Mary Magdalene was a remarkably dedicated follower and supporter of Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry.

She is mentioned in all four canonical accounts of the Gospel of the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and was one of several women who was not only a disciple of Jesus, but also supported His ministry financially (Luke 8:1-3).

Her deep devotion to Jesus is clear because she was with Him during His ministry, during his crucifixion (while most of His other followers were in hiding), and after His resurrection.

Mary was a very common Jewish name at the time of Jesus, so it’s not surprising that among the many followers of Jesus, there were multiple Marys. Mary Magdalene is often misunderstood and even misidentified as other women named Mary in the New Testament.

To better understand who Mary Magdalene really was, we’ll look at:

• Her life before Jesus
• Her life with Jesus
• Common misconceptions about her
• What we can learn from her

Let’s begin with what we can learn from the Bible about before Jesus came into her life.

Mary Magdalene’s life before Jesus

Not much is said in Scripture about Mary Magdalene’s early life, but as her last name suggests, she was from Magdala, a fishing village on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.¹

She’s believed to have been wealthy since she helped support Jesus’ ministry from her own resources (Luke 8:2-3), though the source of such wealth isn’t mentioned.

A lot of Jesus’ life and ministry took place in and around the Galilean region, which included Magdala. It makes sense, then, that Mary Magdalene would encounter Jesus Himself at some point during His ministry.

The Bible says that Mary Magdalene was possessed by seven demons (Luke 8:2). Seven! Jesus healed many people from demon possession during His ministry, but the Bible records only one other person who had more demons than Mary Magdalene (Mark 5:1-13; Luke 8:26-33).

People who were demon-possessed in the Bible showed a variety of behaviors. Some were mute (Mark 9:17), some had seizures (Matthew 17:15), others had physical disabilities (Luke 13:10-11). Sometimes, someone who was possessed by evil spirits posed a disturbance and a threat to others and themselves (Mark 5:2-5). They were sometimes even cast out of society and isolated from their family and friends.²

We can speculate about how she may have acted, as the show The Chosen depicts, but the Bible doesn’t mention any particular behaviors that Mary Magdalene showed when she was possessed. It’s likely she was treated as other demon-possessed people were treated in her time.

But once Mary Magdalene is healed, we see that she is in her right mind, has all of her faculties, and is active in society as a follower of Jesus.

It’s this miraculous healing that serves as a springboard for the remainder of Mary’s life as a faithful follower of Christ.

Mary Magdalene’s life with Jesus

In Luke 7, the chapter in Luke right before Mary Magdalene is first mentioned, Jesus tells a parable to a Pharisee named Simon to demonstrate the connection between forgiveness and love.

In the parable, two people are forgiven a debt neither can pay. One debt is 500 denarii–more than a year’s salary for an average worker.³ The other debt, 50 denarii, was much smaller, but couldn’t be paid nonetheless.

Jesus asks Simon an important question: “‘Now which of them will love him [the moneylender] more?’ Simon answered, ‘The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.’ And He said to him, ‘You have judged rightly’” (Luke 7:42-43, ESV).

The message here is clear—forgiveness awakens and magnifies love, and when you’re forgiven much, you love the one who forgave much.

The Bible doesn’t mention how long Mary Magdalene suffered from evil spirits, but being possessed by multiple demons for any amount of time is unimaginable. Her healing must have sparked insurmountable joy, gratitude, and even curiosity about this man named Jesus.

How much love, then, did Mary Magdalene pour out to Jesus after He healed her from seven demons?

Mary Magdalene’s role in the ministry of Jesus

After being healed, Mary Magdalene expressed her love and devotion to Jesus with her priorities—her money, her time, and her daily life. She listened to His teachings and studied the Torah alongside Christ’s other followers. She was a disciple in every sense of the word, which was almost unheard of for women in that time.⁴

Accepting Mary Magdalene’s money was a little risky for Jesus. While it was generally acceptable, enemies of Jesus could have easily criticized Him for having women supporters.⁵

But the possibility of being criticized was never a concern for Jesus. And it did not deter Mary Magdalene from following Him.

She even stuck by Him when other disciples went into hiding during Jesus’ crucifixion.

Mary Magdalene’s presence at the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all record that Mary Magdalene was present at Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and tomb after His resurrection.

Jesus had predicted His arrest, death, and rise from the dead multiple times to the twelve main disciples before He was arrested. And sadly, when the mob arrived to arrest Him, the disciples all retreated and hid because they feared they would also be arrested and killed for following Jesus (Matthew 26:56). Peter even denied knowing Jesus when he was questioned about his relationship with Him (Luke 22:54-62).

The followers of Jesus knew that it was dangerous to be associated with Him. Throughout His ministry, Jesus had to defend His stance that He was the Son of God and that He had the authority to carry out His ministry. So we can only imagine how it felt to have His closest followers leave Him at the time of His greatest need.

Mary Magdalene, however, did not abandon Jesus during His time of need. In fact, she—along with Mary the mother of James and Salome—followed Him to his crucifixion to specifically take care of His needs (Mark 15:40-41).

But as Jesus died on the cross while Roman soldiers humiliated Him, all Mary Magdalene could do was watch (John 19:24-25).

After His death, Mary Magdalene followed closely that night as Jesus’ body was prepared and laid in a tomb nearby (Matthew 27:59-61). Even after death, she didn’t want to leave His side.

Very early the following morning, she and two others went to anoint His body, but all they found was an empty tomb. The stone had been rolled from the entrance of the tomb and there were no guards around!

Before Jesus appeared to His disciples, He appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9). She was the first person to witness Jesus’ resurrection. John’s account of the Gospel records that she mistook Him for the gardener, but after Jesus said her name, “Mary,” she immediately recognized that it was Him (John 20:14-16).

No matter the circumstances, Mary Magdalene was devoted to Jesus. She was willing to stand by His side even when others didn’t, and Jesus knew He could trust her to share with the other disciples that He was risen from the dead (John 20:17-18).

But if this is what the Bible says about Mary Magdalene, what other ideas about her identity exist?

Misconceptions about Mary Magdalene

There are several misunderstandings about who Mary Magdalene was.

Due to speculation and various ideas from art and literature, she is often mistaken to be a prostitute and has been misidentified as the “sinful woman” who poured oil on Jesus’ head and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears (Luke 7:37-38).⁶ However, the Bible does not connect either of these things with Mary Magdalene.

Because Mary was a common name, Mary Magdalene is sometimes mistaken for Mary the mother of Jesus and wife of Joseph or Mary of Bethany, Lazarus and Martha’s sister. Lazarus, Martha, and Mary were from Bethany, which was a village in Judea, two miles from Jerusalem (John 11:1,18).

But we know that Mary Magdalene was from Magdala, a village in Galilee.

It is also rumored and repeated in the popular novel The Da Vinci Code that she was married to Jesus and that they even had a child together.

But there is no biblical evidence for any of these misinterpretations about Mary Magdalene. Instead, we can learn plenty from what the Bible does say about her, even though it’s not a lot.

What we can learn from Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene was a remarkable woman who received the gift of healing and followed Jesus as a result. She was brave, an active learner, and supported Him financially and emotionally.

Though other women followed Jesus as well, her name is the one most mentioned among these women in the Bible, and we can learn a lot from her life and example.

We have a Savior

One important lesson that the life of Mary Magdalene shows us is that we have a personal Savior.

No matter what has happened in your past, Jesus is always eager and willing to heal and transform you.

Your past does not have to be your identity. With God, your identity is new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). There is great honor in that!

An encounter with Jesus leads to a devoted relationship

We can also learn from Mary Magdalene that complete devotion to Jesus Christ is an appropriate response to His healing.

Sometimes when we receive a gift, we may not know how to express our thanks. Sometimes our words or deeds seem to pale in comparison to what was done for us.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He gave many the invitation to “follow Me.” To the disciples (Mark 1:17-18), scribes (Matthew 8:19-22), the “rich young ruler” (Matthew 19:21), and to all people (Luke 9:23), He extends the same invitation to “follow Me.”

When Mary Magdalene was healed from seven demons, she experienced the true character of God. He came to her personally with love and compassion. And she responded to His call of: “If anyone serves me, he must follow me” (John 12:26).

Devotion to Christ is a demonstration of faith and love in Him

Image by RDNE Stock project

But what does following Jesus even look like?

For Mary Magdalene, it meant gratitude, focus, priority, and service. She gave Jesus her time, her attention, and her resources. She trusted Him to teach her the Bible, which didn’t happen for women often in Mary’s day.

She may have even been among the women in the upper room with the disciples when they were praying and waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which means she would have been one of the first members of the early church, though the Bible does not name her specifically. We definitely know, though, that she followed Jesus and cared for Him when He needed it most.

For any of us, following Jesus might look like studying the Bible to know more about Him, or donating to church or to someone in need, volunteering at your local community center, or always being on the lookout for someone who might need encouragement. It might look like helping a loved one or a stranger who’s dealing with a tough situation. Or it might be as simple as agreeing to go wherever God leads, regardless of if it was part of your own plans or not.

Mary probably didn’t plan for her life to turn out the way it did. But after meeting Jesus, she embraced her life’s new focus wholeheartedly.

So no matter the time or place we’re in, following Jesus looks like surrendering to Him. And welcoming the adventure, the peace, the purpose, and the challenges this entails.

We can make the choice to live our lives for Christ just like Mary Magdalene did. We can give our time, our resources, our minds, and our hearts completely to Him as an act of faith and love.

So while there is plenty of fiction and fable surrounding who Mary Magdalene was, what we know for sure about her is plainly stated in the Bible: as a response to being healed by Jesus, she followed Him, supported His ministry, learned from Him, and was loyal to Him in His greatest time of need.

Interested in learning about other followers of Jesus? Check out,

1. Grudem, Wayne and Thomas R. Schreiner. “Notes on Luke,” in The ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, Crossway, 2008, p. 1967. [↵]
2. Keener, Craig S. “Notes on Luke.” NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, 1763. [↵]
3. Ibid., 1760. [↵]
4. Keener, Craig. “Luke,” in NIV Cultural Background Study Bible, edited by John H. Walton and Craig S. Keener, Zondervan, 2016, p. 1761. [↵]
5. Ibid.. [↵]
6. Beavis, Mary Ann, PhD, “Who is Mary Magdalene?” The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University (2013). [↵]

More Answers

Mark (whose full name was John Mark) had a lot of roles in the New Testament: he was an early follower of Jesus Christ, he traveled the Mediterranean as a Christian missionary, and he wrote a book of the Bible.

The thing is, aside from a few mentions in the New Testament, we don’t actually know much about Mark. Who was he really?

While it takes some piecing together from different books of the Bible and other historical sources, here we’ll share the known details of this man who led an active life in spreading the Christian faith. We’ll talk about:

• What the Bible says about Mark’s background
• Mark’s life as a Christian
• What books Mark wrote
• Lessons we can take from Mark’s life and writings

First, let’s get a snapshot of who exactly this person John Mark was.

What the Bible says about Mark’s background

Mark had a role in the missionary effort of the early Christian church, although he is many times eclipsed by others with more prominent mentions in Scripture.

But the Bible does tell us that Mark and his mother Mary were early participants in Christianity. It was at their house that Peter stayed after he was miraculously released from prison (Acts 12:12). And because many Christians were gathered at their house praying, it is likely that his family was somewhat wealthy to be able to host so many people at once.

We can also conclude from Scripture that Mark was a cousin of Barnabas, who traveled with the apostle Paul (Colossians 4:10).

Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas in some of their missionary travels, and he worked in and around the Mediterranean region. He also had a close relationship to Peter, who considered Mark as an apprentice or protegé of his (1 Peter 5:13). And Mark mentions Peter’s name in his Gospel account more than any other name.

In fact, early church leader Papias said that Mark’s account of the Gospel is actually a record of what Peter told him,¹ and many sources refer to Mark as a disciple² of Peter.

Aside from this, we don’t have many other biographical details about Mark. But this is typical of the Bible. Many people featured in Scripture, including well-known figures like Paul or Peter, are given no more than the barest of biographical sketches, and these details are often scattered throughout books. The Bible writers focused more on the significant things these people did.

But let’s spend a minute on Mark’s name. Acts 12:12 addresses him as “John whose surname was Mark” (NKJV). Other versions say “John who was called Mark” (CSB) or “John whose other name was Mark” (ESV).

Due to the mix of culture in first century Judea, John is his Hebrew name, while Mark is his Roman name.³ He is more often referred to as Mark, perhaps to distinguish him from John the disciple.

Now that we have a bit of background information, let’s move on to what Mark did as a follower of Jesus.

Mark’s life as a Christian

Officially, the first time the Bible talks about Mark is when Peter goes to his mother’s house after escaping prison (Acts 12:12). But many Bible scholars believe he is mentioned anonymously before this, ironically, in the Gospel of Mark.

When Judas Iscariot leads the authorities, accompanied by a mob, to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, chaos erupts. In the heat of the moment, Peter cuts off a man’s ear with his sword.⁴ Eventually, all of Jesus’ disciples flee the scene to escape capture.

Then Mark inserts a couple lines in his Gospel account that appear in no other:

“Now a certain young man followed Him [Jesus], having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked” (Mark 14:51-52, NKJV).

If this was indeed himself that Mark was describing, it makes sense why he’d be ashamed to identify himself here. Not the most flattering image! Not only was he joining the disciples in failing to stand by their Master and Teacher, but in his haste to flee, he lost the only garment covering him! Yet, he still felt that this should be included in his account of Jesus’ life and ministry.

Of course, this isn’t conclusive proof that Mark is indeed referring to himself here. But given that he was compelled to include this information, many scholars note the reasonable possibility here. Why bother, otherwise?

The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary also points out that Mark hides his identity in the same way the disciple John attempts (and fails) to conceal his identity in his account of the Gospel.⁵

One Adventist pastor and author offers this perspective:

“The writer of the Gospel of Mark is normally generous with details. However, in this case, he mysteriously deletes the name of the fleeing youth. Many scholars have suggested that this embarrassed young man was Mark himself and he includes the account in the record to satisfy his own conscience. Other Gospel writers are evidently ignorant of the episode. … It was not uncommon in that day for people to rise at night and go on errands wearing nothing more than the coverings from their beds.”⁶

But assuming Mark may have fled in disgrace at the Gethsemane encounter, at least we know he didn’t completely flee from being a follower of Christ. Eventually, he became a missionary.

Mark the missionary

We see Mark’s ministry begin to blossom in the book of Acts. Acts 12:25 records,

“And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark” (NKJV).

Perhaps his interest in Jesus and his relationship to Barnabas helped secure him a spot in the first missionary journey.

Likely between AD 46 and AD 48, Paul and his missionaries sailed from Paphos, on the coast of Cyprus, and stopped at Perga, which is in present-day south Turkey.

But then the Bible says,

“Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John [Mark], departing from them, returned to Jerusalem” (Acts 13:13, NKJV).

Why did Mark leave the missionaries so soon and return home? The Bible is silent on this point. Perhaps young Mark didn’t realize how difficult the work would be, and he got discouraged. Perhaps he was homesick.

Whatever the cause, it was a big enough deal that at the start of the next missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas quarreled about it.

“Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed” (Acts 15:37-40, NKJV).

Obviously, Paul did not want to give Mark a second chance. But Barnabas still had hope.

