Excerpt from Studies in Honor of Basil L. Gildersleeve Critical investigation of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts in recent years has thrown a flood of light upon the origin of Christianity. I propose in this article to use this light in a study of the Apostolic Commission. Early in his ministry Jesus called Simon to leave all and follow him (Mk. i. 16-20). He named him Peter, the rock, as the foremost of the disciples, their chief and spokesman. The Gospels differ as to the time of this naming: Mk. iii. 16; Mt. x. 2, xvi. 17-19; Lk. vi. 14; John i. 40-42; but a critical study of these passages makes it probable that it did not take place until late in Jesus' ministry, when his Messiahship was recognized by the Twelve. Jesus also called James and John, who with Simon constituted the innermost circle of the Twelve, to whom Jesus entrusted the highest privileges. Next to these was Andrew. Levi (Matthew) also had a special call. Seven others with these five were selected from the body of the disciples (Mk. iii. 14-19) to constitute the Twelve, who were constantly with Jesus as his companions in his ministry. There can be little doubt that St. Peter was the chief of the Twelve and that there was a primary group of four - Peter and Andrew, James and John. Philip was first of the second group, composed of Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas. The third group was James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. These three groups constituted the Twelve, who were sent forth in pairs, with authority from Jesus to preach, and teach, and heal during his ministry (Mk. vi. 7-13 = Mtth. x. 1 seq. = Lk. ix. 1 seq.). The four lists vary somewhat in the order of the names within the groups; but in no case in the four lists of Mk., Mtth., Lk. and Acts is there any change of the names out of the three groups. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.