Luke 6:13-17

a. In the execution, as in the choice, of this important measure, Jesus no doubt submitted Himself to divine direction. His numerous disciples spent the night not far from the mountain-top to which He withdrew. During this lengthened communion, He presented them all, one by one, to His Father; and God's finger pointed out those to whom He was to entrust the salvation of the world. When at last all had been made perfectly clear, towards morning He called them to Him, and made the selection which had thus been pre-arranged. The καί, also, indicates that the title proceeded from Jesus, as well as the commission. Schleiermacher thought that this nomination was made simply in reference to the following discourse, of which these twelve were to be the official hearers, and that the name apostles (Luke 6:13, “whom He also named apostles”) might have been given them on some other occasion, either previous or subsequent. The similar expression relative to Peter, Luke 6:14, might favour this latter opinion. Nevertheless, it is natural to suppose that He entitled them apostles when He first distinguished them from the rest of the disciples, just as He gave Simon the surname Peter when He met him for the first time (John 1). And if these twelve men had been chosen to attend Jesus officially simply on this occasion, they would not be found the same in all the catalogues of apostles. The fact of this choice is expressly confirmed by Mark (Mark 3:13-14), and indirectly by John (John 6:70): “ Have not I chosen you twelve (ἐξελεξάμην)?”

The function of the apostles has often been reduced to that of simple witnesses. But this very title of apostles, or ambassadors, expresses more, comp. 2 Corinthians 5:20, “ We are ambassadors for Christ...; and we beseech you to be reconciled to God. ” When Jesus says, “ I pray for them who shall believe on me through their word,” the expression their word evidently embraces more than the simple narration of the facts about Jesus and His works.

The marked prominence which Luke, together with Mark, gives to the choosing of the Twelve, is the best refutation of the unfair criticism which affects to discover throughout his work indications of a design to depreciate them.

According to Keim (t. ii. p. 305), the choice of the Twelve must have taken place later on, at the time of their first mission, Luke 9:1 et seq. It is then, in fact, that Matthew gives the catalogue, Luke 10:1 et seq. His idea is that Luke imagined this entire scene on the mountain in order to refer the choosing of the apostles to as early a period as possible, and thus give a double and triple consecration to their authority, and that thus far Mark followed him. But Luke, he believes, went much further still. Wanting to put some discourse into the mouth of Jesus on this occasion, he availed himself for this purpose of part of the Sermon on the Mount, though it was a discourse which had nothing in common with the occasion. Mark, however, rejected this amplification, but with the serious defect of not being able to assign any adequate reason for the choosing of the apostles at this time. Thus far Keim.

But, 1. The preface to the account of the first apostolic mission in Matthew (Matthew 10:1), “and having called to Him the twelve disciples, He gave them...,” does away with the idea of their having been chosen just at this time, and implies that this event had already taken place. According to Matthew himself, the college of the Twelve is already in existence; Jesus calls them to set them to active service. 2. A scene described in such solemn terms as that of Luke (Jesus spending a night in prayer to God), cannot be an invention on his part, consistently with the slightest pretensions to good faith. 3. The narrative of Mark is an indisputable confirmation of Luke's; for it is independent of it, as appears from the way, so completely his own, in which he defines the object of choosing the apostles. 4. We have seen how exactly this measure was adapted to that stage of development which the work of Jesus had now reached. 5. Does not rationalistic criticism condemn itself, by attributing to Luke here the entire invention of a scene designed to confer the most solemn consecration on the apostolic authority of the Twelve, and by asserting elsewhere that this same Luke labours to depreciate them (the Tübingen school, and, to a certain extent, Keim himself; see on Luke 9:1)?

The four catalogues of apostles (Matthew 10:2 et seq.; Mark 3:16 et seq.; Luke 6; and Acts 1:13) present three marks of resemblance: 1 st. They contain the same names, with the exception of Jude the son of James, for whom in Mark Thaddaeus is substituted, and in Matthew Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddaeus (according to the received reading), Thaddaeus (according to א. B.), Lebbaeus (according to D.). 2 d. These twelve are distributed in the four lists into three groups of four each, and no individual of either of these groups is transferred to another. We may conclude from this that the apostolical college consisted of three concentric circles, of which the innermost was in the closest relations with Jesus. 3 d. The same three apostles are found at the head of each quaternion, Peter, Philip, and James.