And even though these ministry partners had this sharp disagreement, good came out of it. Instead of two missionaries going out to spread the Gospel, four missionaries went to two different places, which covered more ground.

And Mark must have proved himself able here and after, because the Bible records no more instances of Mark quitting and going home or disappointing his companions. It’s likely he was part of many subsequent missionary efforts.

Even Paul came around eventually. In his epistle (letter) to Philemon, Paul calls Mark his “fellow laborer” (Philemon 1:23-24, NKJV).

And in 2 Timothy, Paul writes, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11, NKJV).

We can only speculate what held Mark back before, but what matters is that he didn’t let that be the end of his efforts to be used by God. He still ended up being a devoted missionary for Jesus. And in doing so, he redeemed himself and became so committed that Paul requested his company later on.

Mark’s writing

Photo by John-Mark Smith

It is widely believed that Mark was the author of the Gospel According to Mark. Clues within the text point to him, and the early church generally agreed Mark was the author. For example, Papias of Hierapolis, an early church leader, said:

“Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a regular narrative of the Lord’s sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements.”⁷

The historian Eusebius and the theologian Irenaeus also affirmed his authorship,⁸ with Irenaeus also referring to Mark as “the disciple and interpreter of Peter.”⁹

His is also thought to be the first Gospel account written, composed in the decades before Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.¹⁰

However, while Mark was the one who wrote this Gospel account, it’s widely believed that he got the majority of his content from Peter.¹¹ Perhaps this is why his Gospel reflects a lot of oratory patterns, such as beginning sentences with “and” (Mark 2:1, 2, 4, 6, 14, 16, 19, 22, 24, and 27, for example).

One thing to note before we get further into Mark’s account of the Gospel. The very last verses of his book, Mark 16:9-20, are believed by many scholars to have been included later, well after Mark was considered finished with his account.

Some suggest that Mark left off at verse 8 to make an “open ending” to his Gospel, with most early Christians being aware of the immediate details of the life of Jesus and His resurrection. Or perhaps he wanted the reader to insert themselves in the Christian story, to take the declaration of an empty tomb as a thought-provoking way to keep readers thinking about Jesus and what He’s doing as the risen Son of God.¹²

While we don’t know for sure what could have been added when, what we do know is that these verses are biblically sound. Most of them are taken from other Gospels or state information that can be found elsewhere in the Bible.¹³

Let’s look at some of the key elements of this synoptic Gospel to get a clearer understanding of its purpose.

A unique style

Mark’s Gospel is concise and packed with action scenes. He uses the word euthos (or “immediately”) 41 times throughout the book, signifying urgency and action.¹⁴ He does not write elaborate descriptions or long genealogies, and he doesn’t quote the Old Testament as much as other Gospel writers. He doesn’t even focus on Jesus’ parables, and the famous Sermon on the Mount is missing in Mark. He’s focused on the events that made up Jesus’ ministry.

Like a movie, Mark’s Gospel cuts from one scene to the next, without much detail in between. Even his stories lack some typical contextual information that other books tend to include. He doesn’t list many locations for the events he covers, preferring to transition from one occurrence to another with phrases like “and again” or “then.”

Because Mark is shorter than any other Gospel, his has often been called the summarizing Gospel or the abbreviated Gospel.¹⁵

This is because Mark’s Gospel is tailored to a Roman audience. He may have even lived in Rome when he wrote his Gospel.¹⁶ The Romans valued action and authority and would have identified with the focused scenes and authoritative stories.¹⁷ Also, the Roman Gentiles were possibly being persecuted at this time. Because no one knew what would happen from day to day, Mark’s account of the Gospel came just at the right time to help spread the good news of Jesus.¹⁸

And because the Romans were not familiar with Jewish customs and history, describing things like Jesus’ genealogy (as Matthew and Luke do) or focusing a lot on Jewish prophecies about Him wouldn’t have mattered much to them.

Instead, Mark had different themes in mind: Jesus’ purpose, His ministry, His suffering and death, and what the kingdom of God really is.

Themes of Mark’s account of the Gospel

The book of Mark is centered on Jesus, particularly what His purpose was on earth, and how He suffered.

It begins with John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, baptizing and predicting one “mightier than [he]” coming (Mark 1:7, NKJV). John declares that Jesus will baptize the people with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ critical statement reveals His purpose soon after:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15, NKJV).

This sets the tone for Jesus’ identity throughout the Gospel: one who has a greater power and who saves through repentance.

This purpose shows itself as Jesus travels and ministers to the people in and around Jerusalem. And after His resurrection, He instructs the disciples to continue after this manner.

“Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15, NKJV).

Jesus’ mission was and is to bring the whole world to Him so they can live forever with Him someday. Mark capitalizes on this and makes it a prominent message throughout his Gospel.

Mark also highlights the kingdom of God. In a conversation with a scribe, Jesus lists the greatest commandments, loving God and loving your fellow humans.

The scribe correctly observes that these two commandments are greater than animal sacrifice, a ceremony the Israelite nation had conducted for centuries for forgiveness of sins.

The scribe had hit the nail on the head. Jesus replied, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34, NKJV).

Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. All those ceremonial animal sacrifices the Israelites had been doing were a physical practice to help them understand the big picture: Jesus, in His perfect love and innocence, is the one who forgives our sins.

But to do that, He had to endure suffering and death, the other big theme of Mark’s version of the Gospel. Mark wanted his readers to know about Jesus’ impending crucifixion right away, and it may have been a way of revealing His purpose as the servant king. He may have also been speaking to the Roman values of action.

In just chapter three of his Gospel account, Mark describes the plot to kill Jesus. This is mentioned far earlier than any of the other Gospels (Matthew 12:14, Luke 19:47, John 11:53).

Mark includes a story that highlights this theme. In Mark 8, Jesus tells the disciples that He must suffer. Then He tells everyone gathered,

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:34-35, NKJV).

This echoes what Jesus would go through to save us. He took up His Cross and lost His life to purchase our lives.

Jesus Himself stated His role as the servant:

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, NKJV).

His suffering and horrible death were all part of His role as the servant.
Having given an in-depth look at the book of Mark and the person who wrote it, let’s look at some of the things we can glean from his life for our own.

Lessons Mark leaves us

Although not a prominent figure in the New Testament, Mark was nonetheless instrumental in spreading the Gospel and supporting the early Christian church. Here are a few things we can learn from his life:

Resilience and perseverance

Photo by Renzo D’souza on Unsplash

Mark had a lot of personal growth throughout his life. As a younger man, he faced challenges while heading out on a missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas, causing him to essentially give up and go home (Acts 13:13).

But it didn’t stop him from living for Christ. Eventually, he went on to accomplish much in the effort of spreading Christianity. We aren’t told exactly what he did, but he was successful to the point that Paul truthfully called him “useful,” a high compliment to come from him (2 Timothy 4:11).

When we are tempted to give up or set aside our efforts to share the Gospel because we are discouraged or disappointed, we can remember Mark. He persevered, even when he faced challenges or discouragement. He was resilient enough to give things another try later on.

We can follow his lead and know that even if we have our ups and downs, we can’t give up on God. We can remember the things He has done for us, and persevere in our relationships, still seeking to share our good news with others. God will help us, as He helped Mark.

Jesus, the servant

Mark emphasizes Jesus’ role as the servant leader throughout his Gospel. As we saw above, Mark alludes to the crucifixion early on in order to show that Jesus was taking the lead to save us by dying a criminal’s death.

Mark’s book shows us Jesus’ heart for meeting the needs of those He came to save, and doing it with humility instead of pride or condescension. This can inspire us to do the same in our own corners of the world. We can cheerfully offer to help others in need and take every opportunity to reflect the character of Christ in anything we do.

Be active

Continuing on the theme of servant leadership, we can see through the book of Mark that Jesus’ servant leadership is more than just having sympathy or offering encouraging words. With the primary focus on the events of Jesus’ ministry and the actions He demonstrated, we can remember that our actions can also proclaim the Gospel even more powerfully than only words.

Mark’s concise, action-oriented approach also shows us that we don’t have to tell every word of every story to get the point across that best fits the needs of the present moment or situation. It’s a good idea to try to understand what would best resonate with those around us.

A far-reaching legacy

While Mark was just a young man when Jesus ministered on earth, he made it his priority to learn, understand, and record what Jesus said and did. And he worked to further the ministries of his companions and mentors, such as Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and more. This undoubtedly

He persevered despite struggles and came out successful, bearing a legacy of a unique account, both stylistically and thematically, of Jesus and His time on earth. He wrote for Gentiles in a way they would understand and appreciate, so that they, too, might accept Jesus as their Savior.

Ready to learn about other significant people in the New Testament?

Related Articles

1. Wallace, J. Warner. “Mark’s Relationship With Peter Was The Foundation For His Gospel,” Cold Case Christianity, August 22, 2018. [↵]
2. “Gospel According to Mark,” Britannica, July 2, 2024. [↵]
3. “Saint Mark,” Britannica, June 12, 2024. [↵]
4. This event is also described in more detail in John chapter 18. [↵]
5. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, notes to Mark 14:51. [↵]
6. Bynum, J. E., MDiv, “Intern Troubles,” Ministry Magazine, August 1963. [↵]
7. Papias, “Fragments of Papias,” The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), pp. 154-155. [↵]
8. “Who Wrote the Gospel of Mark?” Zondervan Academic, September 22, 2021. [↵]
9. Ireneaus, Haer. 3.1.1; translation from Black, Mark, 99-100. [↵]
10. “Gospel According to Mark” [↵]
11. “Who Wrote the Gospel of Mark?” [↵]
12. Vroom, Erin, MA. “The ‘Missing End of Mark’s Gospel,” The Bible Project, October 1, 2019. [↵]
13. Ibid. [↵]
14. Strauss, Mark L, PhD. “Mark: The Gospel of the Servant-Messiah,” The Bible Project, September 17, 2017. [↵]
15. “Who Wrote the Gospel of Mark?” [↵]
16. “Book of Mark,” Bible Study Tools. [↵]
17. “Early Roman Society, Religion, and Values,” Claremont Colleges Library. [↵]
18. “Book of Mark.” [↵]

More Answers

We might be familiar with the New Testament’s third Gospel account, known as “the Gospel of Luke” or the “Gospel According to Luke.” But how much do we understand about the man who wrote it?

Today, Luke is recognized as a physician, evangelist, author, and missionary. He wasn’t a part of the 12 disciples, but he demonstrated his interest in following Jesus Christ and sharing the Gospel through his connection with the apostle Paul and his authorship of two books of the Bible.

So let’s take a closer look through the known details about:

• Luke’s background
• The books he wrote
• Key themes in his writings
• His death and legacy

Let’s start by finding out where he came from.

Luke’s background

There is some mystery surrounding Luke’s early life.

Some believe he may have been a Hellenistic Jew, or a Jew who lives among Greek culture, speaks the language, and may adopt various parts of Greek life.¹ But most believe he was born Greek.² This is suggested by Scripture in several areas:

• The apostle Paul refers to Luke alongside a group of Gentiles (Colossians 4:10-14).
• Luke speaks about the Jew’s language as if it is not his own (Acts 1:19).
• Luke’s writings reveal a high level of skill in the Greek language as if it was his first language.

If Luke was indeed Greek, he would be the only Gentile, or non-Jew, to write a book of the Bible.³

One thing that is clear from biblical information is that Luke was a doctor. Paul referred to Luke as, “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). And we can also see indications of Luke’s profession in his writings.

The Greek translation of Luke’s Gospel account provides proper medical terminology for ailments like dropsy and inflammation.⁴ The book of Acts also uses proper terminology for fever and dysentery, among other things.⁵

His writings also provide a high level of detail, with the style and precision of someone with a formal education (Luke 1:1-4).

And in addition to his professional and educational qualities, Luke served God as an evangelist and missionary.⁶ He made it a priority in his life to tell the world about Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Luke 2).

What was Luke’s relationship with Jesus?

It is typically believed that Luke did not know Jesus personally, but more likely heard about Him through others who followed Him.

This seems likely, since the Bible doesn’t provide any mention of Luke and Jesus meeting.

Luke even opens his Gospel account by explaining that it is based on the firsthand accounts of others (Luke 1:2). This suggests that all Luke wrote about in the book of Luke wasn’t experienced by him but by the people he interviewed.

And for an author as detailed as Luke was, surely he would have included any firsthand interactions he had with the man his whole book was about.

In fact, there’s only one instance in his writings where he seemed to be recording a firsthand account. And it isn’t in his Gospel account, but in Acts when he talked about his ministry work alongside Paul (Acts 28:16; Acts 16:10-17).

What was Luke’s relationship with other followers of Christ?

We find in Philemon 1:24 that Luke worked alongside Paul and other Christians, including Mark, who wrote another account of the Gospel story.

The Bible doesn’t specify whether Luke ever met the 12 disciples. But, given that he often traveled with Paul (who met some of the disciples), and that his writings include some of the disciples’ personal experiences, it’s likely that Luke spoke to at least a few of them at some point.

Paul, however, is the person the biblical evidence suggests he was closest to. Paul referred to him among those he called co-workers or fellow workers (Colossians 4:10-14), and in later chapters of Acts, when talking about Paul’s ministry, Luke frequently uses “we” as though he was serving closely alongside Paul and those with him.⁷

Luke went on many missionary journeys with Paul, also facing dangerous situations like potential imprisonment, a harsh storm, and a shipwreck. But he stayed by Paul’s side to spread the Gospel in Troas, Macedonia, Jerusalem, and Rome (Acts 27:1-44).⁸

He even stayed by Paul when others left, when he was again imprisoned. In what’s believed to be one of Paul’s final letters,⁹ he made note of Luke’s loyalty, saying:

“Make every effort to come to me soon, because Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me…” (2 Timothy 4:9-11, CSB, emphasis added).

It’s not hard to deduce Luke’s dedication as a missionary. No wonder he was called the “beloved” physician by Paul. He must have been a significant resource help to Paul and those he traveled with.

Luke’s writings

As for Luke’s authorship of both his Gospel account and the Acts of the Apostles (more commonly known as the Book of Acts), this information isn’t stated directly in Scripture. But these books are generally attributed to him together because:

• There is little if any question that Luke the Evangelist wrote the book of Luke. Even the earliest manuscripts of Luke’s Gospel account do include “according to Luke” in the title.¹⁰ And the dedication of both the Gospel of Luke and Acts to Theophilus frames them as a two-volume work.
• In the first chapter of Acts, the author references his “first narrative” about “all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day He was taken up…” (Acts 1:1-2, CSB). That is a summation of the Gospel story.
• The author of Acts talks about going with Paul on his missionary journeys, and Paul confirms Luke as one who served by his side (Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11). Historians and early church leaders also describe Luke as a co-worker in ministry with Paul.¹¹
• Many Bible writers don’t use proper medical terminology because they weren’t educated to be doctors. Luke, however, was. It makes sense that he’d be responsible for writing two books that contained proper medical language.¹²

With these things in mind, let’s go over the noteworthy elements of Luke’s account of the Gospel story.

The Gospel According to Luke

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After Matthew and Mark’s Gospel accounts, Luke’s telling of Jesus’ life and ministry is the final synoptic Gospel, or one that is expressed as a historical summarization.

Luke began by addressing a man named Theophilus. And since Luke addressed Theophilus as “most excellent,” a common phrase of respect, some believe this could mean Luke was writing this for a high-ranking official.¹³

And considering the style and depth of Luke’s writing, it seems he wrote with people like Theophilus in mind, to help them better understand and accept the Gospel.

