HOW THE APOSTLES DIED
By Russell Earl Kelly PHD
February 9, 2020
1. PETER (Simon, Cephas in Aramaic,
Petros in Greek) was Andrew’s brother. He was crucified upside down in Rome (John
21:18-19). His name, “Petros,” means “little stone.” Upon his “great rock” “petra”
confession that Jesus is “the Christ the Son of the living God” the Church was
built (Matthew 16:16-18).
2. JAMES, SON OF ZEBEDEE, was the first
Apostle martyred. He was beheaded by King Herod near Palestine (Acts 12:2).
3. JOHN, SON OF
ZEBEDEE, was probably the youngest Apostle. He was the author of John (from
Ephesus), I John, 2 John, 3 John and Revelation (from prison in Patmos). He died
a natural death; served in Turkey.
4. ANDREW (Peter’s brother), was
probably the first Apostle to accept Jesus. He was crucified on an x-shaped
cross in Greece.
5. PHILIP: was impaled by iron hooks in
his ankles and hung upside down to die in Greece.
[Peter, Andrew, James, John and Philip were
fellow fishermen from the village of Bethsaida east of Capernaum on the Sea of
Galilee.]
6. MATTHEW/LEVI had
been a tax collector (publican) working for Rome in Jerusalem. He was impaled on
a stake and beheaded in Ethiopia.
7. THOMAS, the doubting Apostle, was
speared to death in India.
8. JUDE: who wrote Jude was crucified
by Magi in Persia.
9. BARTHOMOMEW/NATHANIEL
was whipped (flayed) to death in Armenia.
10. JAMES THE LESS was martyred in a
fashion similar to James, the half-brother of Jesus, who was thrown from the
pinnacle of the temple and then beaten to death.
11. SIMON the Zealot was crucified.
12. MATTHIAS, who replaced Judas Iscariot,
was stoned and then beheaded. While Matthias may not have been a true apostle because
he was not called by Christ (although he had probably seen Christ), we are
reminded that there were also 13 tribes in Israel because Joseph became Ephraim
and Manasseh.
13. PAUL (SAUL), from Tarsus in
Galatia, was beheaded in Rome. A true
Apostle, he personally saw Christ and was called by Christ. He called himself “an
apostle called out of due season” (1 Cor 15:8).
JAMES, THE HALF-BROTHER OF JESUS, was
not an apostle but was the first leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15 and
21). He was thrown some 100 feet off a wall and beat to death with clubs. He
was replaced by Simon, another half-brother of Jesus, who lived into the second
century. The church under Simon rejected Christ, became very legalistic and was
called The Elkasites, Ebionites and Nazarenes.
In my opinion this is the strongest
argument for the validity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ for those who
deny the Bible. It is inconceivable that Jesus’ apostles would have died as
martyrs if they had participated in a lie.
No comments:
Post a Comment