What Happened Next?
How the amazing lives of the Apostles carried them into history, legend and distant lands
It was a dark night for the disciples of Jesus. The man they believed to be the Messiah had just died the brutal and humiliating death of a criminal on a cross. One question faced them: what would they do now? If the story of Jesus and his disciples ended with them retiring to quiet lives we might only know of Jesus as just another of the religious prophets of the 1st century whose cults went nowhere. Instead, improbably, miraculously, this band of Apostles helped spread a religious movement that has shaped history and is today followed by around 2.6 billion people. To make sense of how Christianity got here we must look at the extraordinary lives of those who knew Jesus in the flesh.
Where did Jesus die?
Most historians are satisfied that
Jesus was a real historical figure that lived, preached and died in the early decades of the 1st century. The Gospels of the New Testament give us the fullest picture of Jesus’ ministry, but these were written decades after his death. There are no contemporaneous documents that attest to his existence, but then this is true of most people who lived during that period.
The earliest texts that mention Jesus are most likely the Pauline Epistles of the New Testament. These letters may have been written as early as the 50s CE. 1 Corinthians, written by St Paul, already mentions “Christ crucified”. Since the idea of the son of God being put to death is described by Paul as a “stumbling block” in getting people to follow Jesus it is unlikely that his followers would invent the fact of his crucifixion. Because of this we can say with some certainty that Jesus was indeed put to death on a cross in Jerusalem.
Who were the Apostles?
The Gospels of the New Testament and the Acts of the Apostles describe a core of 12 followers of Jesus that were closest to him. These are the men most commonly called Apostles, though the term is occasionally applied to others in the Bible. The word derives from Greek, meaning “one who is sent off”.
Discussing the Apostles, however, brings up the issue of who exactly they were. The Gospels give differing lists of the 12 Apostles. All four agree that Simon, Peter, Andrew, James son of
Zebedee, John, Philip, Thomas and Judas Iscariot were among the disciples. The Gospel of John differs from the other three gospels, however, by either not mentioning several of the Apostles or using different names. Most Christian sects have reconciled the differences between the lists by saying different names were used for the same person.
In the Gospel of Matthew it says that after a night of prayer “Jesus summoned his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” These were activities that would require the physical presence of the Apostles. In the Gospel of Mark Jesus sends the Apostles out in pairs, telling them: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.” The Apostles were to lead a peripatetic existence both while with Jesus and after his death.
As W Brian Shelton, professor of theology and author of Quest for the Historical Apostles: Tracing Their Lives and Legacies (Baker Academic, 2019) tells us, they were set on their various paths by Jesus himself. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus commands the Apostles to “make disciples of all nations”. Shelton states: “The journeys of the Apostles after the Book of Acts are significant because they represent the impetus of the Apostles and a global expansion of the church.”
After the end
In the New Testament the crucifixion is not the end of Jesus’ story – his resurrection is the most important ‘fact’ in Christian faith. Unfortunately, miraculous events fall outside of the historian’s remit. All that can be said is that early Christians believed Jesus had triumphed over death. St Paul referenced the resurrection in his letters, as do the Gospels.
One of the first things Jesus is said to have done after his return was to show himself to his followers in Jerusalem. According to the Book of Acts, which records the actions of the disciples,
Jesus remained with his followers for 40 days before ascending into heaven. It is then left to Peter to pick a replacement Apostle in place of the treacherous Judas.
Though the death of the charismatic leader usually leads to the decline of a religious movement the Apostles believed they had been given proof that he really was the son of God. “These disciples of Jesus had walked with the Messiah, witnessed his miracles and resurrection, gained inspiration from his teaching and found transformation in their own lives,” says Shelton.
They were given further proof when, during Pentecost, it is said that tongues of fire descended on them and they were given the power to speak all the languages. This would supposedly prove useful in their later travels, though we are told some people at the time were unimpressed with this new linguistic ability. They scoffed at the disciples and said: “They’ve had too much wine.”
The Book of Acts is a fascinating document that reveals much about the lives of the early Christians. We are told that they met together for prayer, broke bread together and lived together. Those who followed the Apostles are said to have sold their property and laid their money at the feet of their leaders so that all things could be shared among them. Unfortunately, the early Christians and the Apostles would not be able to stay in Jerusalem forever.
Persecution and dispersal
Jesus had been put to death for causing trouble for both the Jewish and Roman authorities, and a group of people hoping to further his message was unlikely to be looked on favourably. We are told of several Apostles being arrested, but the harassment of the early Christians did not stop there.
The first of the Apostles to die, other than Judas, was Stephen. Dragged before the Sanhedrin he was sentenced to death and stoned. One of those watching his execution was Saul, who would later become St Paul after his conversion on the road to Damascus. The Book of Acts describes how a great persecution then erupted. King Herod had Peter arrested and put in jail, and only the intervention of an angel freed him. Peter, it is said, “departed and went to another place.” He had good reason to make himself scarce since martyrdom was not yet a clear-cut method of becoming a saint.
While those who left Jerusalem spread the word of Jesus, the Apostles who remained still had to decide exactly what that word was. Some felt that converts to Christianity first had to become Jewish, but Paul seems to have not required this. The first controversy of the church that was settled by a council involved several of the Apostles meeting in Jerusalem to decide if converted followers of Jesus had to be circumcised. This matter was important because the Apostles had begun to win converts in non-jewish areas. The settling of the matter also reveals much about the structure of the early church. The Apostles voice their opinions in turn and a letter was sent to the Christians in Antioch who had first raised the matter. Letters and council decisions would long play a role in administering the church.
Last to speak in this first council was James the Just, also known as the brother of Jesus. According to the historian
“The Apostles were to lead a peripatetic existence both while with Jesus and after his death”