Others believe Theophilus might have been the one who sponsored the creation of Luke’s books so he and other Gentile readers could learn more about Jesus.¹⁴

The fact that Luke was writing for a Gentile audience is further supported by how he focused more on Jesus’ ministry to Gentiles than any other Gospel account.¹⁵ Additionally, Luke “translates Aramaic terms with Greek words and explains Jewish customs and geography to make his Gospel more intelligible to his original Greek readership.”¹⁶

In addition to offering more understanding to Gentile readers, Luke provided more context and depth by mentioning stories and parables that aren’t found in other accounts of the Gospel.

Some of these include the parables of The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, and The Rich Man and Lazarus.¹⁷

The parable of the Good Samaritan tells the story of a Jewish man who was helped by a kind and generous Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The Jewish man was robbed and beaten on the roadside. Different people, including a priest and a Levite, saw him lying injured on the ground but didn’t stop to help him. But then a Samaritan, whose people were at bitter odds with Jews, did stop to help. Jesus used this parable to illustrate how the kingdom of God wasn’t limited to the Jews, but to everyone who does His will through loving their neighbor.

The parable of the prodigal son tells the story of how a son foolishly wasted his inheritance only to come back to his father, humbled and begging for a job (Luke 15:11-32). But instead of being angry or rejecting his son, the father welcomes him with open arms. This story illustrates how God will gladly forgive us when we come back to Him.

Finally, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus tells the story of a rich man who withheld any charity to a poor beggar named Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) after their deaths. Lazarus was brought to “Abraham’s Bosom,” a fictional place to represent a good afterlife. And the rich man was brought to Hades, representing a punitive afterlife. Though the story wasn’t meant to accurately portray what happens after people die, the story is used to convey the idea that the kind of character people nurture in their earthly lives will also affect their eternal circumstances. In other words, people will be held accountable for failing to show compassion and mercy to one another as Jesus did, which also shows a lack of acceptance of Jesus as the Savior and Son of God.

All in all, these parables help convey God’s great love for us and the love we’re called to have for others, no matter who they are.

Luke also focused on the humanity of Jesus Christ, giving readers a more complete picture of the nativity scene by mentioning surrounding events like the angel Gabriel’s appearance to Mary (Luke 1:26-38), Mary’s visit to her cousin, Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45), and the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:57-66).

Luke also emphasized Jesus’ role as the prophesied Son of Man from the Old Testament by showing how he overcame human struggles and lived a sinless life.¹⁸

The Acts of the Apostles

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The Book of Acts explains how the early church of Christianity embraced the mission to spread the Gospel across the globe.

Like Luke’s Gospel account, Acts is also dedicated to Theophilus (Acts 1:1) and is written with a similar style and wording. These two books together, according to the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, could be appropriately titled, “The Origin and Development of Christianity.”¹⁹

His accounts are also supported by archeological evidence.²⁰ He used names, terminology, and descriptions that match the information found on monumental inscriptions.²¹

So how was Luke able to gather so much information for his books?

Likely due to his highly educated background, Luke must have made the most of his missionary journeys and recorded important details, consulted eyewitnesses, and conducted additional research.²² And some parts of his writings included his own observations.

He witnessed Paul cast out demons and raise someone back to life (Acts 16:16-18; Acts 20:7-12).

He witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit at work at Pentecost, reminding us of how far the Holy Spirit has brought the Christian Church since then (Acts 2:1-4).

Luke got to witness the early church grow from a small group of Jewish followers to a movement that spread across the Mediterranean.

Key themes in Luke’s writings

Now that we’ve talked about Luke’s role in writing Luke and Acts, let’s look into the themes and lessons these books give us.

These include

• Compassion to all:
  • Luke focuses on the stories of outcasts more than any other Gospel account. He wrote of widows and the poor, and he made sure to mention women as well, which was not the norm of the time.²³ But he humanized these people, showing that they need a Savior in the same way as everyone else. He also wrote about showing kindness and forgiveness to criminals.²⁴
• Salvation for all:
  • Luke also focused on the theme of salvation for all people—particularly the Gentiles. This was groundbreaking for the time as the Jews had been thought of as God’s chosen people for so long. The Jews believed the Messiah would come to save Israel and Judea. They never imagined He had come to save the Gentiles, too.
  • And yet, Luke recounts occasions where the Lord Jesus responds to the needs of Gentiles, even those who were considered enemies of the Jews—like Samaritans or people from the Roman empire.²⁵ They professed their faith in Him and He helped them. The disciples continued this work in Acts when they sought to bring the good news of Christ to all parts of the world. We see this in the example of Paul’s missionary travels to far-off lands and how Peter became convicted to reach Gentiles like Cornelius (Acts 10:1-36).
• The outpouring of the Holy Spirit:
  • One other central theme of Luke’s writings is the Holy Spirit. Luke’s writings introduce how the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). But Luke didn’t stop there. He continued to chronicle how the Holy Spirit guided the early Christian Church through visions, miracles, and other spiritual gifts.²⁶
  • The fact that the Holy Spirit didn’t just operate through Jewish men revealed that the Spirit does not discriminate by gender or ethnicity. Instead, it was given to anyone who was willing to accept it (Acts 21:9; Acts 10:44-48).

As a doctor, Luke may have felt a special inclination to alleviate the suffering of others by showing them care and compassion. It makes sense that he would be interested in helping those in need.

These themes also support how Luke was interested in ministering to Gentiles as well as Jews. This would make sense with him being a Gentile himself. This makes Luke stand out among early church leaders who were more focused on ministering to Jews, or to others within their own circle, rather than prioritizing Gentiles or social outcasts like the poor, diseased, or widowed.

But Luke encouraged the early Christians to break these barriers, sharing Jesus with anyone who would listen.

And that’s how Luke lived out the rest of his life.

The death and legacy of Luke the Evangelist

The Bible doesn’t tell us how Luke died.

The last thing the Bible mentions about his life is that he traveled with Paul on his missionary journey to Rome (2 Timothy 4:11).²⁷

Some suggest he was killed for his faith by being nailed to a living olive tree in Greece.²⁸ Others believe he died in Bithynia.²⁹

While we can’t know for sure how Luke died, it’s safe to assume that he lived out the rest of his life teaching others about Jesus.

And the words of his books continue to inspire us today.

He gave us one of the most thorough stories on the life of Jesus, all the way to the beginnings of the early Christian Church. He introduced us to important figures in early Christianity like Paul and showed us how the Holy Spirit guided Jesus’ followers.

The helpful information he provided and his unique perspective on the ministry of Christ strengthens our understanding of early church history while emphasizing that the good news of Jesus Christ is for everyone—including Gentiles:

“Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47, NKJV, emphasis added).

Luke might have faced the same exclusion that other Gentiles dealt with. But he didn’t let that stop him from being willing to serve God. And he used his unique position to give other Gentiles hope that they could follow Jesus, too.

Interested to learn about other writers of the Gospel story? Read about Matthew, Mark, or John.

Tracing Luke’s Missionary Journey

• Left Troas with Paul (Acts 16:11).
• Traveled with Paul to Phillipi (Acts 16:12).
• Witnessed the conversion of Lydia (Acts 16:13-15).
• Watched Paul cast a demon out of a girl (Acts 16:16-18).
• Stayed in Philippi; inferred from the resumption of “we” sections when Paul returns to Philippi (Acts 20:5-6).
• Watched Paul bring a man back to life (Acts 20:7-12).
• Met the disciples in Tyre (Acts 21: 3-4).
• Met Philip the evangelist and his daughters (Acts 21:8-9).
• Watched a prophet named Agabus warn Paul (Acts 21:10-11).
• Pleaded with Paul not to go to Jerusalem (Acts 21:12).
• Joined him on his journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21:17).
• Survived a shipwreck and landed on Malta (Acts 27:1-44; Acts 28:1).
• Witnessed Paul miraculously heal from a snake bite (Acts 28:3-6).
• Watched Paul heal the people of Malta (Acts 28:7-10).
• Accompanied Paul to Rome and stayed with him there (Acts 28:14-16).
• Supported Paul during his imprisonment (2 Timothy 4:11).

Related Articles

1. The Remnant Study Bible, Remnant Publications, 2009. pp. 1205. [↵]
2. Ibid. [↵]
3. Ellis, Earle E., “Saint Luke,” Britannica, August 5, 2024. [↵]
4. Hubbard, Reuben A., “Medical Terminology in Luke,” May 1977, Ministry Magazine. [↵]
5. Ibid. [↵]
6. Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11; Acts 28:16; Acts 16:10-17; Acts 20:6; Acts 27:1. [↵]
7. Ellis [↵]
8. Acts 27:1-44; Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11; Acts 28:16; Acts 16:10-17; Acts 20:6; Acts 27:1. [↵]
9. Ibid. [↵]
10. Nichol, Francis D. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary And Bible Students’ Source Book, Vol. 5 , 1978, p. 663. [↵]
11. Ibid. [↵]
12. Hubbard. [↵]
13. “Who is Theophilus in the Bible books of Luke and Acts?” Bible Info; “The Gospel According to Luke.” Britannica. [↵]
14. Remnant Study Bible, p. 1205. [↵]
15. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5 . p. 665. [↵]
16. Remnant Study Bible, p. 1205. [↵]
17. Luke 10:25-37; Luke 15:11-32; Luke 16:19-31. [↵]
18. Remnant Study Bible, p. 1206. [↵]
19. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, p. 665. [↵]
20. Remnant Study Bible, p. 1288. [↵]
21. Edwards, James R., “Archaeology Gives New Reality to Paul’s Ephesus Riot,” Biblical Archaeology Society, 2016. [↵]
22. Ibid. [↵]
23. Luke 16:19-31; Luke 1:39-56; Luke 18:1-8. [↵]
24. Luke 23:39-43. [↵]
25. Luke 7:2-3, 9-10; Luke 17:11-19. [↵]
26. Acts 2:4; Acts 3:6-8; Acts 4:30-31; Acts 10:9-23. [↵]
27. “Saint Luke,” [↵]
28. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, p. 663. [↵]
29. “Saint Luke,” [↵]

More Answers

Christians today know the apostle Paul as a prominent figure in the early Christian church and a significant contributor to the New Testament.

But before having this role, Paul’s life was headed in a much different direction. He was a Pharisee, or Jewish religious leader, who obsessed over following the law of Moses to the letter and was on a mission to persecute Christians.

That is, until he had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

Let’s find out how this transformation took place and what exciting, scary, and miraculous things made up the rest of the life of Paul. We’ll cover:

• Saul/Paul’s background
• How he became a follower of Jesus
• His involvement in the early Christian church
• His death
• His writings
• Major themes in his writings
• Lesson from his life

We’ll start with what the Bible says about Paul’s origins, education, and role before encountering Jesus. news of His sacrificial death and resurrection.

What was Paul’s background?

According to Acts 22:3, Paul was a Jew who was born in Tarsus of Cilicia (modern-day Turkey). His birthplace gave him the privileges of a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25-29).

Because Tarsus was a town with a strong Greek influence, Paul likely had an understanding of the Greek religion and way of thinking—insight that would’ve proven beneficial to his ministry later on when he was seeking to reach out to Greeks.¹

Though the Bible isn’t clear whether Paul learned a trade as a young man, we know that he made tents to support his ministry work (Acts 18:2-3). It’s possible he learned this skill when he was young.

Paul also went through rigorous training to become a Pharisee, a Jewish religious leader (Acts 23:6). In fact, he calls himself a “Hebrew of Hebrews,” perhaps because of his Jewish heritage and his education (Philippians 3:5). Scholars believe he studied first in Tarsus and later in Jerusalem to fulfill this role.² At some point, he even trained under a well-known and influential Pharisee named Gamaliel (Acts 22:3; 26:4).³

So, from everything we can see in the Bible, Paul believed himself to be on the path to success in his religious pursuits. He was deeply convinced of his beliefs and willing to do anything to preserve them, even persecuting those who had chosen to become Christians.

The first time he’s mentioned in the Bible, Paul is present at the stoning of Stephen, one of the first Christian martyrs (Acts 8:1). Soon after, he “made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison” (Acts 8:3, NKJV).

So how did this persecutor, who was “breathing threats and murder” against Jesus’ followers, suddenly become a follower himself (Acts 9:1, NKJV)?

We’ll find out soon. But first, a note about Paul’s names.

Paul’s names

Paul is also called Saul of Tarsus in the book of Acts. Since he’s referred to as Saul near the beginning of the book and then mainly as Paul later on, many have assumed that his name was changed to Paul when he became a Christian. However, the Bible doesn’t give us evidence for that.

Acts 13:9 makes it seem that Paul used both names even after choosing to follow Christ.

The Cambridge Companion to St. Paul confirms this idea by pointing out that Paul was a Latin name that he used when communicating with Graeco-Roman audiences.⁴ Saul, then, would’ve been his Hebrew name.

How did Paul become a follower of Jesus?

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Paul was en route to Damascus to take Christians as prisoners when everything changed for him. A sudden, miraculous vision of Jesus put a halt to his mission to persecute Christians and led him to accept Jesus. The whole story is found in Acts 9, but we’ll look at some highlights here.

As Paul was on the way to Damascus, a bright light suddenly blinded him, causing him to fall to the ground.

The others around Paul saw him fall, but only he heard a voice speaking to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4, NKJV)

Paul responded, “Who are you, Lord?” (verse 5, NKJV)

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (verse 5, NKJV). Jesus then told Paul to go into Damascus, where he would receive instructions on what to do next.

When Paul opened his eyes after the vision, he couldn’t see anything, so his travel companions led him to Damascus. There, he spent three days in darkness, thinking about his life, situation, and the miraculous encounter he’d had with Jesus.

Meanwhile, through another vision, God instructed a Christian named Ananias to go to Paul and put his hands on him so that Paul would receive his sight again. Right afterward, Paul was baptized as a follower of Jesus.

In a matter of three days, he’d gone from a persecutor to a follower of Jesus.

And it wasn’t long before he was directing his zeal toward sharing his new faith. The Bible tells us that “immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20, NKJV).

This was the start of his lifelong preaching and teaching ministry.

What was Paul’s involvement in the early Christian church?

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Paul was deeply involved in the early Christian church. And though he wasn’t part of the original 12 disciples, he was connected with apostles like James and Peter. Next to them, he is probably one of the most well-known figures in the church at that time. He traveled throughout the Mediterranean region and Asia Minor, preaching the Gospel to Jews and non-Jews, starting churches, and encouraging the believers. His letters (epistles) to those churches form the bulk of the New Testament today.

But even though Paul began to preach about Jesus right away, he didn’t immediately win the trust of the church members and leaders (Acts 9:26).

After all, he had been their persecutor. They had every reason to be afraid of him!

Another church leader, Barnabas, played an important role in mentoring Paul and helping the church accept him (Acts 9:27). He would later join Paul’s first missionary journey into the Mediterranean region.

Though Paul shared the Gospel with everyone he came in contact with, he had a special calling from God to preach to the Gentiles, or non-Jews. We see this calling first in Acts 9:15 when God said:

“He [Paul] is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel” (NKJV).

Paul himself spoke about this calling in one of his letters (Galatians 1:16; 2:6-9).

