In the New Testament, a fair amount of squabbling goes on between Jesus and the Pharisees, a first-century Jewish sect (via Britannica). So, it's surprising that one of the most significant Christian missionaries in history grew up as a Pharisee. We know him as the Apostle Paul. Born in Tarsus, Paul received a Pharisaical education in Jerusalem "at the feet of Gamaliel, [and] was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers" (Acts 22:3). This upbringing put him on...
In the New Testament, a fair amount of squabbling goes on between Jesus and the Pharisees, a first-century Jewish sect (via Britannica). So, it's surprising that one of the most significant Christian missionaries in history grew up as a Pharisee. We know him as the Apostle Paul. Born in Tarsus, Paul received a Pharisaical education in Jerusalem "at the feet of Gamaliel, [and] was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers" (Acts 22:3). This upbringing put him on...
The apostle whose given name was Joses, or Joseph, has gone down in history as "Barnabas," which means "son of encouragement," a nickname given to him by the early Christian community. True to his name, after his conversion he served Jesus Christ in the humblest of ways, supporting Saul — later to take the name Paul — in his faith journey, introducing him to the rest of the Apostles and vouching for his conversion of heart despite the fact that Paul had been a feared persecutor of Christians.
Judas Iscariot is most well known for betraying Jesus Christ by selling him out to the chief high priests, which in turn led to Jesus' arrest and crucifixion. Today, Judas' name is synonymous with traitor. But besides betraying Jesus, not much is known of Judas, unlike the other Apostles. In fact, Judas is the only Apostle not to have a story on how Jesus called him, and for most of Jesus' time, Judas is just simply with the group, according to Britannica.
You don't have to be a regular attendee of a Christian church to know that Jesus, whom Christians worship as the Son of God and Savior of the World, famously had twelve dudes who followed him around most of the time and listened to him talk. They also frequently asked him dumb questions so he could explain the nature of the Kingdom of God in easy-to-digest analogies. These twelve guys are frequently known as Jesus's disciples, which just means "students," but these particular twelve are more properly known as the Twelve Apostles, which means "those sent out," because they received a literal mission from God to preach to all nations.
According to Learn Religions, an apostle is someone that Jesus himself chose and nominated as his official representative. He enlisted these men first as disciples and entrusted them to continue speaking his gospel. When Jesus was crucified and later resurrected, these disciples then became apostles — as one can't become an apostle until they've finished their role as a disciple, and when Jesus formally appoints them.
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