Ordaining of the Twelve

The original twelve apostles were not ordained by other apostles. How did they come to hold their offices? According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ personally chose, called, and commissioned them. They are Peter, James Major, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the Less, Thaddeus, Peter, and Judas Iscariot. The commissioning of the Twelve Apostles is the ministry of Jesus that appears in all three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 10:1–4, Mark 3:13–19 and Luke 6:12–16. It relates the initial selection of the Twelve Apostles among the disciples of Jesus. As Jesus started down the seashore calling the apostles, he first hailed Andrew and Peter, who were fishing near the shore; next he signaled to James and John, who were in a boat nearby, visiting with their father, Zebedee, and mending their nets. Two by two he gathered up the other apostles, and when he had assembled all twelve, he journeyed with them to the highlands north of Capernaum, where he proceeded to instruct them in preparation for their formal ordination.