God led the way for Paul to embark on this mission when believers in Antioch, who were praying, became impressed that they needed to “lay hands” on Paul and Barnabas and send them out to do missionary work (Acts 13:1-3). Laying hands on them was a symbolic way of acknowledging their calling and praying for God’s blessing to guide them.

So Paul set off on his first missionary journey.

First missionary journey (Acts 13-14)

Paul’s first missionary journey took place from about AD 45 to 49. Barnabas and John Mark joined him, though John Mark later went home when overwhelmed by the hardships.

The places they visited included:

• Cyprus
• Perga
• Antioch in Pisidia
• Iconium
• Lystra
• Derbe

The main purpose of the trip was to preach about Jesus and establish Christian churches in these places.

Paul and Barnabas’s efforts went awry in Lystra, though, when the people of Lystra believed them to be gods and wanted to worship them and make animal sacrifices to them (Acts 14:8-18). Yet, no sooner had Paul stopped the crowds from doing this than they stoned him and left him nearly dead (Acts 14:19-20).

Despite the challenges, Paul and Barnabas persisted and at last returned to Jerusalem (the “headquarters” of the Christian church) around AD 50.

Second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-18:22)

After spending some time supporting the church in Jerusalem, Paul again prepared for another journey that would last from about AD 51 to 54.

This time, rather than Barnabas, Silas went with Paul.

As is often the case even when human beings work together, Paul and Barnabas disagreed on their plan of action. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark, who had deserted them on the last missionary journey, whereas Paul was unwilling for him to come (Acts 15:37-40). So he and Barnabas parted ways and continued to serve God separately.

Like the previous trip, Paul would visit new cities and share the Gospel there, but he also took the time to visit and encourage the churches he’d established during his previous trip.

He made it to:

• Derbe
• Lystra
• Phrygia and the region of Galatia
• Philippi
• Thessalonica
• Berea
• Athens
• Corinth
• Ephesus

A notable event during this journey was Paul and Silas’s imprisonment. While in Philippi, Paul healed a servant girl who was possessed by a demon that gave her the ability to tell fortunes (Acts 16:16-18). The master of the girl, angry that he’d lost his source of income, reported Paul and Silas to the authorities and had them arrested.

Despite the unideal outlook from prison, the two men chose to sing praise to God that night, resulting in God sending a powerful earthquake that freed them. Witnessing these miraculous events, the prison warden and his family learned about Jesus from Paul and Silas and received salvation.

Before returning to Israel, Paul and Silas stayed in Corinth for about a year and a half to teach there (Acts 18:11).

Third missionary journey (Acts 18:28-21:17)

Paul’s third missionary journey from about AD 54 to 58, involved visiting many of the places he’d been before, including:

• Derbe
• Lystra
• Iconium
• Antioch in Pisidia
• Phrygia
• Ephesus
• Philippi
• Thessalonica
• Berea
• Athens
• Corinth
• Troas
• Miletus
• Tyre

We don’t know who traveled with Paul this time, though it’s possible that Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, did. The reason is Acts 20:13 mentions that “we”—the author of the book and others—joined Paul. Chapter 21 also contains many references to “we.”

On this journey, Paul spent two years in Ephesus, teaching at the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9-10). His time there came to an abrupt end, though, when a silversmith Demetrius stirred up a riot because the converts to Christianity were taking away his business as an idol maker (Acts 19:21-20:2).

The dangers were not over, unfortunately. As Paul was returning to Jerusalem, he stopped in Caesarea, where some Christians warned him that he would be imprisoned if he returned to Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-12). But Paul responded:

“I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13, ESV).

And arrest, indeed, awaited him.

Arrest and imprisonment

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When Paul returned to Jerusalem, Jews who disliked him stirred up a mob against him in the temple, resulting in his arrest and eventual trial by Roman authorities (Acts 21-23). He used his Roman citizenship to appeal to Caesar and eventually ended up in Rome as a prisoner (Acts 25:10-12).

He remained on house arrest there for two years (Acts 28:30).

Additional travel

The book of Acts, which records many of Paul’s journeys, ends with his imprisonment in Rome, so we don’t know for sure what happened afterward.

It’s possible that Paul was again released from prison and able to travel since some of his epistles (letters)—which were thought to have been written during or after this imprisonment—hint at his intentions to visit additional places like:

• Spain (Romans 15:24-25)
• Judea or Jerusalem (Hebrews 13:23)

Some of these later epistles of Paul also speak about travels to:

• Crete (Titus 1:5)
• Nicopolis (Titus 3:12)
• Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3; 3:14-15)
• Troas (2 Timothy 4:13)
• Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20)

How did Paul die?

Though Scripture isn’t clear on how or when Paul died, 2 Timothy 4:6-8 implies that he was imprisoned again and awaiting death:

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who loved his appearing” (ESV).

Tradition suggests that Paul died by beheading at the hands of the Roman emperor Nero:

“The New Testament nowhere mentions his death, but reliable traditions depict him as a martyr in Rome, beheaded during the persecution of Nero in the mid-60s CE.”⁵

But regardless of exactly when or how Paul died, God used his life to accomplish extraordinary things. He left an unmatched legacy—not only of starting and nurturing many early Christian church communities, but also of rich theological writings and counsel for generations to come. We’ll look at those next.

What parts of the Bible did Paul write?

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Paul wrote 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament:

• Romans
• 1 and 2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 1 and 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2 Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon
• Hebrews

The majority of these books are “epistles,” long letters with counsel and guidance for the churches Paul helped start. Church members would read these letters out loud to their congregations, as Paul intended.

Scholars point out that “literary epistles were common in the Roman world. … Though Paul followed the style of the day, in some ways his letters are not literary works. He was essentially a speaker, and his letters contain what he would have said had he been physically present.”⁶

Thus, when we read these epistles today, it’s almost like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. From the whole of the epistle, we have to try to understand what might have been happening on the other end that Paul was addressing.⁷

One epistle of Paul’s that is unique from the rest is the book of Hebrews.

Rather than being an epistle, the author of this book calls it an “exhortation” (Hebrews 13:22)—what we might consider a sermon.⁸

Many scholars have questioned whether Hebrews was actually written by Paul due to its unique style and difference in theological emphasis. However, the Christian church of the first few centuries didn’t seem to question its authorship and accepted it quite early into the Canon of the Bible.⁹

As early as AD 96, a work of Christian literature called First Clement, or First Letter of Clement, mentions Hebrews together with other writings by Paul.¹⁰

Evidence within the text of Hebrews also tells us Paul probably wrote it. For example, Hebrews 13:20-25, the close of the book, has many similarities to the way Paul ends some of his other epistles, like Romans, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, or 1 Thessalonians.¹¹ Hebrews also refers to Timothy, someone who worked very closely with Paul (Hebrews 13:23).

So, now that we have a general idea of the Bible books Paul wrote, let’s find out more about their content.

What are major themes in Paul’s letters?

If we could sum up Paul’s emphasis throughout his writings in one word, it would be the Gospel. From Paul’s transformative experience on the Damascus road onward, his focus was what Jesus Christ did for humanity—His life, death, and resurrection—and how that impacts our lives.

He sums it up in Romans 1:16-17:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith” (ESV).

The power of the Gospel is the overarching theme that shapes everything else in the Pauline epistles:

The Cross

The Cross was not a religious concept back in Paul’s day—it was a torture device. A God who would die on a Cross wasn’t a popular or appealing idea then. And yet, Paul wrote,

“We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24, ESV).

The Cross revealed a God who was willing to humble Himself in self-sacrifice to save His people (Philippians 2:5-8). Paul showed how Christians can enter into that crucifixion by allowing their sinful natures to be crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). By faith, we accept Jesus’ death and allow Him to help us die to our selfishness and sin.

Jesus’ resurrection

Jesus’ death showed humanity how far He’s willing to go to save us. But it was His resurrection that made His sacrifice for humanity complete. Paul highlights this in 1 Corinthians 15, a well-known passage about the resurrection. He points out how “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, ESV).

He goes on to say that “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (verse 14, ESV).

Because Jesus rose from the dead, He’s able to save us from the power of sin and make it possible for His followers to be resurrected at His Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:52).

Salvation and righteousness by faith

Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

Many of Paul’s epistles focus on how we receive salvation and God’s goodness by faith rather than by our own efforts of obedience. The book of Romans especially highlights this idea.

During Paul’s time, a major issue in the early Christian church was false teachings that were being spread by Judaizers. These were Jewish Christians who believed that Christians needed to keep the Jewish laws from the Old Testament, such as the practice of circumcision, in order to be saved. For this reason, he especially emphasized salvation by faith.

This theme comes up in many places:

• Galatians 3 speaks out against believing salvation can come through the ceremonial law
• Ephesians 2:11-13 shows how Jesus did away with the ceremonial law
• Philippians 3:1-9 says that the works of the law don’t give us any merit
• Ephesians 2:8-9 emphasizes salvation through grace by faith
• Hebrews 11 traces believers all through Old Testament history who received salvation from God by faith

Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly sanctuary

As a high-ranking Jew, Paul understood the intricacies of the Israelite sanctuary, or temple, on earth and recognized that it reflected Jesus’ sacrifice and ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Much of the book of Hebrews, then, is about how Jesus’ ministry in heaven is superior to the earthly one.

Hebrews 8:1-2 sums it up:

“Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man” (ESV).

Counsels to the church

As we pointed out earlier, Paul’s epistles were messages to the churches, specifically counsel for how the new churches were to operate. They provided guidance and encouragement, as well as cautions and warnings, for both church members and leaders.

The epistle of 1 Timothy, for example, has counsel to Timothy, a young leader in the church, on appointing overseers and deacons in the church and dealing with false teachers.

Similarly, 1 Corinthians deals with many specific issues in the church and talks about how the church is like a body with different parts that function in unity with one another (12:12-27).

Warnings against false teachings

Considering the spiritual war between good and evil that is taking place in our world, it’s not surprising that Paul often had to deal with false teachings. We see evidence of this in what he wrote to the Galatian Christians:

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6, ESV).

One of the main errors he encountered was the teaching that Christians could earn salvation through the keeping of Jewish ceremonial laws.

Paul also warned that false teachings would continue to be an issue down to the time before Jesus’ coming (2 Timothy 4:3-4), and to help us discern between truth and error, we should pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).

Though these false teachings may look a little bit different now than back then, the principles in His writings are still applicable and helpful to us today.

The last days

Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and heavenly ministry make it possible for Him to someday return and take us to be with Him. This is why Paul spoke about His return throughout His epistles, encouraging believers to be ready for that time and not be caught unprepared (1 Thessalonians 4-5).

First Thessalonians 4:16-17 is an especially well-known passage where Paul talks about how Jesus will return in a glorious procession with all the angels and the sound of a trumpet—something everyone on earth will see. At that time, the dead in Christ will rise to be with Him.

But Paul also wrote about some of the signs and events that would happen before that time. He explains the corruption that will take place in the last days (2 Timothy 3:1-5) and how people will turn away from God because of the “man of sin” who will attempt to put himself in the place of Jesus (2 Thessalonians 2).

Yet, the focus of these warnings is not to scare anyone but to prepare us. Ultimately, Paul’s writings point us to Jesus’ coming as our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13, NKJV).

What lessons can we learn from Paul’s life?

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

Paul’s life offers hope for the Christian journey, reminding us of God’s ability to transform a life and use it for incredible good. Paul was a human, just like us, with plans and goals that were taking him away from God’s purpose, and yet God was able to redirect his path and use him to lead many people to Jesus.

So, what are some lessons we can learn from this incredible change in his life, and his ministry afterward?

God’s ability to transform our lives

Paul was on a trajectory as a Jewish religious leader, convinced that he was doing the right thing and following God while persecuting Christians. To him, Jesus was the enemy.

And yet, God saw Paul’s heart and knew that he had a willingness. He reached out to Paul in a way that got His attention.

The rest of what the Bible says shows us the 180° transformation in Paul’s life. It encourages us that God can do the same today—no matter how far someone seems to have gone away from Him. He can work in hearts to draw them to Himself, no matter how hardened they may be toward Him.

What seems humanly impossible is possible with God.

Redirection of skills and abilities

Something we notice about Paul is that his personality, skills, and talents didn’t change when He became a Christian. Instead, God took those and directed them toward spreading the Gospel.

Paul’s zeal for the law became zeal for Christ.

Paul’s determination to persecute Christians became a determination to spread the Gospel of Christ as far as possible throughout the then-known world.

God used his oratory skills, his ability to reason, and his knowledge of Greek religion and culture to reach out to those around him in the best way possible.

For example, while visiting Athens, Paul saw an altar to the unknown god that the Greeks had erected. Using this altar to connect with the people, he directed them to the God they didn’t know about—the Creator and God of the Scriptures (Acts 17:22-30).

Similarly, when we are born again as followers of Jesus, He takes our talents and skills and uses them for His glory. We don’t lose our individuality or what makes us unique; rather, we direct those qualities into serving God and others.

Reliance on Christ’s power

While Paul allowed God to use his natural abilities, he recognized the importance of not letting those abilities get in the way of relying on Christ’s power. Paul was convinced that nothing else could make His work effective:

“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. … And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:2-5, NKJV).

Human frailty

Though Paul was used by God in a powerful way, he was still human and struggled just like we do.

One instance of this is when Barnabas, Paul’s fellow missionary, felt that he and Paul should give John Mark a second chance after he abandoned them during their first missionary journey. But Paul disagreed and refused to do so (Acts 15:37-40). As a result, he chose to no longer work with Barnabas in ministry.

We also see Paul’s human weakness when he struggled with what he calls a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Though we don’t know exactly what his “thorn in the flesh” was, scholars believe it may have been a physical condition with his eyes.¹² Regardless, Paul struggled with this condition and begged God to take it from him. He was human and didn’t want to face the struggle.

And yet, he ultimately chose to accept it as something that would teach him to depend more fully on Christ (verse 9).

These experiences show us that even as we follow God, we’ll struggle. We’ll still run up against conflict with others or have to deal with trials. Through it all, God is teaching us and helping us to become more like Him.

Perseverance

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It was Paul’s love for Christ that drove him to press on despite difficulty. He preached the Gospel, even when facing all kinds of hardships and persecution. Notice his words in 2 Corinthians 11:25-28:

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” (ESV).

His work was far from easy, and he had plenty of reasons for discouragement.

And yet, he didn’t allow any of these challenges to stop him from preaching the Gospel, establishing churches, and continuing to support new believers. His life is an example for us of what it means to persevere.

Driven by passion for the Gospel

Paul’s life underwent a complete transformation—from Pharisee and persecutor to a fully devoted follower of Jesus. From that point onward, he threw all his energies into preaching the Gospel, establishing churches, and teaching new believers. And it was his counsel to these churches that form much of the New Testament today.

Above all, the one theme we see all throughout Paul’s life is a love for Christ—the one who turned his life around—and a passion for preaching the good news of His sacrificial death and resurrection.

