An Atheistic Bible Study Of The Gospel Recruitment Of The Apostles Part One

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Andrew, Simon-Peter, John And James are introduced here. The remaining eight Apostles are covered in later essays. Though Jesus appeared to inherit an unspecified number of followers from John The Baptist, the Gospels mainly focus on the twelve disciples called The Apostles. The details of their individual lives and ministries are scattered liberally across the Gospels. Here I am centring on how they came to be Jesus’s converts and Apostles. Their later deeds, especially the betrayal by Judas Iscariot will be touched on in later studies. ANDREW – Matthew and Mark have Andrew and SIMON-PETER, his brother, are seen first, fishing from a boat on the Sea Of Galilee. Jesus simply calls them from the shore to serve him, and they immediately abandon their boat to go off with him leaving a lucrative fishing trade on the spot to go with the new religious leader. Luke’s Gospel more realistically shows that Jesus hired their boat, with Simon and others on board (Andrew is not named by Luke at this point) so Jesus can use the boat as a stage platform and evangelize to audiences on the shore of Galilee. The miracle in which Jesus helped them find a large fish-catch after a day spent catching no fish is also referenced here. That the fishermen just got lucky after meeting Jesus should not be seen as so miraculous. John’s Gospel sheds a different light on the matter. Andrew was already a follower of John The Baptist, and the Bible showed the Baptist plainly instruct his followers to start following Jesus instead. Andrew converts his brother, Simon Peter. Jesus finds the brothers following around and asks them what they want. This suggests that while others listen to Jesus when he happens to speak in their areas, Simon-Peter and Andrew more actively follow his mission and turn up at every opportunity to hear him wherever he goes. They explain their fascination for his message and Jesus invites them to join him more openly. James And John – The next two Apostles chosen by Jesus have similar origins. They are fishing when Jesus asks them to be his disciples instead. James, (the son of Zebedee) is the first of two Apostles of this name. John is his younger brother. (This is not John the Gospel author). The difference between this instant recruitment (as given in Matthew and Mark) is that James And John abandon not only their work, but also their father, who is with them on the boat they abandon to run off after Jesus, no questions asked. Such an instant disintegration of families is common in cults and religious conversion. Jesus tells the former fishers of fish that they will now be known as ‘fishers of men’. Arthur Chappell