[Footnote 1:  1 Cor. xv. 52.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

INSTITUTIONS OF JESUS.

That Jesus was never entirely absorbed in his apocalyptic ideas is proved, moreover, by the fact that at the very time he was most preoccupied with them, he laid with rare forethought the foundation of a church destined to endure.  It is scarcely possible to doubt that he himself chose from among his disciples those who were pre-eminently called the “apostles,” or the “twelve,” since on the day after his death we find them forming a distinct body, and filling up by election the vacancies that had arisen in their midst.[1] They were the two sons of Jonas; the two sons of Zebedee; James, son of Cleophas; Philip; Nathaniel bar-Tolmai; Thomas; Levi, or Matthew, the son of Alphaeus; Simon Zelotes; Thaddeus or Lebbaeus; and Judas of Kerioth.[2] It is probable that the idea of the twelve tribes of Israel had had some share in the choice of this number.[3]

[Footnote 1:  Acts i. 15, and following; 1 Cor. xv. 5; Gal. i. 10.]

[Footnote 2:  Matt. x. 2 and following; Mark iii. 16, and following; Luke vi. 14, and following; Acts i. 13; Papias, in Eusebius, Hist.  Eccl., iii. 39.]

[Footnote 3:  Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 30.]

The “twelve,” at all events, formed a group of privileged disciples, among whom Peter maintained a fraternal priority,[1] and to them Jesus confided the propagation of his work.  There was nothing, however, which presented the appearance of a regularly organized sacerdotal school.  The lists of the “twelve,” which have been preserved, contain many uncertainties and contradictions; two or three of those who figure in them have remained completely obscure.  Two, at least, Peter and Philip,[2] were married and had children.

[Footnote 1:  Acts i. 15, ii. 14, v. 2, 3, 29, viii. 19, xv. 7; Gal. i. 18.]

[Footnote 2:  For Peter, see ante, p. 174; for Philip, see Papias, Polycrates, and Clement of Alexandria, quoted by Eusebius, Hist.  Eccl., iii. 30, 31, 39, v. 24.]

Jesus evidently confided secrets to the twelve, which he forbade them to communicate to the world.[1] It seems as if his plan at times was to surround himself with a degree of mystery, to postpone the most important testimony respecting himself till after his death, and to reveal himself completely only to his disciples, confiding to them the care of demonstrating him afterward to the world.[2] “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.”  This spared him the necessity of too precise declarations, and created a kind of medium between the public and himself.  It is clear that there were certain teachings confined to the apostles, and that he explained many parables to them, the meaning of which was ambiguous to the multitude.[3] An enigmatical form and a degree of oddness in connecting ideas were customary in the teachings of the doctors, as may be seen in the sentences of the Pirke Aboth.  Jesus explained to his intimate friends whatever was peculiar in his apothegms or in his apologues, and showed them his meaning stripped of the wealth of illustration which sometimes obscured it.[4] Many of these explanations appear to have been carefully preserved.[5]