Related Articles

1. Coogan, Michael, Oxford Companion to the Bible, p. 577. [↵]
2. Ibid., p. 576. [↵]
3. Nichol, F. D., ed., Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 184-185. [↵]
4. Dunn, James D. G., ed., The Cambridge Companion to St Paul (Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 21. [↵]
5. Oxford Companion to the Bible, p. 576. [↵]
6. Ibid. [↵]
7. Ibid. [↵]
8. Cortez, Felix, “On the Authorship of Hebrews: The Case for Paul,” Ministry, September 2022. [↵]
9. Swindoll, Chuck, “Hebrews,” Insight for Living Ministries. [↵]
10. Cortez, “On the Authorship of Hebrews: The Case for Paul.” [↵]
11. Compare with Romans 15:33; 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:9; and 1 Thessalonians 5:23. [↵]
12. Nichol, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, comments on 2 Corinthians 12:7. [↵]

More Answers

“Simon the Zealot” was one of the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus Christ.

But despite this important role, the New Testament doesn’t provide specific details about his life, family, job, etc. While being called a “zealot” might offer some insight into his character, using this description without further clarification actually leaves us with more questions than answers.

So here we will look at which details about Simon are documented, what we can infer from theories and social or historical cues, and how we can sum up his legacy as an apostle.

We’ll cover:

• Who Simon the Zealot was
• Who Simon was as a disciple
• Who Simon was as an apostle

Let’s start with the basic background information we do know from Scripture.

Who was Simon the Zealot?

As we mentioned earlier, Simon the Zealot was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples.

The fact that Simon was chosen as a disciple is pretty significant on its own. Although, it’s just about the only thing the Bible tells us about him, as the Bible only mentions him by name when it lists him among the other disciples:

“The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Matthew 10:2-4, ESV).

Any other ideas about this Simon come from extra-biblical sources. These sources include various stories of “church tradition,” Bible scholars, and modern media that have attempted to fill in the gaps of what we know about this mysterious figure.

One of the most recent attempts to explore the life of Simon comes from the hit series on Netflix, The Chosen.

The show explores what the Bible might have meant in calling Simon a zealot, and how Simon might have come to put his life of zealotry behind him to follow Christ. (It even goes so far as to say that Simon is related to the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda).

Though The Chosen’s portrayal of Simon gives us an interesting take on Simon’s struggles, the Bible doesn’t say anything about the problems he dealt with. (And it doesn’t say anything about him having a brother named Jesse either.¹)

He is only ever mentioned four times. In each mention, he is only described as being one of the 12 disciples (Luke 6:12-16; Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:13-19; Acts 1:13).

And we want to make sure he isn’t to be confused with the other Simons of the Bible, of which there are many, including:²

• Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ most well-known disciples (Matthew 4:18)
• Simon, the brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3)
• Simon, a leper (Mark 14:3)
• Simon, a tanner (Acts 9:43)
• Simon, a man who carried Jesus’ cross (Matthew 27:32)
• Simon, the father of Judas Iscariot (John 6:71)

Alongside Jude, or Thaddeus, and James of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot is one of the least known disciples.

But even though the Bible doesn’t tell us much about Simon, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do amazing things for Christ.

Was Simon really a zealot?

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

There’s some confusion surrounding what the Bible means by calling Simon a zealot.

First off, there’s some disagreement among scholars about whether Simon should be called a zealot at all.

The Gospel according to Luke uses the Greek word zēlōtēs, meaning zealot, to describe Simon.³ The Gospel accounts of Matthew and Mark, on the other hand, use the word kananaios.⁴

Old Bible scholars like Eusebius, otherwise known as Saint Jerome, believed this word was another term for a Cananaean or a Canaanite.⁵ This is why you see some of the older translations like the King James Version and the New King James Version referring to Simon as Simon the Canaanite.⁶

But modern scholars believe that Eusebius’ understanding of the word was actually a mistranslation.⁷ They believe kananaios is related to the word qan’an, which means “zealous one” in Aramaic.⁸ This is why a lot of newer translations refer to Simon as a zealot.⁹

Now, the word zealot could also refer to many different things.

The word zealot is generally defined as, “a person who has very strong feelings about something (such as religion or politics) and who wants other people to have those feelings.”¹⁰

Because the Bible doesn’t specify what Simon was zealous about, we’re left to guess.

He could have been a zealot in his dedication to follow Christ. Or he could have been like the Pharisees in his dedication to the Mosaic law.¹¹

But, many scholars believe the use of this word suggests that Simon was actually a part of a radical group of Jewish freedom fighters called the Zealots.¹²

The Zealots were suspicious of any authority figure, as they saw God as their one and only ruler.¹³ That’s why, when the Roman Empire came along and conquered Israel, the Zealots weren’t happy. They decided to do whatever they could to undermine and resist Roman rule.

Many Jews shared the Zealots’ loathing for Roman occupation. Many of them hoped the Messiah would come to overthrow their Roman oppressors.¹⁴

But while many Jews prayed for Messianic intervention, the Zealots took their opposition to Rome to more extreme measures.

They attacked Roman officials and civilians alike. An offshoot group known as the Sicarri were even known to attack fellow Jews they suspected of being sympathetic to Rome.¹⁵

Eventually, the Zealots were able to temporarily overthrow Roman control over Jerusalem in the first Jewish revolt.¹⁶

Josephus, a Jewish historian, recorded the year the Zealots became an organized group.

Although, notably, his records do have some inconsistencies.

In one account, Josephus suggests that the Zealot movement didn’t come about until 68 AD.¹⁷

This is long after the events of the Gospel story. This suggests that Simon may not have been a part of the Zealot movement.¹⁸

However, another account by Josephus claims that the Zealots were established in 6 AD.¹⁹

Some people think Josephus claimed the Zealot movement didn’t begin until 68 AD in an attempt to downplay the movement’s power.²⁰ This was seen as an effort to appease Roman officials.²¹

The fact that the Zealots could have been around in 6 AD suggests that Simon the disciple might have been a former Zealot after all.

Simon the disciple

Photo by Lukas

But back to the idea of simply being a disciple of Jesus…this alone says something about Simon.

Jesus could have chosen anyone He wanted to follow Him. He could have chosen wealthy or influential Jews, or called upon respected Jewish leaders. But Jesus, the son of God, defied human expectations.

He called upon regular, everyday fishermen (Matthew 4:18-22). He called upon a tax collector who was hated by Jewish society because he worked for the Romans (Matthew 9:9-13).

And if we are to believe Simon was truly a Zealot, He also called a political extremist to follow Him.

Though most Jews were wary of Zealots for their violent deeds and extreme stances, Jesus called Simon to follow Him and become His representative.

Jesus didn’t turn Simon away because of the group he was involved with, or for possibly having extreme tendencies.

Jesus saw Simon’s potential.

He wanted Simon to understand what it truly meant to follow God. He wanted to help him realize that the kingdom of God wasn’t built on force, but love and mercy.

We can only imagine how much Jesus’ example must have challenged Simon’s worldview.

If Simon had been a Zealot, he would have needed to put aside his old convictions and accept Jesus’ call to love everyone—even his enemies (Luke 6:27-28). (And even if he wasn’t, he, like all of the disciples, would have had to leave his old life behind to serve others and follow Jesus’ example).

Who knows…maybe Jesus intentionally placed Simon—a man who may have had a violent hatred for Rome and Roman sympathizers—in the same group as Matthew—a man who worked for Rome—to help them overcome the political boundaries keeping them from becoming the disciples Jesus knew they could be.

In his time as Jesus’ disciple, Simon would have experienced other difficult lessons.

Jesus taught Simon and the other disciples that it was important to respect authorities like Caesar as long as it didn’t conflict with their dedication to God (Mark 12:17).

Jesus also displayed kindness to Jewish enemies when He healed the servant of a Roman centurion (Luke 7:1-10).

And unlike the zealots, who were known for their violent ways, Jesus called His disciples to turn away from violent actions (Matthew 26:52).

Through these experiences, Simon eventually came to understand that most of the Jews—including the Zealots— misunderstood the Messiah’s true mission.

Jesus didn’t come to destroy the Jew’s enemies, but to save everyone from the terrible power of sin (John 10:10).

This lesson was only further driven home by the sacrifice Jesus made as He hung on the Cross, willing to die for the very people who crucified Him.

Though Simon wasn’t present for the crucifixion, He, like other disciples, would be reminded of Jesus’ true mission when the resurrected Jesus appeared to them and called them to spread the Gospel message across the world.

As Jesus returned to heaven in His ascension, He called His disciples, formerly His students, to become teachers and leaders for the early Christian church.

From there, Simon would take the lessons Jesus gave him to mature and grow into his role as an apostle.

Simon the apostle

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

While we don’t know much about the work Simon did as an individual, we do know about some of the work he did alongside the other apostles.

The Bible tells us that all the apostles were present for Pentecost in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-11).

This means that Simon was there in the upper room, praying alongside the other apostles for the Holy Spirit to empower them to spread the Gospel.

And he, like the others, got to experience the miracle of speaking in tongues as they preached before a multitude of people.

On top of speaking to the masses, Simon and the apostles became responsible for making administrative decisions, such as when they selected a new disciple to take Judas Iscariot’s place (Acts 1:12-26).

Jesus intended the 12 apostles to become church leaders from the very beginning. In the short time He had with them, He trained them to model His character and showed them how to guide others to Him.

With those experiences, the apostles became missionaries, traveling across the world to teach people from all different walks of life about Jesus.

Scripture tells us about some of these trips. It tells us that Peter went to Samaria, Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea to spread the message.²²

Church tradition suggests that Simon might have gone to become a missionary in Egypt and Persia.²³

There are also various ideas about where he died.

Some traditions say he was killed in Samaria, others say he was killed in Persia or Britain, although no one knows for sure.²⁴

Church tradition assumes that he was martyred for sharing his faith.

One account suggests that he was sawn in half, while another says he might have been crucified.²⁵ However, another account claims that he died of old age in Edessa.²⁶

Whatever the case, it’s clear that Simon dedicated his life to Christ and His mission.

If Simon had really been a zealot, he certainly came a long way.

He faced the difficult challenge of learning how to put his differences aside to love, serve, and witness to people he used to consider his enemies.

Though we may not consider ourselves zealots, we all struggle at times to love those who oppose us or have different perspectives than us.

There are a lot of divisive issues in the world today. Sometimes, it can be hard to respond to people who have different opinions than us in a Christ-like manner.

But even though we don’t agree with another person’s ideas, God calls us to love and have compassion on that person, just like Jesus loved us.

Jesus says it best:

“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” (Luke 6:27-28, NKJV).

Is this something you struggle with?

Jesus can help transform your life, just like He transformed Simon’s.

By the end of his story, Simon learned to dedicate his life to Jesus and serve the people God had called him to reach.

1. Keating, Kevin, “Simon the Zealot and Nathanael in The Chosen (Adapting Biblical Characters),” The Bible Artist. [↵]
2. “Encyclopedia of the Bible-Simon,” Bible Gateway. [↵]
3. Nelson, Ryan, “Who Was Simon the Zealot? The Beginner’s Guide,” Overview Bible. [↵]
4. Ibid. [↵]
5. Ibid. [↵]
6. “Simon the Zealot,” Angel Studios. [↵]
7. Nelson. [↵]
8. Ibid. [↵]
9. “Simon the Zealot,” Angel Studios. [↵]
10. “Zealot,” Britannica. [↵]
11. Nelson. [↵]
12. Nelson. [↵]
13. Nelson. [↵]
14. “The Identity of Jesus,” BBC. [↵]
15. “Zealot- Judaism,” Britannica. [↵]
16. “First Jewish Roman Revolt,” Britannica. [↵]
17. Nelson. [↵]
18. Ibid. [↵]
19. Ibid. [↵]
20. Ibid. [↵]
21. Ibid. [↵]
22. Acts 8:14-24; Acts 9:32-35; Acts 9: 36- 43; Acts 10:23-48. [↵]
23. “Simon the Zealot,” Angel Studios. [↵]
24. Nelson. [↵]
25. Ibid. [↵]
26. Ibid. [↵]

More Answers

The name Judas is one that many people throughout history, Christian or not, recognize for his act of betrayal.

He was the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ to the authorities for 30 pieces of silver—a choice that led to Him being crucified on the Cross.

While we don’t know a lot of personal details about this notorious man, the Bible offers clues into the mind and personality of Judas Iscariot. We’ll see what we can learn about:

• Judas’ background
• Judas as a disciple
• Jesus’ betrayal
• Judas’ death
• What Judas’ life means for us today

Let’s begin with some basics.

Judas’ background

Not much is known about Judas’ background except his name and his father’s name. He was the son of Simon Iscariot (John 6:71).

The name Iscariot may provide us with some clues about Judas.

Scholars most commonly believe that the name comes from Hebrew and means “man of Kerioth.”¹ If this is the case, Judas would have come from Kerioth, a town south of Jerusalem in Judah.

And that would have instantly made him the odd one out among the twelve disciples. The others were all from the region of Galilee, far north of Jerusalem. These two regions had different cultures. Judas could easily be viewed as “not one of us” by the other disciples because of this.

According to some scholars, Iscariot may instead be a corrupted form of the Latin word sicarius, which means “murderer” or “assassin.”²

Still other Bible scholars note the similarity of “Iscariot” to the Sicarii, or “dagger-men.” These were a group of nationalist Jews who rebelled against Roman occupation and committed violent acts in the name of the Jewish nation.³ However, this group doesn’t appear to be very active until after Judas died.⁴

Regardless of what Iscariot tells us, it does do one important thing: differentiate this Judas from other New Testament Judases. There are two others named Judas: Judas the son of James and Judas Barsabbas.

Judas the son of James is none other than the disciple Thaddeus. In biblical times, people often had more than one name (think Simon Peter or Saul and Paul), so this is nothing unusual. Changes in culture, God changing their names, and even different ways of translating passages are reasons many Bible characters went by multiple names.

And Judas Barsabbas was an early church leader and prophet sent to Antioch by the early church (Acts 15:22, 32).

We don’t know much about Judas Iscariot’s background, and we don’t know how he joined the disciples. But we do know some of what happened during his time as a disciple before he betrayed Jesus.

Judas as a disciple

As a disciple, Judas received little attention in the Gospel accounts during Jesus’ ministry—the Bible doesn’t even say how he became a disciple. We can assume he accompanied Jesus and the other disciples as Jesus preached and healed among the Jews. He is listed in a few places with the other disciples, including Mark 3:14-19, Matthew 10:2-4, and Luke 6:13-16.

Photo by Josh Appel on Unsplash

But we do get a revealing glimpse of his character from a few key moments, especially in the Gospel of John.

Judas was given the role of treasurer for the group. But John tells us he wasn’t an honest treasurer:

“[Judas] was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it” (John 12:6, NKJV).

John includes this bit of information just after telling another account about Judas.

Not long before Jesus was betrayed and crucified, Jesus and the disciples visited their friends, Lazarus and Martha, in Bethany. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead earlier (John 11:43-44). When they were all eating together, Martha and Lazarus’ sister, Mary, anointed Jesus’ feet with some very expensive oil.

When Judas saw this, he exclaimed,

“‘Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’” (John 12:5, NKJV).

John goes on to explain that Judas didn’t really care about the poor. He was more interested in the money that oil was worth:

“He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief” (John 12:6, CSB).

Right after this scene, the Gospel accounts of John, Matthew, and Mark all jump directly into the chain of events that would make Judas infamous forever.

Jesus’ betrayal

Judas’ betrayal of Jesus begins with Judas approaching the chief priests and scribes—the religious leaders.

What prompts him to do this, we don’t know for sure, but it could have been greed (he was a thief, after all). Luke says that Satan “entered him” and caused him to do it (Luke 22:3), indicating that he was open to acting upon sinful motivations.

