What happened to Thaddeus?

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David

 

Luke 6:13-16 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.

 

Well, I would assume that he did die. It "do happens" to most of us, you know, and will continue unless the rapture comes first! :tongue3: I don't have the time to look it all up at this moment, but the entire name of that disciple/apostle is Jude (or Judas) Lebbaeus Thaddeus, fo he is called all three, and there is cross references to the effect that they are one and the same, and are called, at various times, in combinations, I believe, as well.

That is really no different than Peter, who likewise is tagged with three appellations, Simon, Peter, and Cephas, and also in combinations of the above.

And the Savior is called at various times in the NT as "the Lord", Christ, and Jesus, as well as combinations of them, as well.

I have three names plus I am a "Junior". I have been called by all four, at one time or another. The really bad thing is when you hear or see them all together at once, properly spelled or pronounced. That's when I know I was/am in trouble! :tonofbricks: :laugh: :laugh:

Ed

 

We only have one scriptural record of Thaddeus, other than his name:

Matthew refers to him as "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddeus." John calls him Judas, son of James. Likely, his given name was Judas, and Thaddeus/Lebbaeus were nicknames.

"Thaddeus" means "breast child." "Lebbaeus" means "heart child." Many have suggested the idea of a nursing baby here--maybe it was an insult--like a "mama's boy." The nicknames might suggest a tender, childlike heart.

John 14:21--"Judas (not iscariot) said to Him, 'Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not the world?'" On the surface, this question is gentle, and not brash or demanding. It was obvious that he still had not grasped the real reason Jesus was here. He still thought Christ's purpose was a political one--to reveal Himself as King.

Of course, we have no concrete evidence about Thaddeus' life after Jesus' ascencion. But here's the tradition:

A few years after Pentecost, he headed north and took the Gospel to Edessa, a region in present-day Turkey. There were accounts of how he healed the King of Edessa, a man named Abgar. In the fourth century, Eusebius the historian said the archives of Edessa contained full records of Thaddeus' mission and Abgar's healing. (unfortunately, those archives were destroyed). He is thought to have died in that region.

Sources: John MacArthur, "Twelve Ordinary Men"
Mercer Bible Dictionary
Class notes, "The Twelve" seminar, 1996

We did a series several months ago on the twevle; so all of this info was handy to give ye.

 

BTW, The KJV, NKJV and Darby put "son " an/or "brother" of James in parenthesis, and the YLT does not have it at all. I am not taking the time to look this up, either, but suggest it was added by the translators. The point is there was some relation to one "James", and he was differentiated in this way.

Ed

 

You'll find some references to Thaddeus called "Judas the zealot." These are probably confusions made between Thaddeus/Lebbaeus/Judas (Jerome called him "Trinomious," or "three-named.") and Simon the Zealot. We have no info linking Thaddeus to the Zealot movement, and his nickname wouldn't indicate that.

 

Not tryng to derail a thread, but another couple of good books on apostles is that of W.Stuart MacBirnie. The Search for the Twelve Apostles , and also Lockyer's book called something like All the Apostles of the Bible .

Ed

 

I would think you been called "other" names also. :BangHead:

 

What?? Li'l ole me?? Say it isn't SO, Ethel!!
Never happen- not here anyway! Oh, -uh - wait a minute. It probably DID happen here. :tonofbricks: After all, this is a forum of and for Baptists! :laugh:

Ed

 

Judas the brother of James is listed as one of the 12 disciples in Acts 1:13 and in Luke 6:16. Matthew 10:2 lists this disciple as Lebbeus surnamed Thaddeus and Mark 3:19 calls him Thaddeus. How can these be the same man? Well Judas had the unlucky fortune to share the name of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ. This made the name Judas so reprehensible that many New Testament Christians referred to Judas by his other names, Thaddaeus and Lebbeus. This led many early Catholics to refuse to say prayers to Jude confusing him with Judas Iscariot and leading to St. Jude’s position as patron saint of lost causes and hopeless situations (hence St. Jude hospital)

The author of the epistle of Jude calls himself Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James. The author of James calls himself James, a servant of God. Probably, these were James and Judas, brothers to each other, half brothers to Jesus Christ, sons of Mary and Joseph. Matthew 13:55 lists the physical brothers of Jesus as James, Joses, Simon and Judas. Mark 6:3 names them as James, Joses, Judah, and Simon. Catholics who want to believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary usually believe that these were either cousins of Jesus or step brothers, sons of Joseph and a previous wife. Most Protestants believe they were simply younger ½ brothers of Jesus. Wikipedia has an interesting quotation from Hegesippus (110-180 AD). He wrote a commentary on Acts that is lost but he was quoted by Eusebius that during the reign of Domitian (81-96 AD)

There still survived of the kindred of the Lord the grandsons of Judas, who according to the flesh was called his brother. These were informed against, as belonging to the family of David, and Evocatus brought them before Domitian Caesar: for that emperor dreaded the advent of Christ, as Herod had done.

Of course non-believers will scoff at these ideas and instead say this is a clear contradiction in scripture and the Thaddeus and Judas brother of James could not possibly be the same man. It becomes, of course, a matter of faith.