Historians and New Testament scholars agree that the historical Jesus chose twelve disciples to follow him on his travels (1).

Why Twelve Disciples?

Although this article focuses primarily on the historical reasons for accepting Jesus’ choosing twelve disciples, it is also important to briefly discuss the significance of the number twelve.

That Jesus selected twelve disciples stood for much more than just a number and is informative about the statement he wanted to make to his audiences. In some ways, Jesus informed others about who he was through his actions and decisions, just as he did through his teachings.

The preferred explanation is Jesus’ intention to replicate the image of the twelve tribes of Israel, thus symbolically representing its restoration and unification. This goes back to the Old Testament, where the sons of Jacob form the twelve tribes of the nation (Genesis 42:13, 32; 49:28).

It also symbolically represents other factors: the twelve pillars of Israel (Exodus 24:4), twelve stones on the high priest’s breastplate (Exodus 39:14), twelve rams, lambs, bulls, or goats (Numbers 17:17), cutting a prostitute into twelve pieces (Judges 19:29), and more.

Further, twelve tribes were established after the Old Testament figure Joshua crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 4:1–20). The twelve disciples Jesus selected became, in effect, leaders of a new and faithful community (a continuity of the twelve tribes of Israel). Although tied to history, the twelve are also tied to continuity. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God and intended to direct Israel in a new direction.

Aside from symbolism, what historical justification is there for the historian to believe Jesus chose twelve disciples?

Multiple and Independent Attestation

Perhaps the most important evidence is that Jesus’ selection of twelve disciples is multiple and independently attested.

This criterion states that an event or saying appears in multiple sources that are near the time at which the event or saying is alleged to have occurred and that depend neither upon each other nor on a common source.

The twelve disciples are described in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, as well as the book of Acts (1:13). Material unique to Matthew (M = 11:1, 20:17, 26:20), Luke (L = 8:1, 18:31), and John (6:67, 70; 20:24) mention the twelve disciples, which provides three independent sources.

Independent of the gospels is Q, which is a non-extant hypothetical source that both the authors of Matthew and Luke had access to. In this case, Matthew 11:2–19 and Luke 9:57–60 constitute Q and make clear references to the disciples. Luke 10:2 mentions Jesus’ instructions for the disciples to travel from village to village to spread his teachings.

Another attestation is found in the Apostle Paul’s creed in 1 Corinthians 15:5, where he refers to “the Twelve.” This creed dates from anywhere between eighteen months and five years after Jesus’ crucifixion.

Historians are lucky to have two independent textual sources corroborating an event in ancient history, and for the twelve disciples, there are six independent sources. These are Q, Mark, L, M, John, and Paul.

Criterion of Embarrassment

According to the criterion of embarrassment, a saying or event is awkward or counter-productive for the person(s) who serves as the source of information for the saying or event.

The saying or event is therefore deduced to likely be historical because the author, who serves as the source of information, would not, or is very unlikely to, make up an embarrassing saying or event had it not actually occurred.

This is present in Jesus’ selection of the twelve disciples, most clearly given the inclusion of Judas, who always appears in the last slot in the catalog of names. According to the gospel tradition, Judas is remembered negatively for betraying Jesus for 30 silver coins, which led to Jesus’ arrest and the painful circumstances leading up to his crucifixion.

It is unlikely that the gospel authors would have made up this detail had there not really been a traitor in Jesus’ closest group, the group he set aside to accompany on his missions.

This would have been an embarrassment for Jesus and his early followers. After all, how could Jesus, the very Son of God and God incarnate, have made such an egregious error? Jesus, not his disciples, is responsible for selecting Judas, who would eventually betray him (2).

The Lack of Development

A final point is the lack of development of the named disciples. Despite their names, the historian knows very little about them. This is unusual if the early New Testament authors made them up or that they are a fabrication. If they had, one might expect more to be described about them and their activities. But this is not present.

References

1. Sanders, E. P. 1985. Jesus and Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. p. 373.

2. Cross, John Dominic. 1995. Who Killed Jesus? San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. p. 71.