Scholars debate over whether he literally became possessed by a demon, or if it was simply a way of saying he chose to follow these corrupt motivations, thus making him a tool of the devil.

It’s also possible that Judas was disappointed that Jesus hadn’t met his expectations of a Messiah. Like the other Jews—and even the other disciples—he had expected Jesus to be a victorious conqueror over the Romans, not a suffering servant like Isaiah 53 depicts.

Regardless, Judas went to the religious leaders and asked,

“‘What are you willing to give me if I betray Him [Jesus] to you?’” (Matthew 26:15, NKJV).

The leaders conferred and told him they’d give him 30 pieces of silver for Jesus (Matthew 26:15). Which, by the way, was the value of a slave.⁵

Judas was satisfied.

This reflects the prophecy foretold by the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 11:12-13). There’s more to it, though, so we’ll discuss it in depth in a bit.

Passover came, and Jesus and the disciples ate the Last Supper. Toward the end, Jesus explained that He would be betrayed by one of the disciples (Matthew 26:21).

The disciples were afraid and asked Jesus if they were the ones. Jesus responded that the person who dipped his hand into the dish with Him was the one who would betray Him (Matthew 26:23).

Then Judas said, “‘Rabbi, is it I?’” (Matthew 26:25, NKJV).

Jesus replied, “‘You have said it’” (Matthew 26:25, NKJV).

In John, Jesus gives a piece of dipped bread to Judas, exposing him as His betrayer. We’re told that Satan entered Judas then, and Jesus said, “‘What you do, do quickly’” (John 13:27, NKJV). Judas immediately left the room.

Judas gathered the Jewish authorities and led them to where Jesus and the disciples were, now in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas had told the authorities he would give the man they wanted a kiss of greeting (Matthew 26:48). So when he approached Jesus, he greeted Him and kissed Him.

Jesus, knowing what Judas was doing, said to him,

“‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’” (Luke 22:48, NKJV).

The authorities seized Jesus and dragged Him away, beginning the events that would lead to the crucifixion.

Jesus’ betrayal at the hands of Judas is a tragedy, and yet, Jesus had to be betrayed both to fulfill prophecy and to save humanity. Unfortunately, Judas chose to be the means by which that would happen.

Let’s move now to what happened to Judas after his infamous act.

Judas’ death

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Judas met his own end not long after Jesus died.

The Bible tells us that Judas was filled with remorse for his actions. When Jesus went before Pontius Pilate—the Roman governor—for a trial, Judas returned the 30 pieces of silver to the religious leaders, saying,

“‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood’” (Matthew 27:4, NKJV).

But the priests didn’t care and wouldn’t take the money back. “‘What is that to us?’” they retorted. “‘You see to it!’” (Matthew 27:4, NKJV).

Ellen White, a founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, offered these comments on the scene:

“As the trial drew to a close, Judas could endure the torture of his guilty conscience no longer. Suddenly a hoarse voice rang through the hall, sending a thrill of terror to all hearts: ‘He is innocent; spare Him, O Caiaphas! … Rushing to the throne of judgment, he threw down before the high priest the pieces of silver that had been the price of his Lord’s betrayal. … [Jesus] knew that Judas did not repent; his confession was forced from his guilty soul by an awful sense of condemnation.”⁶

After this, Judas hung himself:

“Then [Judas] threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5, NKJV).

Matthew goes on to record,

“But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.’ And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day” (Matthew 27:6-8, NKJV).

The book of Acts records the account in a slightly different way:

“Now this man [Judas] purchased a field with the wages of iniquity [the 30 pieces of silver]; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood” (Acts 1:18-19, NKJV).

Although these two gruesome death accounts seem to contain different details, they are speaking of the same event. The differences between the accounts are rhetorical, meaning the authors used different words to describe the same idea.⁷ After Judas hung himself, he was buried in the field that had been bought by the 30 pieces of silver.

These events reflect the prophecy in Zechariah:

“Then I said to them, ‘If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.’ So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter” (Zechariah 11:12-13, NKJV).

They had been predicted centuries before. Whether or not Judas knew he was fulfilling them, we don’t know.

But after Judas’ death and Jesus’ ascension back to heaven, the disciples appointed someone else to take Judas’ place.

Who replaced Judas as the twelfth disciple?

Judas’ place among the 12 disciples was taken by a man named Matthias, who had followed Jesus from the beginning.

The disciples gathered, and Peter proposed,

“‘Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection’” (Acts 1:21-22, NKJV).

Of these men, two were proposed: Joseph Justus (also called Barsabbas) and Matthias.

They prayed over the decision and cast lots (similar to rolling dice today), and the lot fell to Matthias.

This is the only time Matthias is mentioned in the Bible, but we can assume he worked as fervently as the other disciples did in the first-century Christian church.

What Judas’ life means for us today

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Judas may have lived a traitor’s life and not been truly repentant for his sins, but we can still take away a few important lessons from his life.

Judas is an example

Through Judas and his fate, we have a perfect example of where greed, pride, and deceit can lead. John indicates that these qualities were present in Judas from the beginning.

Even so, Judas could’ve allowed Jesus to change his heart under His ministering and teaching.

This happened with other Bible characters. For example, after Jesus was arrested, Peter denied knowing Jesus or having any affiliation with Him. Three times! Yet Peter later repented, and Jesus forgave him. Peter went on to be a pillar in the early Christian church.

This also happened with the thief on the cross. He had rebelled against God’s principles and laws, but as he died on the cross, he realized Jesus was the true Son of God. Then and there, he repented of his disobedient life, and Jesus gave him eternal life.

Judas could have done the same if only he’d been sincerely sorry.

Instead, he gave in to personal selfishness, leading him to betray the Savior of the world and die a horrible death. He is the classic example of what not to do. His is a fate we can avoid if we listen to Jesus.

Jesus still loved him

Even as Jesus allowed Judas to be His disciple throughout His ministry, He knew someday this man would betray Him, condemning Him to a painful, agonizing death. Yet He still loved him, still gave him a chance, still sought to change his heart.

Even when Jesus revealed Judas as the traitor, He spoke with compassion and forgiveness in His voice. He simply told him to do what he was going to do quickly.

And had Judas confessed and been repentant, Jesus would have forgiven him, even as He forgives all of us if we ask for it (1 John 1:8-9).

Interestingly though, some people believe Judas was always in league with Jesus and never betrayed Him because of his own greed and sinfulness. Here’s how.

The Gospel of Judas

The Gospel of Judas is an extrabiblical account written in the early centuries after Jesus’ death. Written in Greek, this text was discovered in Egypt in the 1970s and translated to English in the early 2000s.⁸

In this account, Judas is portrayed as a very close friend of Jesus. As such, he was the only person who really knew the true mission of Jesus—that He must die on the Cross for all humanity, instead of ascending a throne on earth and defeating the Romans.⁹

So, unlike the Bible’s account, which paints Judas as a cold-hearted betrayer, The Gospel of Judas describes him as the man Jesus instructed to betray Him in order for God’s plan of salvation to work.¹⁰

However, most Bible scholars don’t accept this book as accurate for these reasons:

• It’s not part of the biblical canon. The early church leaders were very careful in selecting what should be included in the New Testament, choosing only what lined up accurately. If a book was left out, it likely had some theological or historical issues with it.¹¹
• It was written by Gnostics. This group in the early centuries after Christ held many beliefs that contradicted the Bible. Thus anything they wrote is subject to question by Christians.¹²

The Gospel of Judas might make an interesting read, but it’s not a source to trust for insight into the character of Judas Iscariot.

The most infamous disciple

The Bible records many cruel, rebellious people among its stories. Undoubtedly, however, Judas Iscariot ranks among the worst. He was a thief and betrayer, who ultimately sent Jesus to His death.

While he is by no means a man we should emulate, don’t forget that Jesus allowed him to be one of His disciples. He extended a lot of grace to Judas, encouraging him to change with the opportunities He presented. Jesus would have forgiven him, had Judas sincerely asked.

Because that’s who Jesus is—a God of boundaryless, unwavering love.

He doesn’t care what we did in the past or what we’re doing now. He still loves us so much that even if we never loved Him back, He would still have given up His life just for us. He will still forgive us now if we sincerely ask for it.

What else did Jesus teach during His time on earth?

1. Horn, Siegfried, “Iscariot,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary, p. 532 [↵]
2. “Judas Iscariot,” Britannica, October 17, 2023, [↵]
3. “Zealots And Sicarii,” Encyclopedia.com. [↵]
4. Ibid. [↵]
5. Denova, Rebecca. “Judas Iscariot,” World History Encyclopedia, [↵]
6. White, Ellen, Desire of Ages, pp.721-722. [↵]
7. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Acts 1:17. [↵]
8. “Judas Iscariot,” Britannica. [↵]
9. Ibid [↵]
10.  Ibid. [↵]
11. “Gospel of Judas’ is heresy and unreliable, Union experts say,” Union University, April 10, 2006, [↵]
12. Ibid. [↵]

More Answers

Thaddeus (or Thaddaeus) is one of the more unique and obscure figures among Jesus Christ’s disciples in the New Testament.

Though we know little about him from the Bible or tradition, we do know that he went by a few names, specifically Thaddeus, Lebbaeus, and Judas of James.

As we piece together the small tidbits about Thaddeus, let’s see what these names tell us about him and what we can learn from his life.

We’ll look at:

• Thaddeus’s name(s)
• Thaddeus before his calling
• Thaddeus as a disciple
• Thaddeus after the ascension

Thaddeus’s name(s)

The different Gospel accounts present Thaddeus with different names. In Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, he’s listed as “Thaddeus.” But in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13, the name “Thaddeus” is excluded completely, and we find someone named “Judas” instead. For this reason, we can safely assume they’re the same individual.

And John 14:22 directly clarifies that this Judas is not the same Judas (Iscariot) who betrayed Jesus.

But these names aren’t just a case of mistaken identity or a biblical typo. They’re a glimpse into the naming conventions in ancient times.

Some suggest that Judas was his real name. Then, “Thaddeus,” his surname or family name (Matthew 10:3), would have distinguished him from Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus.

Just as some of us might go by nicknames or middle names in different settings, Thaddeus’s multiple names may have reflected various aspects of his identity or role within the community. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Thaddeus can mean “large-hearted or courageous.”¹ In Bible times, names were often given based on character qualities (Genesis 32:28; Hosea 1:4-11), and this would’ve been no different.

The New King James and the King James Version of Matthew 10:3 tells us that he was also called Lebbaeus. Lebbaeus can mean “a man of heart”—similar to the meaning of Thaddeus.²

And Thaddeus wasn’t the only disciple to be referred to by more than one name. Such was also the case for Matthew (Levi), Nathanael (Bartholomew), and Peter (Simon, Cephas), among others.

But we still have some mysteries to explore—like who was Thaddeus related to according to the Bible? Was he connected to the disciple James, the son of Alphaeus? And did he write the book of Jude?

More on those next.

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Son or brother of James? And, which James?

Depending on the Bible version you refer to, Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 might tell you that Thaddeus is either the brother of James (NKJV or KJV) or the son of James (other versions).

However, the original Greek text says neither. It simply reads “Judas of James,” and this wording has led scholars to conclude that this James was Judas’s father, not his brother.³

So, is this James the same as any of the other ones listed in the Bible? In Luke 6:15-16, James the son of Alphaeus (aka “James the Less”) is mentioned. Could they be related?

Adventist scholars don’t believe so:

“Almost certainly this James, the father of Thaddaeus or Judas, is not to be identified with any other James of the NT, for the name was very common.”⁴

(And the name James remains common, even today!)

The Judas who wrote the Epistle of Jude?

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Jude, the title of an epistle in the New Testament and the name of the author who wrote it, is the same as the name Judas. This has led some to wonder whether the disciple Judas Thaddeus, also known as “Jude the Apostle,” might’ve written the book of Jude.

The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary offers a different perspective. It suggests that the author of Jude—who may have been the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3)—and Judas the disciple are two different people.⁵

Jude 1 identifies its author as the brother of James, while evidence points to Judas Thaddeus being the son, rather than the brother, of James. What’s more, the way Jude writes suggests he wasn’t one of the disciples. He refers to the twelve apostles of Jesus as though he wasn’t one of them (Jude 17).⁶

So, now that we know a little more about Thaddeus’s name, let’s see what we can learn about him as a person.

Thaddeus before his calling

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The Scriptures don’t provide details about Thaddeus’s life before being a disciple or his calling to be a disciple. That means we’re left to speculate based on the historical and cultural context of the time.

Thaddeus’s life, much like many of his contemporaries, likely centered around the routines of first-century Judea. He was possibly a common man, engaged in agriculture, fishing, or another similar trade.

In those times, the Jewish people were under Roman occupation, which meant dealing with taxes and soldiers while also trying to uphold the rich customs and laws of Judaism. Like the other Jews, Thaddeus would’ve longed for the coming of the Messiah to end the Roman occupation.

So, what might have drawn Thaddeus to Jesus?

While there isn’t a Bible verse that directly tells us, there are many likely possibilities. Perhaps he felt discontent with the status quo and wanted something beyond the stagnant rituals of the Jews. Maybe it was the Roman oppression that made the message of a new kingdom, one based on love and justice, so appealing. Or it could have been the miracles and teachings of Jesus, stories of which were undoubtedly spreading across the regions.

Thaddeus’s decision to follow Jesus was not just a personal turning point; it was a step into a new way of understanding God, society, and himself.

Thaddeus as a disciple

Once Thaddeus decided to follow Jesus, he became a key player in a story that would shape the course of history. Though he doesn’t stand out like Peter or John, he was still part of the core team—those dozen men who were the first to hear Jesus’ teachings and witness His miracles.

Being a disciple wasn’t just about being front and center; it was about being part of the support system, the group that carried the message of Jesus to the masses. Thaddeus helped lay the foundation of the early Christian church simply by being there, learning, and later spreading Jesus’ teachings. He reminds us that sometimes, the most profound impact is made not by words but by presence and perseverance.

The one time that Thaddeus’s words are recorded is in John 14:19-22. Jesus was explaining to His disciples that He was going to go away and that He would only reveal Himself to some. Confused, Thaddeus (called Judas in this passage) asked:

“Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” (John 14:22, CSB)

His question revealed the mindset he shared with all the other Jews: the hope of a Messiah who would reveal Himself to the whole world and conquer the Jews’ enemies. Here’s how some Bible commentators put it:

“Judas doubtless had in mind a visible manifestation of glory such as was expected to attend the advent of the Messiah. It was apparently disappointing to him that the manifestation was to be made to only a few…. In common with his Jewish compatriots he doubtless shared the hope that the Messiah would manifest Himself in judgment over the Gentiles and in the re-establishment of the spiritual theocracy.”⁷

Like the other disciples, Thaddeus had to slowly unlearn all he’d expected the Messiah to do. Jesus’ ministry was so different from what he’d been waiting for. But over time, he would come to understand and become a strong witness for the Gospel.

Thaddeus after the ascension

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After Jesus’ ascension, Thaddeus was in the upper room, praying and receiving the Holy Spirit with the other disciples (Acts 1:13). From there, we know nothing more about him except what various historical and traditional sources suggest.

Let’s take a look at those.

