The Apostle Andrew in the Bible
In the Bible, Andrew was one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus Christ and the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew was the first apostle called by Jesus and the first to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. He is the patron saint of Scotland and Russia.
In the Gospel of John, we find that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist before Jesus’ call. "Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus" (John 1:40) The early Christian Byzantine tradition called Andrew protokletos, meaning “first called.”
Andrew's Early History and First Call:
Andrew belonged to Bethsaida of Galilee and was the brother of Simon Peter. He occupies a more prominent place in the Gospel of John than in the synoptical writings. This is explainable, at least partly because Andrew was Greek both in language and sympathies, and his subsequent labors were intimately connected with the people for whom John was immediately writing. There are three stages in the call of Andrew to the apostleship. The first is described in John 1:35-40. Andrew had spent his earlier years as a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. Still, on learning of the fame of John the Baptist, he departed along with a band of his countrymen to Bethabara (or "Bethany") beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing and preaching repentance.
There Andrew learned for the first time the greatness of the "Lamb of God" and "followed him." He was the means at this time of bringing his brother Simon Peter also to Christ. Andrew was probably a companion of Jesus on his return journey to Galilee and was thus present at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, in Capernaum, at the Passover in Jerusalem, at the baptizing in Judea, where he himself may have taken part, and in Samaria.
Second Call and Final Ordination:
On his return to Galilee, Andrew resumed his old vocation as a fisherman for a time until he received his second call. This happened after John the Baptist was cast into prison and is described in Mark 1:16-18. The two accounts are practically identical and tell how Andrew and his brother were now called on to forsake their ordinary occupations and become fishers of men. The corresponding narrative of Luke varies in part; it does not mention Andrew by name and gives the additional detail of the miraculous draught of fishes. By some, it has been regarded as an amalgamation of Mark's account with John 21:1-8. After a period of companionship with Jesus, during which, in the house of Simon and Andrew, Simon's mother-in-law was healed of a fever (Mark 1:29-31); the call of Andrew was finally consecrated by his election as one of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:2).
(Excerpt from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
Jesus Calls His First Disciples: Simon and Andrew
These first disciples, Simon and Andrew, had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist and were prepared to accept Christ immediately. Though illiterate and unlearned in religion, these "people of the land" whom Jesus calls will be revealed at Pentecost to be the wisest of all. Read the Gospel accounts below of Jesus calling His first disciples to follow him:
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-22)
Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. (Mark 1:16-20)
Andrew Finds the Messiah, Jesus Christ
The Gospel of John gives a distinct account of how Jesus called Andrew from the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This is perhaps Andrew’s most significant moment in the Bible.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel."
And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." (John 1:29-34)
John the Baptist proclaims that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” and that He’s the "Son of God.”
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"
The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter). (John 1:35-42)
Andrew Role's in Jesus Feeding 5000
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, "It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" (John 6:5-9)
The Martyrdom of Andrew the Apostle
Christian history teaches that Andrew was martyred by crucifixion in the Greek city of Patras around 60 AD. Andrew, like his brother, Peter, did not regard himself worthy to die in the same way as Jesus; therefore, he was bound, not nailed, to a cross that was hung in an X shape rather than a T.
According to Acts of Andrew, as he hung there dying, Andrew praised the cross as a symbol of Christ’s beautiful redemption:
“Hail, O Cross, inaugurated by the Body of Christ and adorned with his limbs as though they were precious pearls. Before the Lord mounted you, you inspired an earthly fear. Now, instead, endowed with heavenly love, you are accepted as a gift.
“Believers know of the great joy that you possess, and of the multitude of gifts you have prepared. I come to you, therefore, confident and joyful, so that you too may receive me exultant as a disciple of the One who was hung upon you…. O blessed Cross, clothed in the majesty and beauty of the Lord’s limbs!… Take me, carry me far from men, and restore me to my Teacher, so that, through you, the one who redeemed me by you, may receive me. Hail, O Cross; yes, hail indeed!”
In the entry for Andrew, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs says:
"He preached the gospel to many Asiatic nations, but on his arrival at Edessa, he was taken and crucified on a cross, the two ends of which were fixed transversely in the ground. Hence the derivation of the term, St. Andrew's Cross."
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