WERE THEY TRYING TO CONFUSE US?
WHAT’S IN A NAME ANYWAY?
Hugh Fogelman

The following names were taken from the “Index of Persons” listed in The Living Bible and the King James Version of the Greek bible. 

There were three James:

James the apostle, son of Zebedee;

James the other apostle, the son of Alpheus; and

James the brother of Jesus.

Then three Johns:  

John the Baptist, son of Zechariah;

John the apostle son of Zebedee; and

John, cousin of Barnabas and co-worker with Paul (Acts 12:12; 13:13 & 15:37). Also, another name for Mark (Acts 13:5).

Joseph is named three times:

The husband of Mary;

Joseph of Arimathea; and

Joseph the other brother of Jesus.

There are six Judas: 

The apostle Judas, who betrayed Jesus, Simon’s son (John 13:2);

Another apostle called Judas, the son of James (Luke 6:16; John 14:22 Acts 1:13), also known as Thaddaeus, 

Judas, the brother of James and Jesus (Mark 6:3; Matthew 13:55) also called Jude (Jude 1);

Judas of Galilee (Acts 5:37);

Judas of Damascus (Acts 9:11) and

Judas, also known as Barsabas (Acts 15:22 and 27).

There are three Ananias:

The husband of Sapphira, believer who lied to God;

the other believer in Damascus who baptized Saul/Paul (Acts 9:10-19); and

Ananias the Jewish high priest.

There are three Gaius:

The companion of Paul;

Paul’s Corinthian host; and

A recipient of John.

There are three Philip’s:

Philip an apostle;

Philip the Son of Herod; and

Philip a Christian leader, a deacon and an evangelist to the Ethiopians.

There are even four Marys:

Mother of Jesus; 

Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus;

Mary Magdalene and

The mother of Mark (Acts 12:12). 

There was Salome (also known as Mary), the mother of James and John (Mark 15:40).

There are eight Simon’s: 

The devout Israelite who blessed Jesus; 

Another name for Peter, Simon the brother of Jesus;  

Simon the leper;

Simon the tanner; 

Simon a magician;

Simon another apostle and

Simon the one who carried Jesus’ cross.

Simon is called Peter and to cause more confusion, Jesus also gave Simon/Peter the name of Cephas.

Another confusion of names is Matthew, also called Levi. The 10th apostle Thaddeus was called by another name, Lebbeus.

Trying to keep track of all these names could confuse any reader and especially the listener. All these names are found in just 242 pages in the Living Bible and 259 pages in the King James Version. 

That's a lot of names in just a short book!

RETURN