Oral church tradition claims that he ministered throughout Judea, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Lybia.⁸

And some traditions hold that he went as far as Persia to preach Christianity.⁹ This is the tradition mentioned in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs:

“Being sent to Persia, he wrought many miracles and made many converts, which stirring up the resentment of people in power, he was crucified in the year 72 after Christ.”¹⁰

On the other hand, Armenians believe that Thaddeus came to their country in AD 43 and was later martyred there.¹¹

But regardless, his presence at Pentecost suggests that he continued the work he started with Jesus. He likely traveled, spreading the teachings of Christ, and played a crucial role in establishing early Christian communities.

Thaddeus—quiet yet steadfast

Thaddeus, a man of multiple names and a witness to monumental events, represents the quiet yet steadfast believers whose stories we know little about.

His journey with Jesus is a reminder that every follower, regardless of their role’s prominence, contributes significantly to the spread of the Gospel message.

1. “Lexicon :: Strong’s G2280 – thaddaios,” Blue Letter Bible. [↵]
2. “Lexicon :: Strong’s G3002 – lebbaios” Blue Letter Bible. [↵]
3. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 597. [↵]
4. Ibid. [↵]
5. Horn, Siegfried, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary, Revised Edition, p. 630. [↵]
6. Ibid. [↵]
7. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, comments on John 14:22. [↵]
8. “Jude the Apostle,” New World Encyclopedia. [↵]
9. “St. Jude,” Britannica. [↵]
10. Foxe, John, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, p. 34. [↵]
11. “Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew,” The Armenian Prelacy. [↵]

More Answers

In the first book of the New Testament, we find the Gospel story from the perspective of Matthew. He was a Jewish tax collector from Capernaum in the first century AD, and he was likely despised by fellow Jews for choosing that profession.

Despite his beginnings, Matthew was willing to be uniquely used by God. To begin with, he was a converted tax collector—that alone was rare. And He served as one of Jesus Christ’ twelve disciples, wrote one of the synoptic Gospel accounts, continued to serve as an apostle after Jesus returned to heaven, and likely died a martyr’s death.

Matthew was able to see beyond his circumstances and realize Jesus could save him and forgive him—just as Jesus can for any of us.

So let’s get into the details of Matthew’s story:

• Life before discipleship
• Life as Jesus’ disciple
• Life after Jesus’ ascension
• Lessons from Matthew’s life

We’ll start by examining what his life was like before he encountered Jesus Christ.

Matthew’s life as a tax collector, before discipleship

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There isn’t a detailed biographical record of what Matthew’s early life was like. And in the book he wrote about the Gospel story, he certainly wasn’t focused on what happened in his own life before meeting Jesus.

But since we know his occupation, that has sparked a lot of interest and speculation in religious media. For example, The Chosen series about all the disciples has taken a few creative liberties with his character.

Here are the specific facts about Matthew we can get straight from the Bible:

• He was also called the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14).
• He was also known as Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27).
• He was a tax collector, or “publican” (Matthew 9:9; 10:3).

Just knowing he was a tax collector, however, provides us with more contextual likelihoods about Matthew:

• He worked for the Roman government, which ruled over the Jewish nation of Israel at that time
• He was probably wealthy, at least compared to most other Jews
• He was more than likely detested by his own people

Here’s why.

The Jews were currently living under the rulership of the Roman Empire, which ruled with a heavy hand over the nations it conquered. One of the “features” of this Roman authority was that Jews had to pay hefty taxes to the Roman government.

But unlike the taxation systems we’re used to today, which are supposed to pay for a country’s infrastructure, government programs, education, etc., Roman taxes benefited none but Rome, making them even more powerful and rich.¹ Today we’d call it taxation without representation.

And to make matters worse, the Roman government contracted with locals to do their dirty work of collecting those fees—one of the jobs available for Jews to sign up for.

So when a Jew opted to make a living this way, you can see how that wouldn’t go over well with their fellow Hebrews.

That made tax collectors and taxes the object of bitter loathing for the Jewish nation. They were regarded as traitors, getting their livelihood from the very government that was oppressing their own people.²

Perhaps living with the disdain of their own people made it easier for them to justify the other reason they were despised. They often took advantage of their position and lined their own pockets by collecting more than was necessary, or arbitrarily charging fees for things like crossing a certain bridge or using a busy road.³

And while we don’t have any kind of exact record of how or if Matthew also cheated his fellow Jews like other tax collectors did, there’s a strong likelihood that he would have taken advantage of the people at some point.

Then how did a man in such a despised and dishonest profession become one of Jesus Christ’s closest companions?

Matthew’s calling

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The books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke⁴ document Matthew’s call to discipleship. Like any other day, he was sitting in his tax booth in Galilee. Jesus, who had just drawn the attention of many by healing a paralyzed man, passed by Matthew’s post.

All Jesus said was, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9, NKJV).

But those words must have captivated Matthew. This man had chosen him? Matthew could have easily thought, “Why me?” But he didn’t question Jesus’ choice.

Without hesitation, Matthew got up and left everything—the money, the job, the security, the favor of the Romans. He gave it all up to become Jesus’ disciple.

He also threw a party for Jesus, inviting Him, all His disciples, and other tax collectors to be among his guests (Luke 5:29).

And at this party comes another pivotal moment in Matthew’s life.

The Pharisees, in line with their character, complained about Jesus associating with these types of people. They said to Jesus,

“‘Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Luke 5:30, NKJV).

They had identified Matthew as a sinner of sinners. But notice Jesus’ response:

“‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance’” (Luke 5:31-32, NKJV).

Jesus threw the Pharisees’ grumblings right back in their faces. He wanted to be with these sinners, these people who wanted to follow Him. These were the people who could be saved, because they humbled themselves and looked to Jesus for direction.

The fact that Matthew recognized his shortcomings and was willing to move beyond them reveals his strength.

It was the Pharisees who were farthest away from salvation at that point, if they continued to believe they were too good for what Jesus had to say.

Sometimes a redemption story can be the most powerful kind.

Life as Jesus’ disciple

While Matthew was one of Jesus’ disciples and undoubtedly got involved with important tasks during Jesus’ ministry, his calling is actually the only story about him in Scripture. Any other times he resurfaces in the New Testament are merely in listings of the disciples:

• Matthew 10:3
• Mark 3:18
• Luke 6:15
• Acts 1:13

But that doesn’t diminish his importance. As we’ll see in a bit, his talents helped preserve Jesus’ time on earth forever.

If you read the verses before Luke’s account of the party put on by Matthew, you might have noticed something strange: Jesus called a man named Levi, and this Levi hosted the party (Luke 5:27, 29).

Isn’t his name Matthew?

Levi may well have been his Hebrew name, while Matthew was his Greek name. But in any case, one person having multiple names was not uncommon in those days. For example, Peter was also known as Simon, and Bartholomew was also called Nathanael.

And considering how identical the conversion stories are in the first three Gospel accounts, it’s unlikely that “Levi” would have referred to a separate person altogether. Luke even calls Matthew “Levi” (verse 27). But a few verses later, when listing all the disciples, he calls him Matthew (Luke 6:15).

Throughout most of what we can read about Jesus’ earthly ministry, Matthew silently accompanies Jesus and isn’t often mentioned specifically. But that doesn’t mean his role wasn’t important. He was likely a captivated narrator, focusing more on what was happening around him and having little need to mention his own name in his documentation.

Life after Jesus’ ascension

Matthew, now an apostle, continued to work with the other apostles to share Christianity with others after Jesus returned to heaven. But when it comes to this part of his life, not much is recorded in the Bible itself.

Other sources from the early centuries suggest that his travels took him to Persia, Macedonia, Syria, or a region below the Caspian Sea then called Ethiopia.⁵ We don’t know exactly what he did, but we can assume he worked among the Gentiles as an evangelist, telling them the wonderful news of Jesus.

It’s also not officially known how he died. Many different accounts have emerged from different early Christian writers, ranging from natural death to various types of martyrdom. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, written in the 1500s by a Protestant historian, offers this fate for Matthew:

“He afterwards traveled to Parthia, where he met his death, being slain with the sword, about the year 60.”⁶⁰

He would have been an older man by this time. From the abundance of stories about his martyrdom, we can assume that Matthew remained faithful to Jesus up until his last breath.

And not only was Matthew a faithful apostle, carrying on the ministry of Christ, but he also wrote down his account of the Gospel story, bringing believers together for ages to come: the Gospel of Matthew.

Writing the book of Matthew

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There are some scholars who debate whether the apostle Matthew truly was the author of the Gospel of Matthew, which was believed to be written somewhere in the 50s-60s AD.⁷ Early church writers like Papias and Eusebius generally ascribed the book to him, but he also seems to share a lot of material from Mark, who was not an eyewitness.⁸

However, most of the evidence points to Matthew as the author of the Gospel.

First, the church of the first few centuries AD believed he authored it. Though we’ve seen from Matthew’s numerous death accounts that they don’t always get it right, there’s something to be said for so many people of his time believing in his authorship.

Second, the Gospel of Matthew itself presents numerous clues. Compare these portions of the Lord’s prayer from Luke and Matthew:

“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4, NKJV).

 

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12, NKJV).

Matthew heard the words through the lens of his financial background, so that could be why he expressed them this way.

Also, Matthew’s Gospel account is the only one to include Jesus’ parable about the talents (Matthew 18:23-35). A story about money and investment would have special appeal to someone who regularly handled money as a career.

And Matthew tailored his writing to be read and accepted by the Jews. He begins with a genealogy of Jesus, connecting him to King David and Abraham, and quotes numerous Messianic prophecies in his Gospel, all designed to help the Jews believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

Lessons from Matthew’s life

While we don’t have a detailed life sketch of Matthew, there’s still a lot we can learn from His time as an apostle.

A big takeaway from Matthew’s life is that no lifestyle is too hard to change. A tax collector like Matthew was like the scum of the earth in the eyes of his fellow Jews. He probably had many material possessions, but few friends. Perhaps one part of him felt guilty for the life he led, but the other part was too deeply mired in it to stop.

But he gave up all that to become a follower of Jesus, and one of Jesus’ closest companions.

Jesus doesn’t care how badly we’ve messed up. No matter what we’ve done, we’re all equal in His eyes. He loves us, sees our potential, and wants to be our closest friend.

We can also see from Matthew’s story that you don’t have to travel to a foreign country as part of a big effort to bring others to Christ. There’s nothing wrong with that, and Matthew certainly did his share of it. But his telling of the Gospel story was written for his own people. We, too, can help our neighbors and friends come to know Christ in a way they’ll understand.

Matthew, an example for us all

Matthew was an outcast of society. The Jews hated him because he took their money, and he was unforgivable in the Pharisees’ eyes. And for the Romans, he was just a pawn.

Yet Jesus called Matthew. He knew that Matthew’s identity was far more than his life circumstances or what others thought of him.

We don’t have to be popular. We don’t have to be smart. We don’t have to be liked by anyone. But that doesn’t make us unusable to God. Often, the result of God changing our lives for the better can glorify Him even more.

And when we do accept that call, we can allow ourselves to grow and be changed. Matthew’s life was transformed by this event, and he eventually became a powerful witness for Jesus. We too, can become a great witness for Jesus, if we let Him lead us.

Matthew was not the only apostle whose life was changed. Learn about the disciples’ collective experience with Jesus, or

1. Edersheim, Alfred. Sketches of Jewish social life in the days of Christ, Internet Archive. p.55. [↵]
2. Ibid. [↵]
3. Ibid. [↵]
4. Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27. [↵]
5. Foxe, John, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Charles Foster Publishing, 1897 [↵]
6. Nelson, Ryan, “Who Was Matthew the Apostle? The Beginner’s Guide,” Overview Bible, April 1, 2019. [↵]
7. Chilton, Brian, “Who Wrote the Gospel of Matthew?”, CrossExamined.org, June 11, 2017. [↵]
8. Ibid. [↵]

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Two of Jesus Christ’s 12 disciples were named James. While more is known about James the son of Zebedee and brother of John, let’s see what there is to know about the other James, known as James the son of Alphaeus—also sometimes referred to as “James the Lesser.”

Strictly looking at Scripture, this James is only mentioned a handful of times.

So we’ll go through these mentions in the Bible and also take a look at other historical accounts to see what we can find out about this son of Alphaeus. We’ll also determine which details are true and which are likely based on speculation.

We’ll cover:

• Biblical facts about James, the son of Alphaeus
• Theories about James, the son of Alphaeus
• The significance of James as a disciple and apostle

Let’s start by examining what the Bible does tell us about this man; then we’ll look at what else we can determine through additional sources.

Biblical facts about James, the son of Alphaeus

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Well, based on New Testament mentions, the only things we know for sure about this specific James is that he was indeed one of Jesus’ disciples, and he was the son of a man named Alphaeus.

He’s only mentioned by the name four times throughout the New Testament.

And each one of those times, his name is simply placed in a list identifying the names of all 12 of Jesus’ disciples (Mark 3:14-19; Matthew 10:2-4; Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13-16).

Even so, Christian scholars have done their best to fill in the gaps and have provided a few theories on who James was.

Theories about James, the son of Alphaeus

Some of these theories are based on connections scholars believe they’ve found between other significant people of the time who may have interacted with James and the other disciples.

Others come from extrabiblical sources that have to do with history, pop culture, and art.

Like references from the TV show, The Chosen, for example.

This series portrays James, son of Alphaeus as a man with a disability. While this certainly is possible, neither Scripture nor other historical sources provide any details that would confirm or deny this.

And this turns out to be the case for many of the theories surrounding James, son of Alphaeus, even from some of the more scholarly sources.

But some of the details in these theories can be muddied by the fact that there are a lot of Jameses in the Bible. For one, there’s James, the brother of Jesus. There’s also James, son of Zebedee, who was another disciple alongside James, son of Alphaeus. So at times, it can be tricky to distinguish who’s who.

However, most mentions of the name “James” in the Gospel accounts are referring to either the brother of Jesus or the son of Zebedee. You can usually tell which one by looking at the setting in which one of these Jameses is mentioned.

Most of the time, when Jesus is talking with His disciples, it’s James the son of Zebedee who gets more of the spotlight, especially because he is often mentioned alongside his brother John, a very well-known member of the 12 disciples.

James the brother of Jesus is usually mentioned in a listing of Jesus’ family members, or is identified specifically as Jesus’ brother or Mary’s son (Matthew 13:55-56; 27:56).

And in addition to the issue of multiple Jameses, it was common in those times for people to go by multiple names. Take Simon, for instance, who also goes by Peter (though not to be confused with another disciple, Simon the Zealot).

This situation with naming has also led many scholars to consider that James, the son of Alphaeus might have gone by other names too, or had certain identifiers included with his name, such as James the Lesser, or James the Younger.¹

James the Lesser

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Many scholars conclude that James, the son of Alphaeus is the same as “James the Less” or “James the Lesser.”²

This makes sense, considering that James, the son of Zebedee, was known as James the Elder or James the Greater.

The disciples might have given the two Jameses these nicknames as a way to distinguish them from each other.

Though there are other possible reasons James, the son of Alphaeus could have been called James the Lesser. Maybe he was shorter, younger, or more soft-spoken than the bold son of Zebedee who, along with his brother, had earned the nickname, “son of thunder” (Mark 3:17).³

And some theorize that James, the son of Alphaeus is called James the Lesser because he might have been related to other notable figures in Scripture.⁴

James’ connection to others in the Bible

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Though we don’t have a lot of information on James’ life and ministry as a disciple, there are multiple theories about James’ connection to the other people mentioned in the Bible.

