Who Was Really the 12th Apostle?

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In Acts chapter 1, after Jesus had ascended into heaven, but before the giving of the Holy Spirit, 120 people gathered in the upper room to pray.

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The eleven apostles decided to replace Judas, who betrayed Christ and hung himself. This twelfth apostle had to have witnessed

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Jesus' earthly ministry, beginning with the baptism of John until the day that he was taken up from us,

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Acts 1 .22. There were two men present who qualified, Justice and Matthias. The apostles prayed that God would show which one of these two he had chosen.

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They cast lots, basically they flipped a coin, and the lot fell on Matthias, who became the twelfth apostle.

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Now, some have argued that Matthias' apostleship was illegitimate, and it was actually Paul who was to be the twelfth apostle, since Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus and appointed him an apostle in Acts 9.

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But even Paul did not number himself among the twelve. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote about the witnesses to Christ's bodily resurrection.

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He said Jesus appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, which would have included

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Matthias, though he had not yet been named among the twelve. Then Jesus appeared to more than five hundred brothers.

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After that, he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. And last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also, for I am the least of the apostles, and not worthy to be called an apostle.

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Paul was indeed an apostle sent out to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ our

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Lord. But Paul was a later apostle, more rightly considered the thirteenth apostle, not numbered among the twelve, when we understand the text.