An Atheistic Bible Study Of The Gospel Recruitment Of The Apostles Part 2

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Four more Apostles described from their introductions now, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew. PHILIP – A citizen of Bethsheba, which was also the birth place and home town of Andrew and Peter. Philip was already a worshipper of John The Baptist until the Baptist instructed his congregation to follow Jesus instead. In John’s Gospel, Philip simply hears Jesus saying ‘Follow me’, and abandons everything to do just that. BARTHOLOMEW (Sometimes called NATHANIEL) – Introduced to Jesu by hiss friend Philip, though rarely mentioned other than as a witness to the Acention which I’ll look at later. THOMAS – famous for his sceptical doubting following the alleged Resurrection, he is at first just mentioned in a general list of the twelve Apostles. Later, when Jesus plans a second visit to Judea after opponants formed an angry mob and tried to stone him, Jesu propose a second visit. The other Apostles are reluctant to risk getting hurt but Thomas says he will stand by Jesus even if it gets him killed and his persuades the others to rally round and support the return to Judea too. MATTHEW – Often confused with the Gospel writing evangelist, the Apostle Matthew was a publican and a tax collector. He appears to have been employed by Herod Antipas, a fierce opponent to Jesus. Matthew was a Levite. Mark’s Gospel calls him Levi. As a tax collector he was not a popular figure. Though tax collecting could be lawful, it was an office associated with corruption and extortion. The Scribes & Pharisees criticise Jesus for including a tax collector among his loyalist supporters, to which Jesus declares that he I happy to recruit any sinner willing to repent. This makes Matthew’s recruitment central to the whole core Christian concept of forgiveness and repentance. It is unlikely that Matthew the Apostle was Matthew the Gospel writer as the Gospel was not written in the first person and was also associated with the name Matthew until at least 200 AD. For the most part these were the lesser known or recorded of the twelve Apostles. Arthur Chappell