Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ

by David Francis Bacon

HIS AUTHENTIC HISTORY.

The name of this apostle is here brought in directly after his eminent brother, in accordance with the lists of the apostles given by Matthew and Luke, in their gospels, where they seem to dispose them all in pairs; and very naturally, in this case, prefer family affinity as a principle of arrangement, putting together in this and the following instances, those who were sons of the same father. The most eminent son of Jonah, deservedly taking the highest place on all the lists, his brother might very properly so far share in the honors of this distinction, as to be mentioned along with him, without any necessary implication of the possession of any of that moral and intellectual superiority, on which Peter’s claim to the first place was grounded. These seem, at least, to have been sufficient reasons for Matthew, in arranging the apostles, and for Luke in his gospel; while in his history of the Acts of the Apostles he followed a different plan, putting Andrew fourth on the list, and giving the sons of Zebedee a place before him, as Mark did also. The uniform manner in which James and John are mentioned along with Peter on great occasions, to the total neglect of Andrew, seems to imply that this apostle was quite behind his brother in those excellences which fitted him for the leading place in the great Christian enterprise; since it is most reasonable to believe that, if he had possessed faculties of such a high order, he would have been readily selected to enjoy with him the peculiar privileges of a most intimate personal intercourse with Jesus, and to share the high honors of his peculiar revelations of glory and power.

The question of the relative age of the two sons of Jonah, has been already settled in the beginning of the life of Peter; and in the same part of the work have also been given all the particulars about their family, rank, residence, and occupation, which are desirable for the illustration of the lives and characters of both. So too, throughout the whole of the sacred narrative, everything that could concern Andrew has been abundantly expressed and commented on, in the life of Peter. The occasions on which the name of this apostle is mentioned in the New Testament, indeed, except in the bare enumeration of the twelve, are only three,——his first introduction to Jesus,——his actual call,——and the circumstance of his being present with his brother and the sons of Zebedee, at the scene on the mount of Olives, when Christ foretold the utter ruin of the temple. Of these three scenes, in the first only did he perform such a part, as to receive any other than a bare mention in the gospel history; nor even in that solitary circumstance does his conduct seem to have been of much importance, except as leading his brother to the knowledge of Jesus. From this circumstance, however, of his being specified as the first of all the twelve who had a personal acquaintance with Jesus, he has been honored by many writers with the distinguishing title of “THE FIRST CALLED,” although others have claimed the dignity of this appellation for another apostle, in whose life the particular reasons for such a claim will be mentioned.

The first called.——In Greek πρωτοκλητος, (protokletos,) by which name he is called by Nicephorus Callistus, (Church History, II. 39,) and by several of the Greek Fathers, as quoted by Cangius, (Gloss. in voc.) Suicer, however, makes no reference whatever to this term.

From the minute narrative of the circumstances of the call, given by John in the first chapter of his gospel, it appears, that Andrew, excited by the fame of the great Baptizer, had left his home at Bethsaida, and gone to Bethabara, (on the same side of the Jordan, but farther south,) where the solemn and ardent appeals of the bold herald of inspiration so far equalled the expectation awakened by rumor, that, along with vast multitudes who seem to have made but an indifferent progress in religious knowledge, though brought to the repentance and confession of their sins, he was baptized in the Jordan, and was also attached to the person of the great preacher in a peculiar manner, as it would seem, aiming at a still more advanced state of indoctrination, than ordinary converts could be expected to attain. While in this diligent personal attendance on his new Master, he was one day standing with him upon the banks of the Jordan, the great scene of the mystic sacrament, listening to the incidental instructions which fell from the lips of the holy man, in company with another disciple, his countryman and friend. In the midst of the conversation, perhaps, while discoursing upon the deep question then in agitation, about the advent of the Messiah, suddenly the great preacher exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The two disciples at once turned their eyes towards the person thus solemnly designated as the Messiah, and saw walking by them, a stranger, whose demeanor was such as to mark him for the object of the Baptizer’s apostrophe. With one accord, the two hearers at once left the teacher, who had now referred them to a higher source of truth and purity, and both followed together the footsteps of the wonderful stranger, of whose real character they knew nothing, though their curiosity must have been most highly excited, by the solemn mystery of the words in which his greatness was announced. As they hurried after him, the sound of their hasty feet fell on the ear of the retiring stranger, who, turning towards his inquiring pursuers, mildly met their curious glances with the question, “Whom seek ye?”——thus giving them an opportunity to state their wishes for his acquaintance. They eagerly answered by the question, implying their desire for a permanent knowledge of him,——“Rabbi! (Master,) where dwellest thou?” He kindly answered them with a polite invitation to accompany him to his lodgings; for there is no reason to believe that they went with him to his permanent home in Capernaum or Nazareth; since Jesus was probably then staying at some place near the scene of the baptism. Being hospitably and familiarly entertained by Jesus, as his intimate friends, it being then four o’clock in the afternoon, they remained with him till the next day, enjoying a direct personal intercourse, which gave them the best opportunities for learning his character and his power to impart to them the high instructions which they were prepared to expect, by the solemn annunciation of the great Baptizer; and at the same time it shows their own earnestness and zeal for acquiring a knowledge of the Messiah, as well as his benignant familiarity in thus receiving them immediately into such a domestication with him. After this protracted interview with Jesus, Andrew seems to have attained the most perfect conviction that his newly adopted teacher was all that he had been declared to be; and in the eagerness of a warm fraternal affection, he immediately sought his dear brother Simon, and exultingly announced to him the great results of his yesterday’s introduction to the wonderful man;——“We have found the Messiah!” Such a declaration, made with the confidence of one who knew by personal experience, at once secured the attention of the no less ardent Simon, and he accordingly gave himself up to the guidance of the confident Andrew, who led him directly to Jesus, anxious that his beloved brother should also share in the high favor of the Messiah’s friendship and instruction. This is the most remarkable recorded circumstance of Andrew’s life; and on his ready adherence to Jesus, and the circumstance that he, first of all the disciples, declared him to be the Messiah, may be founded a just claim for a most honorable distinction of Andrew.

