The Apostles without exception belonged to the working classes as they would be called to-day. There was no man of rank or distinction or of social consideration among them. Four of them, we know, were fishermen. One of them was a col- lector of taxes. The rest belonged to the same rank in life, and followed similar occupations. All of them knew what it was to labour to maintain themselves ; they were familiar with life as it pre- sents itself to the great body of mankind. There is no evidence that any of the Apostles was speci- ally distinguished by intellectual force. There was no man of genius among them : no original thinker ; no man dowered witli the imaginative faculty ; no man of great powers of organization. It does not appear that any of them had an un- usually impressive or attractive personality. As far as can be ascertained, they ■were all young men, about the same age as, or younger than, our Lord Himself. No man of middle life, no grey head was included in the circle. Variety of taste, temper, mode of life found full expression among the Apostles. No one was the same as another. Their experience of life had differed. Their anticipations of the future differed. Their habits of thought and action differed. Perhaps the only common elements were their piety and their devotion to Jesus. Such then were the Apostles. They were pious men belonging to the people, full of the plain .sense and judgment which mark the common man : slow to learn, but teachable ; free from social pre- judices ; untrammelled by any fixed systems of thought ; with keen eyes for character ; anxious to win the favour of Jesus.
The most discordant criticisms have been passed on the choice of the Apostles, many of these betraying a complete failure to ,/ra=ii tho cirf nnistances and facts of the case. The vindication I 111- \M-'iniu sliown in the selection is the future career and I ,1 - Ml tlie Twelve. In Judging it is necessary to bear i I Ml iii:it<Tialsat our Lord's command and the purposes V ill II III \\M in view. The man who realizes these has no ui.ln ulu 111 itppreciating and admiring the sagacity exhibited li\| Jcsils. Here, too, he will perceive that originality which marks His entire career. The Twelve would never have chosen one another. Had the selection been left to them individually
but Jesus Himself would ppear, of the motives by ■" suppose that
itantly swayed.
ersion to intellect, wealth, ranK, genius, ex- lives, or that He preferred fisliermen to and tax-collectors to priests. But He was equally free
But He wa • to believe that the i being supported by the highe
or to any two or tnree among them, the persons included would have been very different. Nobody have acted in disregard, as it would which men are C( our Lord had any
lawy
from the bias which leads
any movement depends on
classes, whether of intellect
fitriesa or e.iixu ity for the special objects He had in view. The
nn'iii'i- 'f -Hihf-rf-Titi; nt His command as Apostles was limited.
Ill I I I I II, :^- I'l.liscover men who could be taught and
I His character, aims, and labours, who
II llieir fellows, who could inform them
I II I as to the deeds ot mercy and power
I hi liefects and the limitations ot the
I 1,11' r Known to our Lord than they are to us
"1 it He called them despi
vithin His
APOSTLES
APOSTLES
105
ment and intemperate zeal were all before His eyes ; neverthe- less He summoned them to be His Apostles in the confidence that He could make them become the very men best fitted to discharge the duties connected with the establishment of the Kingdom of God. He had no false anticipations as to the kind of men the Twelve would prove : He cliose them knowing what they were and what they would become.
The Apostles were fwchc in number. The number was intended to he significant. Its im- port could not have been lost on the Twelve them- selves when they were lirst called, or on the multi- tude who witnessed their election. Our Lord was evidently thinking of the twelve tribes of Israel. Though ten of the tribes had largely disappeared, Israel still consisted ideally of twelve tribes, and the mission of the Messiah was to be to all the tribes of the nation. Hence the fitness of the number chosen by our Lord. There was one Apostle for each tribe. Nor should it be over- looked Itliat the employment of this number was a fresh claim on the part of Jesus to be the Messiah. His discijjles would argue thus : Who but the Messiah could venture to create a body or group of twelve disciples only? Nobody had done so before, no prophet, not even the Baptist. Jesus then must be the Messiah.
It has been suggested that the number twelve was, so to speak, accidental ; that our Lord did not choose a definite num- ber of disciples, but that He allowed all who desired to do so to remain beside Himself. The alleged choice of the Twelve is pro- nounced not historical. They chose 'our Lord, not He them. The Twelve is but a name for His closest and most devoted adherents. The only arguments advanced for this view are the silence of the Gospel of St. Matthew as to the selection of the Twelve, and the omission of the list of the Twelve from the Gospel of St. John. But St. Matthew furnishes a list of the Twelve, and therefore presupposes their selection. He assumes as self-evident that they had been appointed by our Lord. St. John not less than St. Matthew takes the selection of the Twelve (867. 70) tts known, and even makes our Lord refer to His ap- pointment of them (15^6). Xo assert that the Twelve attached themselves to our Lord gradually and spontaneously is to mis- read the tenor of the statements regarding them.