- The world "apostle" comes from the Greek word "apostolos," which means "to send forth" or "to dispatch." According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "apostolos" referred to someone entrusted with a foreign mission. It appears once in the Greek translation of the Bible's Old Testament but eighty times in the Bible's New Testament which was written in Greek. It was primarily used as a description of Christ's leading disciples. Since theologians believe Jesus and his followers spoke Aramaic, it is likely that Jesus used the Aramaic term "seliah," which meant someone sent on a foreign mission such as collecting tribute for the temple service.
- According to the Gospel of Luke in the Bible, Jesus had 70 disciples or students. Jesus chose 12 of these followers as his apostles and gave them the specific task of carrying his teachings, the Gospel, to the rest of the world. The original 12 disciples, also called the Twelve, were Peter, James, Philip, Thomas, John, Andrew, Bartholomew,Thaddaeus, Matthew, James the Less, Simon and Judas Iscariot. After Judas Iscariot allegedly betrayed Jesus and then committed suicide, the remaining 11 chose Matthias as his replacement. Some Christians believe that Jesus granted them the power to heal illness and cast out demons, but their main mission was preaching and testifying about Jesus and his teachings.
- Saul of Tarsus, also called Paul, was a Jewish nationalist sent by the chief priest to suppress the Christians living in Damascus, Syria. However, according to the Bible, when Jesus appeared and asked why Paul was persecuting him, Paul converted to Christianity. Paul spent the remainder of his life spreading Christianity to throughout Roman Empire. A number of his letters, or epistles, to various early Churches form a large portion of the New Testament. These include Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians and Philemon. Hebrews, Titus, First and Second Timothy, Ephesians and Second Thessalonians are traditionally attributed to Paul, however, modern scholars don't believe he actually wrote these.
- According to professor of religion Nick Gier, early Christian theologians such as St. Augustine and Hippolytus of Rome considered Jesus' follower Mary Magdalene the "apostle to the apostles" because she saw the resurrected Jesus and brought this good news to the 12 apostles. Some other apostles include Paul's companion Barnabas, a woman named Junia and her husband Andronicus. The early Christians who brought Christianity to other countries are also called apostles. Some of these include St. Boniface who brought Christianity to Germany, St. Patrick who brought Christianity to Ireland and St. Francis Xavier who brought Christianity to the Indies.