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The Deaths of the Apostles

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Kat:

I got this information from a website and thought it would be of interest to see how the apostles met their physical deaths.

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The apostles were continually threatened and pressured to deny their Lord during their ministry; especially as they faced torture and martyrdom. However, none of these men who spent time with Jesus chose to save their lives by denying their faith in Him.

All they had to do to escape martyrdom was to admit they had concocted a lie and simply deny their faith and claims about Jesus as God. It defies both common sense and the evidence of history that anyone, let alone a group of twelve men, would persist in proclaiming a lie when they could walk away by admitting that it was a fraud.

History reveals that not one of these men, who knew Jesus personally, ever denied their testimony about Him despite the threat and reality of imminent death. This proves to any fair-minded observer that these men possessed an absolute unshakable personal knowledge about the truth of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Each of the apostles were called upon to pay the ultimate price to prove their faith in Jesus, affirming with their life's blood that Jesus was the true Messiah, the Son of God, and the only hope of salvation for a sinful humanity.

Most of our information about the deaths of the apostles is derived from early church traditions. While tradition is unreliable as to small details, it very seldom contains outright inventions. Eusebius, the most important of the early church historians wrote his history of the early church in A.D. 325. He wrote, "The apostles and disciples of the Savior scattered over the whole world, preached the Gospel everywhere." The Church historian Schumacher researched the lives of the apostles and recounted the history of their martyrdoms.

Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.

Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.

Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.

John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.

Peter was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross, according to church tradition because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.

James the Just, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.

James the Greater, a son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.

Bartholomew, also know as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed to our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia when he was flayed to death by a whip.

Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it." He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.

The apostle Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the subcontinent.

Jude, the brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.

Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.

Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, wrote the Epistle of Barnabas. He preached throughout Italy and Cyprus. Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica.

The apostle Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.

The details of the martyrdoms of the disciples and apostles are found in traditional early church sources. These traditions were recounted in the writings of the church fathers and the first official church history written by the historian Eusebius in A.D. 325. Although we can not at this time verify every detail historically, the universal belief of the early Christian writers was that each of the apostles had faced martyrdom faithfully without denying their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Reference: Jeffrey, Grant R., "The Signature of God", Frontier Research Publications, Inc. (1996), p.254-257

mercy, peace, and love
Kat

iris:
Kat,

That was really interesting. I've wondered about that but have never before read or heard how the apostles met their death.
Being boiled in a basin of boiling oil sounds awful. AND HE SURVIVES IT!!!
Thanks for sharing this about the apostles.


Iris

Pax Vobiscum:
Not only the lives, but the deaths of those who walked with Jesus are a great testimony to His message. 

I must, however, take exception to one of the entries...

John the apostle and who is credited with writing the Fourth Gospel did not write the Book of Revelation.  At least, that is the conclusion of about a kajillion scholars and experts.  Occasionally, as appears to be the case here, the two Johns are confused.  Here is a possible explanation:

John, Son of Zebedee (Jesus' beloved apostle), is credited with a widely-circulated book called the Apocryphon of John.  In this book, the resurrected Jesus appears to the apostle and reveals secrets about the universe including the origin of the evil creator, Ialdabaoth (but that is another thread entirely!).  This is an apocryphal text as opposed to an apocalyptic text.

John the Divine is the name given to the writer of the Apocalypse, known as the Book of Revelation.  At first, when the Bible was being assembled, it was thought that the two Johns were one and the same.  Only later was there agreement that the two Johns were separate and the title "the Divine" added.

I do not wish to diminish the lives and deaths any followers of Jesus, but thought I'd try and clarify an oft-confused identity.

Peace

Jay:
Kat -

That was very interesting. I was never aware of how all of the desciples met their fate.

To know how God allows or pre-ordains His own chosen beloved children to suffer I just can't seem to make sense of and accept yet.
I myself am a father. I have children whom I love dearly. I would NEVER ordain them to harm or intense suffering. I would do all in my power to spare them. Because I love them. I guess I just don't understand God's love. I don't even understand why He has opened up these truths to me thus far. For instead of these things leading me to love Him more, its leading me to be afraid of Him. Certainly this cannot be what He wants, right? For then there's no security in God. You never know when He's gonna pull the rug out from under you for whatever "chastening" He determines is needful. Very scary. And to be scared of God is no better than the rest of Christendom with their "fire escape" religion of fearing the fires of hell so I better come to Christ. There's got to be a balance here somewhere. I just haven't been enlightened yet.

Peace,
Jay

Kat:

Hi Jay,

I think it is a question of trusting God.  We all have to suffer in this life. But if we are judged now, we will not be judged with the rest of the world in the Lake of Fire.

1Peter 4:16  But if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God because of this.
v. 17  For the time has come for the judgment to begin from the house of God. And if it first begins from us, what will be the end of those disobeying the gospel of God?
v. 18  And if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
v. 19  Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing, as to a faithful Creator.

The life of a believer can not expected to be easy with no trials, but I would much rather be one of those under God chastisement rather His wrath

Rom 2:5  But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
v. 6  who "will render to each one according to his deeds":
v. 7  eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

mercy, peace, and love
Kat

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