[and] Matthew and Thomas, James the [son] of Alphaeus and Simon who was called Zealot,
Two of the men named here could not be less alike: one collected taxes for Rome, the other joined a party sworn to drive Rome out. Luke tells no story about either — so why these names, and why so little?
The choice came at a turning point. One writer reads it as the Lord's public verdict on the scribes as teachers.
The moment had come for the selection of the twelve out of the company of His disciples. But before doing that, He went into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. That night of prayer Luke alone records. By choosing the twelve the Lord declared openly that He rejected the scribes as fit teachers of the truth He had come to give.
Three other lists of the twelve appear in Scripture.
We get a list of them in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the Acts. In each case Peter is first, and Judas last, except where Matthias takes his place. These little undesigned coincidences are very comforting, since they show what we believe so heartily — the full inspiration of the Scriptures. The names are grouped in three fours; twelve is a complete number. Philip is always the first of the second four, who are always grouped together, while James the son of Alphaeus is always the first of the last four.
This Matthew appears earlier in Luke under a different name and a different job.
The son of Alphaeus and one of the twelve apostles. He was a tax collector for the Romans, called 'publican' in the older translation. He left his office as soon as the Lord called him, and he gave Him a feast. Everyone accepts that he wrote the gospel that bears his name… He is called LEVI in Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27, 29.
His trade carried a heavy social cost.
The Jews deeply resented paying taxes to the Romans, and they counted the collectors unworthy of any respect. This is why 'publicans and sinners' are often classed together. The religious people mocked the Lord for entering their houses. They sneered, calling Him "a friend of tax collectors and sinners." But God's grace was for all, and Matthew was called from his tax office to be one of the apostles.
His name is a description, and one writer supplies nearly all we know of him.
The name Thomas means "a twin," and so does Didymus, the name John uses for him three times. After his call and appointment, only John tells us anything about him. When the Lord spoke of going to Bethany, Thomas said to the other disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16). The Lord was teaching the apostles that He would soon leave, and that they knew the way. Thomas broke in: "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" (John 14:5). His refusal to believe the news of the resurrection has become proverbial (John 20:24-31).
He is named in every list of the twelve and nowhere else for certain. Whether a later James in Acts is the same man is not settled.
These are the only passages where this apostle is spoken of with certainty. But Acts shows a James at Jerusalem after the death of the son of Zebedee, and he holds something like first place there. At the conference about not enforcing the law on the Gentiles, he spoke with a measure of authority. This suggests he was an apostle, the son of Alphaeus, and most probably the writer of the Epistle of James.
Luke's word for this Simon is a translation, not a new title.
In "Zealot" we have the substitution of a Greek name for a Hebrew one. Matthew 10:4 has "Cananaean." The Zealots were the most extreme and violent of the Pharisees. The Jewish historian states that they originated in Galilee.
The party looked back to a hero of Israel's past, and its record ended in disgrace.
They stood out for their fierce defence of the ritual law given through Moses. They saw themselves as the successors of Phinehas, the priest who killed Zimri and Cozbi in zeal for the honour of God (Numbers 25). Pretending to the same zeal, they took to themselves the right to put to death a blasphemer, an adulterer, or any notorious offender, without the ordinary forms of law… But their zeal soon sank into every kind of immorality and wild excess. They became the pests of every class of society.
- Prayer first. The Lord prayed all night before naming the twelve. That choice declared the scribes unfit to teach His truth.
- Order kept. In all four lists Peter comes first and Judas last. James the son of Alphaeus always heads the final group. Such small agreements point to the full inspiration of Scripture.
- Grace reaches down. Matthew collected taxes for Rome, and Jews classed such men with sinners. He left the desk at once, and he wrote a Gospel.
- Grace reaches across. Simon came from the opposite extreme — a party that claimed the zeal of Phinehas and put offenders to death without trial. Both men followed the same Master.
- Silence is not failure. Of Thomas we hear only through John; of James and Simon, almost nothing at all. What marks them is being chosen, not being written about.