Was James related to Jesus?

If we assume James, the son of Alphaeus to be the one referred to as James the Younger, that would mean he is the son of a woman named Mary, who was the wife of “Clopas” which might have been another name for Alphaeus (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25).⁵

Many take John 19:25 to mean that Mary of Clopas was the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. This has led some to believe that James and Jesus were cousins.⁶

Others still associate James, the son of Alphaeus with James, the half-brother of Christ, whom Paul speaks about in Galatians 1:19.⁷

But the doubts of these theories outweigh their support, especially that James, the son of Alphaeus could be Jesus’ brother.

Was James related to Matthew?

There are some who have also attempted to connect James, the son of Alphaeus with the disciple Matthew.⁸

Scripture says that Matthew, known in some accounts as Levi, was the son of a man named Alphaeus (Mark 2:14).

Because James and Matthew had a father with the same name, some Bible scholars believe that James was Matthew’s brother.⁹

But a lot of scholars deny this theory because many people could have been named Alphaeus (just like many people were named James).¹⁰ There’s also the fact that the Bible has a convention of mentioning brothers in pairs, but Matthew and James are never mentioned together.¹¹

Was James related to Jude?

Most scholars believe James was related to Jude, otherwise known as Judas the Zealot (not Judas Iscariot).

However, there is some confusion as to how they were related.

When James and Jude are listed among the disciples, Jude is sometimes referred to as “the son of James,” although other translations like the King James Version, refer to Jude as James’ brother.¹²

“And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.” (Luke 6:13-16, KJV).

Some of this confusion might come back to the fact that the original Greek suggests he is Jude of James, which could suggest either relation.¹³

However, the book of Jude reasserts that James was Jude’s brother.

“Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James…” (Jude 1:1, NKJV).

James’ significance as a disciple of Jesus

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While we don’t know any significant specifics about James’ relationship with Christ or the other disciples, we do know that James wasn’t as prominent as the other 12.

But even though we don’t hear much about who James was or what he did, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do amazing things for Christ. After all, each disciple was chosen specifically by Jesus. James, the son of Alphaeus was selected by the Son of God to learn from Him, minister with Him, and represent Him to the world.

James remained by Jesus’ side throughout His earthly ministry and experienced a lot of the same events the other disciples did.

He witnessed Jesus perform countless miracles. He was there when Jesus fed the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21). He was there when Jesus raised Lazarus back to life (John 11:5-16, 38-44).

He and the rest of the 12 had a unique opportunity to walk alongside Christ. They traveled together, ate together, served together.
That means James got to experience some of the most pivotal events in Jesus’ ministry.

He watched as the Jews called Jesus their king as He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (Luke 19:28-38).

He sat at the table during the Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-30).

And he, along with the other disciples, felt immeasurable confusion, pain, and loss when he heard of Jesus’ death on the Cross (John 20:19).

And after Jesus had risen from the grave, James’ hope was renewed as he watched Him ascend into heaven (John 20:19-20; Matthew 28:16-20).

Though James didn’t have a starring role in any of these events, he witnessed them all the same. And in witnessing the life and character of Christ, he was opened up to an entirely new way of thinking and living.

His time with Jesus likely challenged his cultural worldview. There might have been times when he, like the other disciples, wondered why Jesus did things the way He did.

He may have wondered why Jesus would show kindness to Romans, the Jews’ enemy (Luke 7:1-10). He might have wondered why Jesus reached out to outcasts when no one else would (Matthew 15:21-28; Luke 14:12-14). Or why Jesus would take on a tax collector as His disciple (Mark 2:13-17).

Slowly but surely, James’ experiences with Jesus shaped him into the apostle he was meant to be—one who would go on to share the gospel with others until his passing.

James as an apostle

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Similar to James, son of Alphaeus’ discipleship, what we know about his life after Christ’s death and resurrection comes from what we know about the apostles as a group.

For one, we can surmise that he, along with the other apostles, all experienced the miracle of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).

We also know that he and the others were responsible for choosing a new disciple, Matthias, to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:12-26).

James’ role in these pivotal events demonstrates his significance as a church leader. He might not have been as well-known as Peter or John, but the early Christian church would still regard him as one they could turn to for guidance.

It’s also likely that James was a missionary.

We can assume that he, like many of the disciples, traveled to far-away lands to share the gospel.

Church traditions suggest that he might have gone to Egypt or Jerusalem.¹⁴ But we don’t know for certain where he might have gone.

But no matter where he went, we can safely assume that James was driven by the Great Commission Jesus had given all of the disciples. He wanted to tell the world about his Savior and friend.

Sadly, it is believed that he, like many of the disciples, was martyred for his work in telling the world about Jesus (Acts 12:1-2).

Some church traditions suggest that he was stoned by the Jews.¹⁵ Others say he was beaten with a club or crucified.¹⁶

While we can’t say for certain exactly what his life and death entailed, we can say that it matters to be a disciple of Christ.

The measure of discipleship is not by how many people know your name, or how often you’re mentioned throughout the history books.

God chose each of His disciples intentionally. So just because the deeds of James, son of Alphaeus didn’t end up getting recorded doesn’t mean he was any less useful or valuable. He may have touched the lives of many people in subtle yet significant ways. Or he may have exalted Jesus and supported the other disciples in ways that were meaningful, but not obvious or describable to observers.

After all, John plainly stated that the works of Jesus while He was on earth were too numerous to write them all down (John 21:25). That could include several more stories that involved His disciples as well.

Today, we can consider James, the son of Alphaeus as a behind-the-scenes disciple who had a role to play that was God-ordained, even if we don’t know exactly what it was.

And that can help us remember that God can use any of us to do whatever needs to be done for His glory and purpose. What the outside world can see or understand about what we do for Christ is irrelevant in terms of the impact each of us can make for Him.

1. Nelson, Ryan, “Who Was James Son of Alphaeus? The Beginner’s Guide,” Overview Bible. [↵]
2. Ibid. [↵]
3. Ibid.[ ↵]
4. Ibid. [↵]
5. Rodríguez, Ángel Manuel, “Were the brothers of Jesus mentioned in the Bible sons of Joseph and Mary?” General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church. [↵]
6. Ibid. [↵]
7. Nelson, Overviewbible.com [↵]
8. Ibid. [↵]
9. Ibid. [↵]
10. Ibid. [↵]
11. Ibid. [↵]
12. Regan, David,“‘Brother of’ or ‘Son of’ James,” Learn the Bible. [↵]
13. Ibid. [↵]
14. Nelson. [↵]
15. James,” Bible Gateway. [↵]
16. Nelson. [↵]

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You might know him as “Doubting Thomas” because he refused to believe in Jesus Christ’s resurrection without first seeing Jesus.

But Thomas was much more than this one label.

As one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, Thomas the Apostle followed Jesus and grew in His work of teaching, preaching, and healing. Despite his struggle with unbelief after Jesus was resurrected—the story that made Thomas famous—he went on to spread the Gospel throughout the known world.

The Bible doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about this unique character, but we’ll look at what it does say and what scholars have concluded from clues in history. You’ll learn:

• Who Thomas was
• His life as a disciple
• His life after the ascension
• Lessons from his life

Who Thomas was

Photo by Kevin Malik

In the New Testament, Thomas shows up in every single list of the 12 disciples (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). But we know little else about him except for the accounts of him in the Gospel of John. These snippets of his interactions with Jesus and the other apostles show us a man of honesty, directness, and perhaps a little pessimism.

John 11:16 tells us that he was also called “Didymus,” which means “twin” in Greek (and the Aramaic for Thomas means the same). It’s possible that he had a twin brother, though we don’t know who that was.

Some suggest he was Jesus’ twin, but the Bible doesn’t offer any such evidence.¹

And while some movies or TV shows depict him as having a wife or girlfriend, the Scriptures don’t say whether he was married or not.

His profession also is unknown. However, John 21:2-3 mentions that he went fishing with some of the apostles, so it’s possible he was also a fisherman.

Thomas’ life as a disciple

Like the other disciples, Jesus called Thomas during His ministry in Galilee. Thomas actively participated in that ministry of traveling, preaching, and healing.

After Jesus had mentored His disciples for some time, He even sent them out on their own, as Matthew 10:1 tells us:

“When [Jesus] had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease” (NKJV).

Thomas was among those who were sent out (Matthew 10:3).

Little is said about what happened to Thomas during those mission trips, but the Gospel of John does record three interactions Thomas had with Jesus. More on those next.

His willingness to die for Jesus (John 11:16)

The first recorded interaction happened when Jesus received word of His friend Lazarus’s sickness. Lazarus was a close friend of His, and no doubt, the message from Lazarus’s sisters, Mary and Martha, came with the expectation that Jesus would come and heal him.

But that meant going back to Judea. The disciples protested:

“Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” (John 11:8, NKJV)

Why would Jesus go near Jerusalem, where religious leaders were plotting His death?

Jesus, though, recognized the importance of going to Lazarus (who had since died) and resurrecting him (John 11:14-15). This was part of His mission.

And that’s when Thomas pipes up:

“Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John 11:16, NKJV).

His words are pessimistic, but they also show a deep commitment to following Jesus. Here’s how Adventist scholars put it:

“Since [Thomas’s] Master was bent on going to Bethany, his loyalty led him to follow, though to him, with his mind full of the darkest apprehension, it appeared that they were walking into the jaws of death.”²

He revealed courage—a willingness to step forward despite fear for his own life.

His question about the way to the Father (John 14:5-6)

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The second interaction the Bible records happens soon after the Lord’s Supper. Jesus is with His disciples, seeking to comfort them before the crisis of His arrest and crucifixion.

Jesus gives them this beautiful promise:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:1-4, NKJV).

And yet, Thomas is perplexed and asks:

“Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5, NKJV)

His question showed that he still didn’t fully understand Jesus’ mission. Like many of the Jews, he incorrectly expected the Messiah to conquer the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom—the apostle Peter, too, had wrestled with this misconception (Matthew 16:22).

The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary points out that the disciples “should have known [the answer to Thomas’s question], for they had been clearly told (see verse 4). It was hard for them to divest themselves of the tempting Jewish concept of the Messianic kingdom.”³

We can be thankful that Thomas asked the question, though.

It prompted one of the most well-known sayings of Jesus:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6, NKJV).

Thomas and his fellow apostles took a while to understand what this really meant, and their misconceptions would cause deep disappointment—so much so that Thomas would, in fact, not even believe the resurrection at first.

Let’s see how Jesus responded to him.

His disbelief of the resurrection of Jesus (John 20:24-29)

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The disappointment was over. Jesus had risen and appeared to all the disciples for the first time in the upper room!

All of them except Thomas (John 20:24).

He was not present at the time, whether out of discouragement or fear or some other reason. When he heard from the other disciples that they had seen Jesus, perhaps he felt a little spiteful that he’d been left out. We don’t know for sure.

His response, though, was adamant:

“Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25, NKJV).

These strong words have earned him the name “Doubting Thomas,” though perhaps “Unbelieving Thomas” is more accurate. After all the disappointments of the past couple days, his sentiments are relatable. It was probably hard to muster faith in that moment.

It was nothing Jesus had said or done that caused Thomas’ doubt. From everything we know about Thomas, he had trusted in Jesus up until now. But he was still struggling to understand Jesus’ true purpose as the Messiah.

Jesus understood, though. Eight days later, He appeared to the disciples again—this time with Thomas present.

He approached Thomas directly:

“Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (John 20:27, NKJV).

Jesus made it clear that He knew the thoughts this apostle was struggling with, and that was enough for Thomas:

“There is no evidence that Thomas took advantage of the offer. The fact that the Lord read the doubts of his heart so accurately was to him convincing evidence of the resurrection.”⁴

Thomas’s next words were ones of faith:

“My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

In this verse, “my Lord” is a translation of the Hebrew “Yahweh,” which means that Thomas recognized Jesus as the same Jehovah God spoken of in the Old Testament.⁵

This faith would carry him forward in his mission as an apostle.

Thomas after the ascension

Thomas was present in the upper room when the 12 apostles—including Peter, James, John, Andrew, Judas (Thaddeus), and Philip—and other followers of Jesus prayed together and received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:13). After that, the biblical account doesn’t say anything more about him. However, many believe he went as a missionary to Parthia (modern-day Iran) and India,⁶ where he was later martyred.

Christians in the state of Kerala in India believe that Thomas came there and first brought Christianity in AD 52.⁷

Adventist scholars mention something similar:

“In southern India there is a group of indigenous Christians who have been known for centuries as Thomas Christians. They have in their possession a version of the gospel story said to have been handed down to them by the apostle Thomas. They claim that Thomas suffered martyrdom on an eminence known as St. Thomas’ Mount, near Madras.”⁸

Church traditions also suggest that, during his later ministry, Thomas wrote books like the Gospel of Thomas and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, though biblical scholars have many reasons to reject that he was the author.

For example, the Gospel of Thomas, which is supposedly a collection of 114 of Jesus’ sayings, is thought to have been written in the middle of the 2nd century—long after Thomas was alive. It also reflects the thinking of Greek mystics (Gnostics) because it connects salvation to knowing these secret sayings of Jesus.⁹ It isn’t consistent with the Bible.

As for Thomas’s death, we again don’t know for sure what happened, though it’s likely that he was martyred for his faith, as many of the other apostles were. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs gives this account:

“After converting many to Christ, he aroused the anger of the pagan priests, and was martyred being thrust through with a spear.”¹⁰

No longer unbelieving, Thomas chose to give his life completely for his risen Lord.

What Thomas’s life teaches us

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Thomas, along with the other disciples, had a challenging call upon his life. To be a disciple of Jesus went against his preconceived ideas about the Messiah and brought him great disappointment. But Jesus saw the willingness in the heart of Thomas and patiently worked with his questioning and unbelief.

It encourages us that Jesus is working with us in our struggles, too.

Though we may struggle to believe or understand all Jesus has in store for us, He doesn’t turn away our questions or leave us in our unbelief. Rather, He helps strengthen our faith so that it becomes something deeper and more genuine.

God often reaches us through personal encounters, just as He did with Thomas after the resurrection. Thomas needed to know at that moment that Jesus knew his thoughts of unbelief, and the experience transformed him.

Though God may not appear to us visibly, this story encourages us to accept and trust what God has said regardless of whether it seems possible. And from the story of Thomas, we find a special blessing for us:

“Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29, NKJV).

Those small seeds of belief will grow in our lives, just as they did in Thomas’s. Though you may feel like you’re struggling, take heart. Those struggles are part of the journey, and they will deepen your dedication to God. Just as they did with Thomas.

1. Nichols, Francis, ed., The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1013. [↵]
2. Ibid. [↵]
3. Ibid., p. 1035. [↵]
4. Ibid., p. 1068. [↵]
5. Ibid. [↵]
6. Coogan, Michael, The Oxford Companion to the Bible, p. 743. [↵]
7. Zacharia, Paul, “The Surprisingly Early History of Christianity in India,” Smithsonian Magazine. [↵]
8. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 596. [↵]
9. Wallace, J. Warner, “Why Shouldn’t We Trust the Non-Canonical Gospels Attributed to Thomas?” Cold-Case Christianity. [↵]
10. Foxe, John, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, p. 34. [↵]

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