How many disciples were martyred

They really believed it. They willingly endangered themselves by publicly proclaiming the risen Christ. First, the apostles were eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus. When a replacement was chosen for Judas, one necessary criterion was that the person had seen the risen Lord Acts — Paul and James the brother of Jesus were also eyewitnesses 1 Cor. Their convictions were not based on secondhand testimony, but from the belief that they had seen the resurrected Christ with their own eyes. Second, early Christians were persecuted for their faith.

John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded Matt. Jesus was crucified. Stephen was stoned to death after his witness before the Sanhedrin Acts 6—8. Although persecution was sporadic and local, from this point forward Christians could be arrested and killed for proclaiming the name of Jesus.

Posted: August 8 , Praying to the Dead. Beginning as a despised, illicit religious sect, Christianity endured years of hostility to emerge as the dominant force in the Roman Empire.

Law and Mercy. Religious programs, including evangelical schools, are a major force for good behind bars. It was one thing after another, after another, after another…. Subscribe to CT to continue reading. Subscribe Already a subscriber? But Jesus formed them into the backbone of the church and gave them the most extraordinary task imaginable: calling the entire world, including the mightiest empire ever known, to repentance and faith in the risen Christ.

You can be sure that any educated, first-century Roman citizen would have laughed at any prediction that within three centuries the Christian faith would be the official faith of the empire. Many wonder how the 12 apostles died, but The New Testament tells of the fate of only two of the apostles: Judas, who betrayed Jesus and then went out and hanged himself, and James the son of Zebedee, who was executed by Herod about 44 AD Acts Reports and legends abound and they are not always reliable, but it is safe to say that the apostles went far and wide as heralds of the message of the risen Christ.

An early legend says they cast lots and divided up the world to determine who would go where, so all could hear about Jesus. They suffered greatly for their faith and in most cases met violent deaths on account of their bold witness. Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified, upside down at his request, since he did not feel he was worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. Christians there claim him as the first to bring the gospel to their land. He also preached in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, and in Greece, where he is said to have been crucified.

James, the half-brother of Jesus and the leader of the church at Jerusalem, was not an apostle but his importance is too great to not mention. James may have been taken to the same pinnacle that the Jews tried to throw Jesus off of and when James refused to deny his faith in Christ, the pushed him over edge.

James survived the fall but when the Jews saw that he was still alive, they all came down and clubbed him to death. Thaddaeus, sometimes called Judas, son of James, was apparently martyred around AD 65 by an axe, most likely by being beheaded, in the Roman province of Syria. While in Ethiopia, Matthew was arrested and impaled by stakes into the earth and to make sure he was dead, they even beheaded him.

The Apostle Bartholomew, sometimes called Nathaniel, was sent out like the other apostles into the far corners of the known world and for Bartholomew , that was Armenia which is now modern day Turkey, in Asia Minor and while there, much like Jesus, he was flayed to death with a whip.

I believe that the Apostle Thomas gets a bum rap. In fact, he goes to the farthest reach, into upper India to established a church there. Beyond that, we know precious little about Philip but dying the way he did, he must have been preaching the gospel of Christ because the truth either sets you free or it makes you really angry.

Once again, it is just like His Master. Almost all of the other apostles had been martyred by the time the Apostle John was supposedly boiled in oil, only to survive, and then be imprisoned on the island of Patmos where he apparently survives to die of natural causes.