so, today, you're my recipient.
I took some 'rabbit trails' yesterday while studying the Bible, and ended up at a spot by writer Gene Edwards, retired pastor.
He says there were 20 apostles...not just the 12. Here's how it goes:
The 12 righteous men (all Jews, I think) trained by Jesus;
after He left, Paul trained another 8.
These men were all Gentiles and worked to build the church, for which we believers are a part of and thankful for today.
Titus, Timothy, Gaius, Aristarchus, Secundus, Sopater, Tychicus, and Trophemus. Later the eight were joined by Epaphroditus.
These were very young men, maybe just 'seekers' at the point they began with Paul. He mentored them, trained them to
travel into towns and cities and begin churches. All of them without formal education in a seminary, going as 'tentmakers', I suppose.
What must their parents and families have thought? They bucked the Roman, Jewish and Pharisaical authorities to establish European and Asian churches.
I'm grateful they persevered. Interesting book by Gene Edwards:
No comments:
Post a Comment