An accurate understanding of the role of the twelve disciples during the ministry of Jesus is essential for a proper understanding of ministry in the church, especially in view of the fact that this group chosen by Jesus was exclusively comprised of Jewish males.
Apart from the Twelve, Jesus had many followers who were actively involved in ministry with and around him. Among them were the seventy-two missionaries who spoke and healed on his behalf (Luke 10:1-20) and a group of women who traveled with him and the Twelve (8:1-3). Among all of these, Jesus intentionally selected a group of twelve men as his disciples (students), in order to make them his apostles (missionaries). To the Twelve he committed his teaching, and he commanded them to pass it on after his ascension in order to make disciples of all the nations (Matt. 28:19). As such, the Twelve formed the nucleus that Christ would use to build his church, the new community (16:18).
The symbolism of the number twelve is self-evident. Jesus made clear a relation between the old covenant people represented by its twelve tribes and the people of the new community represented by the twelve apostles, with the latter taking precedence over the former (Luke 22:29-30). The ancient nation of Israel had begun with the patriarchs, the fathers of the twelve tribes. The new Israel, the spiritual descendants of Abraham, began with the twelve disciples. They were the new covenant counterpart to the twelve patriarchs. They formed the transition group between the past and the future, between the ancient people and the new community.