Bethabara.——Some of the later critics seem disposed to reject this now common reading, and to adopt in its place that of Bethany, which is supported by such a number of old manuscripts and versions, as to offer a strong defense against the word at present established. Both the Syriac versions, the Arabic, Aethiopic, the Vulgate, and the Saxon, give “Bethany;” and Origen, from whom the other reading seems to have arisen, confesses that the previously established word was Bethany, which he, with about as much sense of justice and propriety as could be expected from even the most judicious of the Fathers, rejected for the unauthorized Bethabara, on the simple ground that there is such a place on the Jordan, mentioned in Judges vii. 24,——while Bethany is elsewhere in the gospels described as close to Jerusalem, on the mount of Olives; the venerable Father never apprehending the probability of two different places bearing the same name, nor referring to the etymology of Bethany, which is בית אניה (beth anyah,) “the house (or place) of a boat,” equivalent to a “ferry.” (Origen on John, quoted by Wolf.) Chrysostom and Epiphanius are also quoted by Lampe, as defending this perversion on similar grounds. Heracleon, Nonnus and Beza are referred to in defense of Bethany; and among moderns, Mill, Simon and others, are quoted by Wolf on the same side. Campbell and Bloomfield also defend this view. Scultetus, Grotius and Casaubon, argue in favor of Bethabara. Lightfoot makes a long argument to prove that Bethany, the true reading, means not any village or particular spot of that name, but the province or tract, called [♦]Batanea, lying beyond the Jordan, in the northern part of its course,——a conjecture hardly supported by the structure of the word, nor by the opinion of any other writer. This Bethany beyond the Jordan, seems to have been thus particularized as to position, in order to distinguish it from the place of the same name near Jerusalem. Its exact situation cannot now be ascertained; but it was commonly placed about fifteen or twenty miles south of Lake Gennesaret.

[♦] “Batanaea” replaced with “Batanea”

Lamb of God.——This expression has been the subject of much discussion, and has been amply illustrated by the labors of learned commentators. Whether John the Baptizer expected Jesus to atone for the sins of the world, by death, has been a question ably argued by Kuinoel and Gabler against, and by Lampe, Wolf, and Bloomfield, for the idea of an implied sacrifice and expiation. The latter writer in particular, is very full and candid: Wolf also gives a great number of references, and to these authors the critical must resort for the minutiae of a discussion, too heavy and protracted for this work. (See the above authors on John i. 29.)

After narrating the particulars of his call, in which he was merely a companion of his brother, and after specifying the circumstance of his being present at the prophecy of the temple’s destruction, the New Testament history takes not the slightest notice of any action of Andrew’s life; nor is he even mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, except in the mere list of their names in the first chapter. For anything further, reference must be made to that most dubious of historical materials, the tradition of the Fathers; and the most reasonable opinion that can be pronounced upon all the rest of Andrew’s life is, that nothing whatever is known about it. He probably remained all his life in Palestine, quietly and humbly devoting himself to the trials and labors of the apostolic life, without reference to the production of any great admiration of his actions, or to the perpetuation of his fame. Being older than Peter, he probably died before him, and perhaps before the last great war of the Jews with the Romans, ending in the destruction of Jerusalem, which compelled the Christians to leave the city. He may, however, have gone eastward with his brother, and passed the last years of his life in Babylon.

HIS FABULOUS HISTORY.