Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS
(2) There are several lists of 'the twelve':
Matt. 10.2-4
Simon Peter
Andrew his brother
James (son of
Zebedee)
John brother of
James
Philip
Bartholomew
Thomas
Matthew
James (son of
Alphaeus)
Thaddeus
Simon the Cananean
Judas Iscariot
Mark 3.16-19
Simon Peter
James (son of
Zebedee)
John brother of
James
Andrew
Philip
Bartholomew
Matthew
Thomas
James (son of
Alphaeus)
Thaddeus
Simon the Cananean
Judas Iscariot
Luke 6.14-16
Simon Peter
Andrew his
brother
James
John
Philip
Bartholomew
Matthew
Thomas
James (of
Alphaeus)
Simon the Zealot
Jude (of) James
Judas Iscariot
Peter
John
James
Andrew
Acts 1.13
Philip
Thomas
Bartholomew
Matthew
§13.3
James (of
Alphaeus)
Simon the Zealot
Jude (of) James
Again the variations are what we might expect in oral transmission: Simon Peter
is as firmly rooted at the top as Judas Iscariot is at the end, though Philip and
James (son of Alphaeus) also hold regular places at the head of the other two
groups of four; otherwise the order varies (even between the two Lukan lists) for
no obvious reason (beyond keeping Andrew with his brother). Most interesting is
the discrepancy among the third groups of four: Thaddeus (Matthew/Mark) or
Jude (of) James (Luke), 89 not to mention a certain degree of confusion as to who
is 'the son of Alphaeus' . 90 This suggests that the degree of fixity in the oral transmission
varied among the three groups of four, implying that the membership of
the third group was deemed less important than that of the other two and so was
ever, do observe numerical propriety (Matt. 28.16; Luke 24.9, 33; Acts 1.26). How little of any
of this can be attributed to Pauline influence is indicated by the total absence of any attempt to
resolve or ease the dilemma that 'the apostle Paul' (a designation on which Paul himself was
most insistent) was not one of the twelve apostles.
89. As is well known, John 14.22 attests a second Jude/(Judas). Pesch wonders whether
Jude was introduced to the list in order to secure apostolic authority for the author of the letter
of Jude (Markusevangelium 1.208). Meier ('Circle of Twelve' 648; Marginal Jew 3.131) and
Casey (Aramaic Sources 196) air the possibility that one early member of the twelve left the
group during Jesus' ministry and was replaced by another, though there is no hint of a replacement
prior to Acts 1.21.
90. Levi (Mark 2.14; Gos. Pet. 14.60) = Matthew (Matt. 9.9) or James (Mark 3.18 pars.;
Acts 1.13)?
508