Besides this quaternary division, Matthew and Luke indicate a division into pairs, at least (according to the received reading, in Luke, and certainly in Matthew) for the last eight apostles. In the Acts, the first four apostles are connected with each other by καί; the remaining eight are grouped in pairs.

Luke places at the head of them the two brothers, Simon and Andrew, with whom Jesus became acquainted while they were with the Forerunner (John 1). At the first glance, Jesus had discerned that power of taking the lead, that promptness of view and action, which distinguished Peter He pointed him out at the time by the surname כ 5, in Aramaean כֵיפָא, Cephas (properly a mass of rock), as he on whom He would found the edifice of His Church. If the character of Peter was weak and unstable, he was none the less for that the bold confessor on whose testimony the Church was erected in Israel and among the heathen (Acts 2:10). There is nothing in the text to indicate that this surname was given to Peter at this time. The aor. ὠνόμασε indicates the act simply, without reference to time. The καί merely serves to express the identity of the person (Luke 6:16).

Andrew was one of the first believers. At the time when Jesus chose the Twelve, he was no doubt appointed at the same time as Peter; but he gradually falls below James and John, to whom he appears to have been inferior; he is placed after them in Mark and in the Acts. The order followed by Luke indicates a very primitive source. Andrew is very often found associated with Philip (John 6:7-9; John 12:21-22). In their ordinary life, he formed the link between the first and the second group, at the head of which was Philip.

The second pair of the first group is formed by the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. Mark supplies (Luke 3:17) a detail respecting them which is full of interest: Jesus had surnamed them sons of thunder. This surname would have been offensive had it expressed a fault; it denoted, therefore, rather the ardent zeal of these two brothers in the cause of Jesus, and their exalted affection for His person. This feeling which burned within their hearts, came forth in sudden flashes, like lightning from the cloud. John 1:42 contains a delicate trace of the calling of James; this, therefore, must have taken place while he was with John the Baptist, immediately after that of his brother. James was the first martyr from the number of the apostles (Acts 12). This fact is only to be explained by the great influence which he exerted after Pentecost. John was the personal friend of Jesus, who doubtless felt Himself better understood by him than by any of the others. Whilst the other disciples were especially impressed by His miracles, and stored up His moral teaching, John, attracted rather by His person, treasured up in his heart those sayings in which Jesus unfolded His consciousness of Himself.

Wieseler has tried to prove that these two brothers were first-cousins of Jesus, by Salome, their mother, who would have been the sister of the Virgin Mary. Comp. Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40, with John 19:25. But this interpretation of the passage in John is hardly natural.

The second quaternion, which no doubt comprised natures of a second order, contained also two pairs. The first consists, in all three Gospels, of Philip and Bartholomew. In the Acts, Philip is associated with Thomas. Philip was the fifth believer (John 1); he was originally from Bethsaida, as were also the preceding four. John 6:5 seems to show that Jesus was on terms of special cordiality with him.

The name Bartholomew signifies son of Tolmai; it was therefore only a surname. It has long been supposed that the true name of this apostle was Nathanael. John 21:2, where Nathanael is named amongst a string of apostles, proves unquestionably that he was one of the Twelve. Since, according to John 1, he had been drawn to Jesus by Philip, it is natural that he should be associated with him in the catalogues of the apostles.

