The Twelve Apostles were chosen by Jesus Himself among the disciples and sent by Jesus to accomplish the Great Mission of the Gospel throughout the earth. During the more than three years they followed Jesus, they were with Him, listening to His sermons and deeds, gradually growing in insight and opening the door of wisdom. After The Day of Jesus' resurrection and ascension, they kept the faith taught by Jesus and preached everywhere according to Jesus' last words, and finally all except John were martyred for the sake of evangelism.
The Bibles Luke and Mark record the election process of the apostles:
Luke 6:12-16: Then Jesus went out to the mountain to pray. Pray to God all night. At dawn, call his disciples. Twelve men were chosen from among them and called them apostles. These twelve men had Simon, whom Jesus named Peter, and his brother Andrea, and Jacob and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, Jacob the son of Alephus, and Simon of the Vanguard, Judas the son of Jacob, and Judas the Seller of Calvary.
The Jews of that time had Hebrew names as well as Greek names, resulting in a person usually having two names. Both names are used in the Bible, and in addition to translation reasons, duplicate names make it easy to cause confusion in reading.
To put it simply: two of the apostles were named Jacob (Jacob, john's brother Jacob and Jacob, the son of Aleph), two Simon (Simon of Peter and Simon of the Fenrids), two of Judah (Judas of Calvary and David, the son of Jacob); Jacob was John's brother, both cousins of Jesus; and Peter and Andrei were brothers. The apostle John has the same name as John the Baptist.
The twelve apostles maintained a particularly close connection with Jesus, received His teachings, saw the miracles he did, and listened to his debates with the leaders of Judaism. Jesus sent them to preach repentance and cast out demons and heals. This is really doing according to the ministry of Jesus. Luke 10:16 makes their relationship very clear. Obviously, the twelve apostles not only conveyed Jesus' teachings, but also acted on His behalf. This is the function of the "messenger". The Gospels call the twelve apostles according to the functions of this commissioned mission.
After Jesus' resurrection, he gave the apostles clear instructions on a mountain in Galilee, recorded in Matthew 28:16-20.
It is no coincidence that the number of Jesus' apostles was the same as the number of the original tribes of Israel. The hope of the Israelites included the day when the twelve tribes would be reunited in a new age. On the day of salvation, the Israelites were restored as God's people. Jesus' choice of these twelve is an allusion to the fact that His ministry is to bring about this renewed union. After Judah's defection, he chose Matthias to supplement the original number.
The fellowship between Jesus and these twelve men, though temporarily suspended by Jesus' crucifixion, was rebuilt and perfected after Jesus' resurrection. The resurrection appearance of Jesus not only proves that Jesus is revered, but also contains a clear mission. At first, the "dispatch" of the twelve men was limited to one time and one place, but now it has become a lifelong appointment. The apostles represent Jesus Christ and have inherited Jesus' ministry, and they are now beginning to proclaim God's work in Christ for the world, which is hinted at in Jesus' own ministry.
The twelve apostles received the Great Commission at the time of Jesus' resurrection appearance and began their mission to the outside world. This was the first stage in the development of the Church of Christ, and the Twelve Apostles, starting from the Church of Jerusalem, established the Church of Antioch (present-day Turkey) in Asia Minor, and then spread Christianity to the entire Mediterranean world.
It was the heyday of the Roman Empire, jerusalem, the Mediterranean coast, and much of Europe under the rule of the Roman Emperor, who brutally persecuted Christianity. In the first two hundred years, Christianity experienced numerous government prohibitions, persecutions, and popular violence, and many Christians were martyred as a result, and all the twelve apostles were persecuted in prison, except for John, all other apostles were martyred for the Lord.
It was not until 313 AD that the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christ and promulgated the famous Edict of Milan, adopting a tolerant attitude towards all religions, and the legitimacy of Christianity was recognized. In 392 AD, Theodosius I banned the belief in religions other than Christianity, which replaced the traditional religion of Rome as the state religion and the only legal religion of the empire, closed polytheistic temples, and built new Christian churches. At this point, the persecution of Christianity in the past four hundred years has come to an end.