Kaitlin Melin - New Testament Timeline

Mary’s husband. Joseph is a direct paternal descendent of the great King David, which makes Jesus an heir to the Davidic line. This heritage reinforces Jesus’s place in the Jewish tradition.

Jewish high priest who is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus. Caiaphas is also said to have been involved in the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. According to the Gospel accounts, Caiaphas was the most hostile enemy of Jesus.

As prefect, Pontius Pilate governs Judea by the authority of the Roman Empire during the time of Jesus’s trial in Jerusalem.

Luke’s narrative of Jesus’s infancy focuses heavily on the courage and faith of Mary, who becomes impregnated by the Holy Spirit. She is also one of the only people who remains with Jesus through the crucifixion. Gospel writers who have a high esteem for the female leaders in the early church community point to Mary as a model of discipleship. Her death is not recorded in the scriptures, but Catholic and Orthodox tradition and doctrine have her assumed (taken bodily) into Heaven.

The forerunner to Jesus, spreading the word of Jesus’s imminent arrival. John the Baptist is an old ascetic who lives in the desert, wears a loincloth, and feeds on locusts and honey.

The central figure of the New Testament, whose life, death, and resurrection are chronicled in the books. The four Gospels describe Jesus’s life until his resurrection, and the remainder of the New Testament concerns itself with the community of followers of Jesus that steadily grows after his death.

Praised early in Acts for his generosity toward the church, Barnabas later becomes one of Paul’s traveling companions and fellow missionaries, joining Paul in spreading the Gospel among the Gentiles.

Usually identified as Nathaniel and was introduced to Christ through St. Philip, another of the twelve apostles. The name Nathaniel is the one used for him in St. John's Gospel. There is no information about his later life but it is said by many writers that he preached in India. It is thought that he was skinned alive and beheaded to Albanus or Albanopolis on the Caspian Sea.

Traditionally considered the first apostle to be martyred. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle. He is also called James the Greater or James the Great to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus and James the brother of Jesus (James the Just).

Left his boat and his father and followed Jesus with no questions asked. The first thing he saw after he followed Jesus was his teaching with authority in the synagogue and the cure of Simon's mother-in-law. He was chosen to proclaim the good news, and he was given the authority to heal and cast out demons.

Judas betrayed Jesus to the authorities in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. According to Matthew, Judas commits suicide out of remorse

In a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples . Jesus asks, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" The disciples give various answers. When he asks, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answers, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus then declares:
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
His apostolic activity in Judea and the neighboring districts after the resurrection of Jesus is recorded chiefly in Acts. After the ascension, he ,undismayed by the threats of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, preached and worked in Samaria performing many miracles. When he returned to Jerusalem, he was imprisoned under Herod Agrippa after the death of James. He escaped, left the city and he seems to have taken up his residence there after Herod's death.

Also known as Saint Jude. He is known as the patron of lost causes and desperate cases, and the patron saint of hospitals. Jude was one of Jesus' twelve original apostles, though little specific information is known about his life. He is not the traitor Judas Iscariot, and he faithfully followed Jesus until his crucifixion, and then later set out to evangelize.

According to the New Testament. He is informally called doubting Thomas because he doubted Jesus' resurrection when first told , followed later by his confession of faith, "My Lord and my God", on seeing Jesus' wounded body.

Among the early followers and apostles of Jesus, Matthew is mentioned as publican who, while sitting at the "receipt of custom" in Capernaum, was called to follow Jesus. Matthew may have collected taxes from the Hebrew people for Herod Antipas. Matthew is also listed among the twelve, but without identification of his background. Jesus' called the tax collector Levi, the son of Alphaeus, but Mark and Luke never explicitly equate this Levi with the Matthew named as one of the twelve.

Was the first disciple of Jesus. He was the younger brother of Saint Peter and was born in Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus called him and Peter to be "fishers of men" and from that point they were Jesus' disciples. He was originally a disciple of John the Baptist. John told him that Jesus was the Lamb of God and that is when he realized that Jesus was greater.

He is often identified with James the Less and commonly known by that name in church tradition. He is also labeled "the minor", "the little", "the lesser", or "the younger", according to translation. He is distinct from James, son of Zebedee and in some interpretations also from James, brother of Jesus (James the Just). He appears only four times in the New Testament, each time in a list of the twelve apostles.

More than half of the books in the New Testament have been attributed to Paul of Tarsus, the great missionary who directs the spread of Christianity after the death of Jesus. In these books, Paul uses his keen mind and robust intellect to develop Christianity’s first sophisticated theology. In the period immediately following Jesus’s death, he is an active persecutor of Jesus’s followers, but he later converts and becomes the most active proponent of Christ’s disciples.

A female follower of Jesus since the time of his Galilean ministry, when he exorcises her of seven demons (Luke 8:2). Mary Magdalene is a close friend of Jesus. She is one of the women who discover that Jesus’s body is not in his grave. Following this event, she witnesses the resurrected Jesus. She is also known as Mary of Magdala.

Named mostly in the Gospel of John but his name appears in all the gospels as well. He was from Bethsaida. When Jesus needed to feed the five thousand, he asked him how he should and his answers seemed practical. Like all the other apostles, however, he was a little bit slow in understanding what Jesus was trying to tell him.

Before his calling to follow Christ, he was a zealous nationalist who wanted to drive out the Romans from the cities; his group tactics often resulted in bloody conflict. Other than him being listed as one of the twelve apostles 4 times, there is no other mention of him in scripture. There is very little known about him. He was crucified.

Was commonly believed to have been the "beloved apostle" and companion of Jesus. He is the author of the New Testament books known as the Gospel of John, the three Epistles of John, and of the book of Revelation.

The traveling companion and fellow missionary of Paul. Timothy coauthors letters with Paul—such as 1 Corinthians and Philippians—and serves as his emissary throughout the Christian communities of the Mediterranean.

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Mark

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Unknown

Author : James (Jesus' half-brother)

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Luke

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle John

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Luke

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Peter

Author : Apostle Paul

Author : Apostle Peter

Author : Jude (Jesus' half-brother)

Author : Apostle Matthew

Author : Apostle John

Author : Apostle John

Author : Apostle John

Author : Apostle John

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