Matthew and Thomas form the second pair of the second group in the three Syn., whilst in the Acts Matthew is associated with Bartholomew. One remarkable circumstance, all the more significant that it might easily pass unperceived, is this, that whilst in Mark and Luke Matthew is placed first of the pair, in our first Gospel he occupies the second place. Further, in this Gospel also, the epithet the publican is added to his name, which is wanting in the two others. Are not these indications of a personal participation, more or less direct, of the Apostle Matthew in the composition of the first Gospel? Having been formerly a toll-collector, Matthew must have been more accustomed to the use of the pen than his colleagues. It is not surprising, therefore, that he should be the first among them who felt called to put into writing the history and instructions of Jesus. The account of his calling implies that he possessed unusual energy, decision, and strength of faith. Perhaps it was for that reason Jesus saw fit to associate him with Thomas, a man of scruples and doubts. The name of the latter signifies a twin. The circumstances of his call are unknown. He was doubtless connected with Jesus first of all as a simple disciple, and then his serious character attracted the attention of the Master. If the incident Luke 9:59-60 was not placed so long after the Sermon on the Mount, we might be tempted with some writers to apply it to Thomas.

The third quaternion contains the least striking characters in the number of the Twelve. All these men, however, not excepting Judas Iscariot, have had their share in the fulfilment of the apostolic task, the transmission of the holy figure of the Christ to the Church through all time. The stream of oral tradition was formed by the affluents of all these sources together. The last pair comprises here, as in the Acts, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot. But the distribution is different in the two other Syn.

It has been generally allowed since the fourth century that this James is the person so often mentioned, in the Acts and the Galatians, as the brother of the Lord, the first head of the flock at Jerusalem. This identity is made out, (1) by applying to him the passage Mark 15:40, according to which his surname would have been the less or the younger (relatively to James the son of Zebedee), and his mother would have been a Mary, whom, according to John 19:25, we should have to regard as a sister (probably sister-in-law) of the mother of Jesus; (2) by identifying the name of his father Alphaeus with the name Clopas (חלפי = Κλωπᾶς), which was borne, according to Hegesippus, by a brother of Joseph; (3) by taking the term brother in the sense of cousin (of the Lord). But this hypothesis cannot, in our judgment, be maintained: (1) The word ἀδελφός, brother, used as it is by the side of μήτηρ, mother (“ the mother and brethren of Jesus ”), can only signify brother in the proper sense. The example often cited, Genesis 13:8, when Abraham says to Lot, “ We are brethren,” is not parallel. (2) John says positively (Luke 7:5) that the brethren of Jesus did not believe on Him, and this long after the choice of the Twelve (John 6:70). This is confirmed by Luke 8:19 et seq.; comp. with Mark 3:20-35. One of them could not, therefore, be found among His apostles. A comparison of all the passages leads us to distinguish, as is generally done at the present day, three Jameses: the first, the son of Zebedee (Luke 6:14); the second, the son of Alphaeus indicated here, whom there is nothing to prevent our identifying with James the less, the son of Clopas and Mary, and regarding him as the first-cousin of Jesus; the third, the brother of the Lord, not a believer before the death of Jesus, but afterwards first bishop of the flock at Jerusalem.

The surname Zealot, given to Simon, is probably a translation of the adj. kanna (in the Talmud, kananit), zealous. If this be correct, this apostle belonged to that fanatical party which brought about the ruin of the people, by leading them into war against the Romans. This sense corresponds with the epithet Κανανίτης, which is applied to him in the Byz. reading of Matthew and Mark, confirmed here by the authority of the Sinait. This name is simply the Hebrew term, translated by Luke, and Hellenized by Matthew and Mark. The reading Καναναῖος in some Alex. may signify either Canaanite or citizen of Cana. This second etymology is not very probable. The first would be more so, if in Matthew 15:22 this word, in the sense of Canaanite, were not written with an X instead of a K. Luke has therefore given the precise meaning of the Aramaean term employed in the document of which he availed himself (Keim, t. ii. p. 319).

