23
they appointed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “Thou, Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show us which of these two Thou hast chosen,
25 that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
26 And they cast their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias;
and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. 4. 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 "𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭" 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝟏𝟑,
𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐬 being "𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧",
-it seems quite the stretch to turn Junia into an apostle based on this one phrase:
"Junias, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles,
who also have been in Christ before me."
With no prior record of Junia being called an apostle, and no reference of her being one in any other mention of the names of the other apostles like Barnabbas, Epaphroditus, Silvanus, Timothy, and Lukes writing in Acts,
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐔𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐀𝐒 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝟏𝟏 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐬!
𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑱𝒖𝒅𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑻𝑾𝑶 𝑴𝑬𝑵. -𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕.
Junia was not an apostle (apostolos noun-masculine)