The Bible : New Testament

The Twelve Apostles

	Peter		Andrew		James the Greater		James the Lesser
	John		Philip		Bartholomew		Matthew
	Thomas		Thaddeus		Simon		Judas Iscariot

James the Greater was the son of Zebedee and the brother of his fellow apostle, John.

Chosen to replace Judas as an apostle, after the betrayal

Matthias

The Four Evangelists

... are, in the order in which their Gospels appear in the Bible – each with the symbol that's traditionally used to represent him:

	Matthew		Winged man (or Angel)			Mark		Winged lion
	Luke		Winged ox or bull			John		Eagle

The symbols, as used in traditional iconography, originate in the four so–called "living beings" that are described in the Book of Revelation as appearing in St. John's vision. These reflect (with some differences) a similar vision of God's throne–bearers, as witnessed by the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel.

Other

Signified by the gifts of the three wise men:

Gold		Kingship
Frankincense		Divinity
Myrrh		Mortality

Used to feed the 5,000	Number of loaves		5
	Number of fishes		2

The fee that Judas received for betraying Jesus to the Roman soldiers with a kiss		30 pieces of silver
The Number of the Beast (Revelation)		666

Jesus's last words, according to John's Gospel			'It is finished'
Husband and wife that were struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit about money (in Acts)			Ananias
			Sapphira
Final battle between God and Satan, or between all the nations (according to the Book of Revelation)			Armageddon
Roman emperor at the time of the nativity – ordered the census that took Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem (the ancestral home of the house of David, to which Joseph belonged)			Augustus
Thief released by Pilate in preference to Jesus			Barabbas
Promises of coming blessings in the Sermon on the Mount			Beatitudes
Home town of Mary, Martha and Lazarus			Bethany
High priest of the Jews, to whom Jesus was taken after his arrest			Caiaphas
The wedding at which Jesus turned the water into wine was at			Cana
Saul (St. Paul) was blinded by a vision of Jesus, on the road to			Damascus
Revelation: rider of the pale horse (this is the only one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that is actually named in Revelation)			Death
Thieves crucified with Jesus			Dismas, Gestas
Name (essentially a Latin word meaning 'a rich man') traditionally given to the rich man in the parable of 'the rich man and the poor man named Lazarus' in Luke's gospel			Dives
Mother of John the Baptist, said by St. Luke to have been "related" to the Virgin Mary (traditionally described as her cousin); Mary went to attend to her after the Annunciation (she was pregnant at the time)			Elizabeth
The angel who appeared to Zechariah and the Virgin Mary, according to the Gospel of Luke, foretelling the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, respectively			Gabriel
Livestock that jumped over a cliff and drowned in a lake, after Jesus cast the devils of a madman into them			Gadarene swine
Jesus was betrayed and arrested in the			Garden of Gethsemane
Hill where Jesus was crucified – meaning 'place of skulls'			Golgotha
Parable that begins at Luke 10:30: "And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves ... "			Good Samaritan
King of Judea at the time of Jesus's birth; ordered the execution of John the Baptist, and the so–called Massacre of the Innocents (the killing of all male children under the age of two years in the vicinity of Bethlehem)			Herod
Mother of Salome, by her first husband Herod II (divorced him and married his half–brother Herod Antipas)			Herodias
Latin abbreviation of the inscription written by Pontius Pilate, according to John's gospel, on Jesus's cross, meaning "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" (Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum)			INRI
Well named in John 4:6, where Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for water (believed to be on the land bought by Jacob, as mentioned in Genesis 33:18–20)			Jacob's Well
The other apostles, apart from Simon (Peter) and Andrew, who were brothers			James & John
Father of the Virgin Mary			Joachim
Son of Elizabeth and Zacharias; revered in the Christian church as the forerunner of Jesus, by whom the latter was baptised in the River Jordan			John the Baptist
Beheaded by Herod Antipas, for publicly criticising the latter's marriage to Herodias (because both parties were divorced)
Removed Jesus's body from the Cross and arranged the burial (see also Nicodemus)			Joseph of Arimathea
Took place in a room called the Cenacle			Last Supper
Brother of Mary and Martha, raised from the dead by Jesus			Lazarus
John 11:35 – the shortest verse in the Bible: Jesus wept for
Matthew 6:9–13, also Luke 11:2–4; sometimes known as the Pater noster			The Lord's Prayer
The root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10)			The Love of Money
Traditional collective name for the three wise men			Magi
Woman who became a follower of Jesus, after he cast seven demons out of her; first to see Jesus after the Resurrection, and the first to testify to it; Jesus said "Noli me tangere" (touch me not) to			Mary Magdalene
The Book of Acts tells how St. Paul was shipwrecked on (Mediterranean island)			Malta
Jesus ascended into Heaven from			Mount of Olives
Pharisee who supported Jesus against the other Pharisees and helped Joseph of Arimathea to prepare his body for burial after the Crucifixion			Nicodemus
Simeon's prayer in the temple when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus for consecration – "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace" – from Luke 2:29–32			Nunc dimittis
Trees that grew in the Garden of Gethsemane			Olive trees
St. Luke's profession (according to St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Colossians)			Physician
Roman administrator of Judea who handed Jesus over to the Jews: 'Ecce homo'. Asked Jesus (in response to the latter's claim to bear witness to the truth): What is truth? (John 18:38)			Pontius Pilate
The statment "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end(ing)" occurs, three times, in the book of			Revelation (of St. John the Divine)
Armageddon is described in
John the Baptist baptised Jesus in the			River Jordan
Asked her stepfather, Herod Antipas, for the head of John the Baptist, after beguiling him by performing what Oscar Wilde called the Dance of the Seven Veils			Salome
The two brothers who were the first apostles to be called			Simon (Peter)
			Andrew
Compelled by Roman soldiers to carry Jesus's cross			Simon of Cyrene
Mother of the Virgin Mary			St. Ann
Described by St. Paul as 'the beloved physician' (Colossians 4:14)			St. Luke
Also known as Saul of Tarsus			St. Paul
"Domine, quo vadis?" (Master, whither goest thou?)			St. Peter
The first Christian martyr – stoned to death, according to Acts 7:54–60			St. Stephen
How did Judas Iscariot die?			Suicide by hanging
Birthplace of Saul (St. Paul) – town now in Turkey			Tarsus
St. Matthew's occupation, before becoming one of the Apostles			Tax collector
St. Paul's occupation			Tent maker
Person to whom St. Luke's gospel and the Book of Acts are addressed (no one knows who he was, if indeed he was an actual person)			Theophilus
How many were present at the Last Supper?			Thirteen
Apostle also known as Didymus the Twin (he was a twin); refused to believe that Jesus had been resurrected, without seeing him in the flesh (according to St. John's gospel)			Thomas
Roman emperor at the time of the crucifixion			Tiberius
Jesus's first miracle			Turning water into wine
Washed Jesus's feet on the way to his crucifixion			Veronica
Latin name given to the route that Jesus took through Jerusalem on the way to his crucifixion			Via Dolorosa
Sermon on the Mount: 'Beware of false prophets'. They will appear as			Wolves in sheep's clothing
Tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus			Zacchaeus
Father of John the Baptist			Zacharias
Father of the apostles James and John			Zebedee

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24