"And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him."
Luke 6:12-16 ( KJV ) read as follows:
"And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor."
Simon the Canaanite ( mentioned in Matthew 10:4 ) is the same man as Simon called Zelotes ( mentioned in Luke 6:15 ). The word "Zelotes" in Luke 6:15 ( KJV; with center-column references ) has an equivalent translation which means "the Zealot." The word "zealot" is defined as follows:
"A militant radical; one who acts with great zeal for a cause. The term came to designate a particular segment of the Jewish population who continually tried to overthrow foreign oppression, especially the Roman rule in Palestine." [ See HOLMAN BIBLE DICTIONARY, BUTLER, TRENT C., PH.D., HOLMAN BIBLE PUBLISHERS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, Copyright 1991 Holman Bible Publishers, pp. 1433, 1434. ]
Jesus ( see Luke 6:3, 9 ) specifically chose Simon called Zelotes to be one His original twelve apostles. This man would, in today's language, be called a terrorist. Simon called Zelotes, as one of Jesus' apostles, used his great zeal to preach the kingdom of God ( see Luke 9:2, for example ).
Those of us who are Christians ( see Acts 11:26, for example ) need to be careful that we do not prejudge people, with regard to their worthiness to hear and respond to God's word ( the Holy Bible - see Psalm 119:65-72, 142, John 1:1, 14, John 17:1, 17, Colossians 2:8, 9, 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, and 1 John 5:7, for example ). Jesus said, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" ( see Matthew 11:7, 15, for example; KJV ). Jesus also said, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" ( see Luke 19:9, 10, for example; KJV ).
If you have any questions about the Holy Bible, you can contact me by e-mail at:
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