The twelve apostles: the full list and what is known of each
The New Testament gives four lists of the twelve, and they do not match exactly. Here is each name, what the text actually reports, and where the famous martyrdoms come from.
By Ruth Callaway · Bible literacy teacher, MA in Religious Studies · Reviewed by Daniel Mercer
Published · Updated
Key takeaways
- The New Testament lists the twelve four times: Mark 3, Matthew 10, Luke 6 and Acts 1, and the lists differ on one name.
- Mark and Matthew have Thaddaeus where Luke and Acts have Judas the son of James, which is why the two are traditionally treated as one man with two names.
- The Bible records the death of only one apostle: James the son of Zebedee, killed by Herod in Acts 12:2.
- Peter crucified upside down, Thomas in India and Andrew on an X-shaped cross all come from later church tradition, not from Scripture.
- Matthias is chosen to replace Judas Iscariot in Acts 1 and is never mentioned again.
In this article
The New Testament names the twelve apostles four separate times, and the lists are not identical. That is the first thing to know about them, and it explains most of the confusion in popular retellings. The four lists are Mark 3:16-19, Matthew 10:2-4, Luke 6:14-16 and Acts 1:13, the last one taken after Judas Iscariot is gone.
The four lists side by side
Mark gives them in this order:
Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee; and John, the brother of James, (whom he called Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder); Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. Then he came into a house.
Luke's version replaces one name:
Simon, whom he also named Peter; Andrew, his brother; James; John; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus; Simon who was called the Zealot; Judas the son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor.
Where Mark and Matthew have Thaddaeus, Luke and Acts have Judas the son of James. The usual explanation is that one man was known by two names — common enough in a bilingual setting — but the reconciliation is an inference from comparing lists, not a statement any Gospel makes.
Everything else is stable across the four: the order varies, the groupings of four stay the same, and Peter is always first, Judas Iscariot always last.
What the text says about each
| Apostle | What the New Testament reports | What is later tradition |
|---|---|---|
| Simon Peter | Fisherman from Bethsaida, brother of Andrew. Renamed Cephas, Aramaic for rock, in John 1:42. Speaks most, denies Jesus three times, preaches at Pentecost, leads in the early chapters of Acts | Bishop of Rome, crucified upside down. Both from later sources; the upside-down detail comes from the apocryphal Acts of Peter |
| Andrew | Peter's brother, a fisherman, first follows John the Baptist in John 1 | Preached around the Black Sea, martyred on an X-shaped cross. Tradition, and the cross shape is medieval |
| James son of Zebedee | Fisherman, brother of John, part of the inner group at the transfiguration. Killed by Herod in Acts 12:2 — the only apostle whose death the Bible records | Burial at Santiago de Compostela, a Spanish tradition from the ninth century |
| John | Brother of James, in the inner group. Traditionally identified with the beloved disciple of the Fourth Gospel | Author of the Gospel, three letters and Revelation; exile on Patmos; death at Ephesus. The Gospel does not name its author |
| Philip | From Bethsaida. Brings Nathanael to Jesus in John 1, appears in John 6, 12 and 14 | Martyrdom at Hierapolis. Note: the Philip of Acts 8 is a different man, one of the seven |
| Bartholomew | Named only in the lists | Usually identified with Nathanael of John 1 and John 21, which the text never states. Traditions place him in Armenia |
| Matthew | Called from a tax booth in Matthew 9, where he is named Matthew; the same scene in Mark and Luke names the man Levi | Author of the Gospel of Matthew, which is anonymous in the text itself |
| Thomas | Called Didymus, Greek for twin. Offers to go and die with Jesus in John 11, asks the question in John 14, doubts and then confesses in John 20 | Mission to India, martyrdom near Chennai. A strong and early tradition, held by the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, but not in the New Testament |
| James son of Alphaeus | Named only in the lists | Often identified with James the less of Mark 15:40 and sometimes with James the brother of Jesus, who led the Jerusalem church. Neither identification is stated in the text |
| Thaddaeus / Judas son of James | Named in the lists. In John 14:22 a Judas, "not Iscariot", asks a question | Mission to Armenia and Persia. Widely invoked as the patron of hopeless cases, a devotional development |
| Simon the Zealot | Named only in the lists. The epithet may indicate the Zealot movement or simply zeal for the law | Martyrdom in Persia or Britain, depending on the source |
| Judas Iscariot | Keeper of the money, betrays Jesus for silver. Matthew 27 and Acts 1 give different accounts of his death | The meaning of Iscariot is disputed: man of Kerioth, or a term related to the sicarii, or a nickname |
Matthias, and the ones who were not among the twelve
Acts 1 has the remaining eleven cast lots between two candidates and choose Matthias. He is never mentioned again in the New Testament.
