“What do we know about how the apostles died?”

April 2023 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION: What do we know about how the apostles died?

ANSWER: The Bible gives us little information as to how the apostles died. Judas Iscariot, of course, in remorse took his own life after finding out that he could not undo his betrayal of the Lord Jesus. This is given us in Matthew 27:3-5 and Acts 1:16-19. He was replaced as an apostle in Acts 1:15-26 by Matthias.

Acts 12:1-2 clearly tells us that King Herod, also known as Herod Agrippa I, had James the brother of John killed with the sword. He then meant to kill Peter, but the assembly prayed for Peter, and the Lord did not permit Herod to succeed in his wicked plan. The last gospel to be written, John, states flatly in John 21:18-19 that Peter glorified God in his death. An early tradition – not in the Bible – elaborates that Peter was sentenced to be crucified. This would be consistent with the Lord’s statement that when Peter would get old he would stretch forth his hands and someone else would dress him and lead him where he would not want to go. The tradition goes on to say that when Peter was about to be executed he requested that he be crucified upside down, stating that he was not worthy to be crucified in the same manner in which his Lord had been put to death.

John, apparently the youngest of the apostles, in spite of his banishment to the island of Patmos, outlived all the rest of the apostles. His very long life and what the Lord had said to Peter in John 21:22 gave rise to a belief among many of the believers that John would not die, but this belief was really based on a misinterpretation of what the Lord had said.

As he concluded his second epistle to Timothy, Paul the apostle, writing by inspiration of God, spoke of being ready to be offered, of having fought a good fight, finishing his course and keeping the faith. Tradition tells us, probably correctly, that he was beheaded, as it was considered beneath the dignity of a Roman citizen to be subjected to the cruel death of crucifixion.

The Bible mentions nothing about the death of any of the other apostles. In fact, after Peter’s escape from Herod’s plan to kill him in Acts 12, Scripture focuses primarily upon the ministry of the apostle Paul, the apostle directly commissioned by the Lord from heaven. While tradition has the twelve apostles going out to different parts of the world and each (except John) eventually being martyred, God’s Word does not let us see them beyond Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, except to record a sad visit of Peter’s to Antioch in Galatians 2:11-18.

Tradition is often not trustworthy. The death which the Bible focuses on again and again is that of our Lord Jesus Christ. His death, and His alone, has fully glorified God and procured, or acquired, our salvation.

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.