apostle.

About apostle

In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles, were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and ministry of Jesus in the 1st century AD, the apostles were his closest followers and became the primary teachers of the gospel message of Jesus. There is also an Eastern Christian tradition derived from the Gospel of Luke that there were seventy apostles during the time of Jesus' ministry. The word comes from the Koine Greek apóstolos, meaning a messenger or envoy, with a sense closer to delegate than to messenger. The gospels and Acts give four lists of the Twelve which differ slightly in the names, and the Gospel of John refers to the Twelve without ever listing them.