[and] Judas [brother] of James, and Judas Iscariote, who was also [his] betrayer;
The list of the twelve closes with two men who share a name. One is known by his link to James. The other is marked forever by what he did to his Master. The verse raises a hard question: how could a traitor stand in that chosen company?
Luke separates the two by adding a family link to the first. That link is also how John keeps them apart when this quieter apostle finally speaks.
From Matthew we learn that Lebbaeus was surnamed Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3), while Luke, in his Gospel and in the Acts, gives a further name of this apostle, that is, Judas [the son or brother] of James. John records a question of his, and marks him off from the traitor of the same name: "Judas (not Iscariot) says to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" (John 14:22). There is no further reference to him by name in the New Testament.
The Greek says only "Judas of James." There is no word for son or brother, so translators must choose. Commentators differ, and one writer links the choice to the letter of Jude and warns against settling it too fast.
If we hold the contrary opinion — that the writer was an apostle — then we must translate the idiom in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 as the Authorised Version does: "Jude [the brother] of James," to agree with Jude 1. The Revised Version has instead "Jude [the son] of James." And yet in an earlier case the same idiom comes out as "James [the son] of Alpheus." So the identification calls for patient discrimination, not hasty dogmatism.
The wording about Iscariot is precise. The Greek verb describes something that developed, not a label fixed on him from the start.
"Judas," so John 14:22. The same, it is supposed, as Matthew's "Thaddeus," "was the"; American Revisers rightly "became a" (or, "proved," ἐγένετο).
The choice was not an oversight. The One who made it already knew the man.
Among the twelve is Judas the traitor. He was called to be an apostle so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. The Lord knew him from the beginning. He was not a believer in the Deity of our Lord; Judas never called Him Lord. A very old commentary gives the following suggestion: "Judas is chosen so that the Lord might have an enemy among His attendants. For a man is perfect when he has no reason to fear the watching eye of a wicked man who knows all his ways."
We may not see the reason. The choice was still right.
Among the twelve was Judas Iscariot. Why he was there seems mysterious to us. The Lord chose him, however, and so his selection was right. No mistake was made after that night of prayer.
The Psalms had already spoken of the betrayal. The eleven still never saw it coming.
The New Testament points us to three different Psalms (Ps. 41; 69; 109) as applying to him... His treachery, then, was distinctly the subject of prophecy; and he was chosen among the twelve so that the word of God might be fulfilled (John 13:18). Yet who ever looked for a traitor in that company?... They asked among themselves who would do it. The question, "Is it I?" came from each one. It showed they could not imagine that any of their number could be guilty of such baseness and wickedness.
Luke names the twelve two by two, and the final pair is striking — the man who would write about apostasy stands beside the man who committed it.
In Mark 6:7 we read that the Lord sent out the twelve two by two. In Luke 6:14-16 the apostles come in pairs. Put the two together, and we learn something striking: Judas Iscariot, the first apostate from Christ, went out on that mission with Jude — the very prophet whose message would be the Christian apostasy. This is all the more remarkable because Simon is coupled with his brother Andrew, and James with his brother John. Jude, though, is parted from his own brother, James the less, whose name is always joined with his earlier, and is placed with the Iscariot.
Nearness to Christ is not the same as belonging to Him, and Judas is the measure of the gap.
It was a test of man in new circumstances. He was a "familiar friend" (Ps. 41:9) of the Lord Jesus. He heard His gracious words, saw His miracles, and was likely allowed to work miracles himself in His name. And yet, as in every other test of man, he fell. Judas is a solemn instance of how far a person may be under the influence and power of Christianity, and yet become an apostate.
- Named — Two Judases close the list: one identified by James, one by his act. Scripture takes care to keep them apart.
- Disputed — Is the first the son or the brother of James? The wording leaves it open, so the point calls for care, not quick certainty.
- Became — Iscariot is not called a traitor by birth. The word means he turned into one.
- Chosen — He was picked after a night of prayer, by One who knew him from the beginning, so that Scripture would be fulfilled. No mistake was made.
- Warning — A man can hear the words, see the miracles, carry the name, and still fall. Position among the twelve saved nobody.