The last pair comprises the two Judes. There were in fact two men of this name in the apostolic college, although Matthew and Mark mention but one, Judas Iscariot. This is very clear from John 14:22: “ Judas, not Iscariot, saith to Him. ” The names Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus, in Matthew and Mark, are therefore surnames, derived, the former from לֵב, H4213, heart, the latter either from תד, mamma, or from שׁדי, potens. The name Thaddaï is of frequent occurrence in the Talmud. These surnames were probably the names by which they were usually designated in the Church. The genitive ᾿Ιακώβου must, according to usage, signify son of James; this was to distinguish this Judas from the next. With the desire to make this apostle also a cousin of Jesus, the phrase has frequently been translated brother of James, that is to say, of the son of Alphaeus, mentioned Luke 6:15. But there is no instance of the genitive being used in this sense. In the 14th verse, Luke himself thought it necessary to use the full expression, τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ. And would not the two other Syn., who join Lebbaeus immediately to James, have indicated this relationship?

As there was a town called Kerijoth in Judaea, it is probable that the name Iscariot signifies a man of Kerijoth (at the present day Kuriut), towards the northern boundary of Judaea. The objections which De Wette has raised against this etymology are without force. He proposes, with Lightfoot, the etymology ascara, strangulation. Hengstenberg prefers isch schéker, man of falsehood, from which it would follow that this surname was given post eventum. These etymologies are all the more untenable, that in the fourth Gospel, according to the most probable reading (᾿Ισκαριώτου, John 6:71 and elsewhere), this surname Iscariot must have been originally that of the father of Judas. The character of this man appears to have been cold, reserved, and calculating. He was so very reserved that, with the exception perhaps of John, none of the disciples guessed his secret hatred. In the coolness of his audacity, he ventured to cope with Jesus Himself (John 12:4-5). With what motive did Jesus choose a man of this character? He had spontaneously joined himself, as did so many others, to the number of His disciples; there was therefore a germ of faith in him, and perhaps, at the outset, an ardent zeal for the cause of Jesus. But there also existed in him, as in all the others, the selfish views and ambitious aspirations which were almost inseparable from the form which the Messianic hope had taken, until Jesus purified it from this alloy. In the case of Judas, as of all the others, it was a question which of the two conflicting principles would prevail in his heart: whether faith, and through this the sanctifying power of the spirit of Jesus, or pride, and thereby the unbelief which could not fail eventually to result from it. This was, for Judas, a question of moral liberty. As for Jesus, He was bound to submit in respect to him, as in respect to all the others, to God's plan. On the one hand, He might certainly hope, by admitting Judas into the number of His apostles, to succeed in purifying his heart, whilst by setting him aside He might irritate him and estrange him for ever. On the other hand, He certainly saw through him sufficiently well to perceive the risk He ran in giving him a place in that inner circle which He was about to form around His person. We may suppose, therefore, that, during that long night which preceded the appointment of the Twelve, this was one of the questions which engaged His deepest solicitude; and certainly it was not until the will of His Father became clearly manifest, that He admitted this man into the rank of the Twelve, notwithstanding His presentiment of the heavy cross He was preparing for Himself (John 6:64; John 6:71). Still, even Judas fulfilled his apostolic function; his despairing cry, “ I have betrayed the innocent blood! ” is a testimony which resounds through the ages as loudly as the preaching of Peter at Pentecost, or as the cry of the blood of James, the first martyr.

The καί, also, after ὅς (Luke 6:16), omitted by some authorities, is perhaps taken from the two other Syn. If it is authentic, it is intended to bring out more forcibly, through the identity of the person, the contradiction between his mission and the course he took.

Surrounded by the Twelve and the numerous circle of disciples from which He had chosen them, Jesus descends from the summit of the mountain. Having reached a level place on its slopes, He stops; the crowd which was waiting for Him towards the foot of the mountain, ascends and gathers about Him. Τόπος πεδινός, a level place on an inclined plane. Thus the alleged contradiction with the expression, the mountain, in Matthew disappears (see above).

The ἔστη, He stood still, in opposition to having come down, does not in any way denote the attitude of Jesus during the discourse. There is therefore no contradiction between this expression and Matthew's, having sat down.

What are we to say of the discovery of Baur, who thinks that, by substituting having come down, Luke 6:16, for He went up, Matthew 5:1, Luke intended to degrade the Sermon on the Mount!