Paul is not one of the twelve and never claims to be one; he calls himself an apostle on the basis of the Damascus road encounter. Barnabas is called an apostle in Acts 14. So the word is used more broadly than "the twelve", and the two categories should not be collapsed. There is more on this in who was Paul.
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What the word apostle means
The Greek apostolos means one who is sent: an envoy or delegate carrying the sender's authority. It is a functional word rather than a rank, which is why the New Testament can apply it to the twelve, to Paul, to Barnabas, and in Romans 16:7 to a pair called Andronicus and Junia, without any contradiction.
Where the traditions come from
The martyrdom accounts have identifiable sources, and they are not all of one kind. Some are early and restrained: Clement of Rome and Eusebius write about Peter and Paul within the first three centuries. Others come from a genre of apocryphal Acts composed in the second and third centuries — the Acts of Peter, of Andrew, of Thomas — which are adventure narratives written to make theological points, not chronicles. A tradition can be old, geographically specific and widely held, and still not be Scripture. Telling readers which is which is most of the work.
Why the number twelve
The number is deliberate. Twelve tribes, twelve apostles — a reconstitution of Israel is the point, and it is why Acts 1 treats replacing Judas as necessary before Pentecost. Once the church expands beyond Jerusalem, the New Testament stops keeping the roster full.
What the Bible does not tell you
It does not tell you how eleven of the twelve died. It does not tell you their ages, their appearance, whether most of them were married, or what happened to them after Acts moves its attention to Paul. Nine of the twelve do almost nothing in the narrative beyond being listed.
That silence is worth sitting with, because the confident biographies of each apostle you will find elsewhere are assembled from martyrdom accounts written centuries later, some of them clearly legendary. Reporting those traditions is fine. Presenting them as Scripture is not.
For a companion piece on the woman the Gospels place first at the tomb, see Mary Magdalene. To check any of the four lists yourself, they are two minutes apart in the Bible quiz or straight from Mark 3.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Who were the twelve apostles?
Simon Peter, Andrew, James son of Zebedee, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus (called Judas son of James in Luke and Acts), Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot.
Why do the lists of the apostles differ?
Mark and Matthew name Thaddaeus where Luke and Acts name Judas the son of James. The traditional explanation is that one man had two names, which is plausible in a bilingual setting but is not stated in any Gospel.
Which apostle's death is recorded in the Bible?
Only one. Acts 12:2 says Herod killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. Every other apostolic martyrdom account comes from later church tradition.
Was Peter really crucified upside down?
The New Testament does not say how Peter died. The upside-down crucifixion appears in the apocryphal Acts of Peter, a second-century text outside the canon, and was repeated by later writers.
Was Paul one of the twelve apostles?
No. Paul is never counted among the twelve and never claims to be. He calls himself an apostle on the basis of his encounter with the risen Jesus, and the New Testament also applies the word to Barnabas and others.
Scripture text: World English Bible (WEB), public domain. Prayers, introductions and reflections: original text by this site, not affiliated with any denomination. Devotional content; it does not replace medical, psychological or legal advice.
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