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Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness and What He Wants to Do With You
Contrary to popular belief, we do not have to be perfect to do God's work. Look no further than the twelve disciples whose many weaknesses are forever preserved throughout the pages of the New Testament. Jesus chose ordinary men - fisherman, tax collectors, political zealots - and turned their weakness into strength, producing greatness from utter uselessness. MacArthur draws principles from Christ's careful, hands-on training of the original twelve disciples for today's modern disciple - you.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
2700 people are currently reading
7671 people want to read
About the author
John F. MacArthur Jr.
1,344 books1,917 followersJohn F. MacArthur, Jr. was a United States Calvinistic evangelical writer and minister, noted for his radio program entitled Grace to You and as the editor of the Gold Medallion Book Award-winning MacArthur Study Bible. MacArthur was a fifth-generation pastor, a popular author and conference speaker, and served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California beginning in 1969, as well as President of The Master’s College (and the related Master’s Seminary) in Santa Clarita, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 630 reviews
November 10, 2010
There seemed to be too much speculation and too little known facts about the majority of the disciples, but that didn't stop the author from going on and on -- I believe this book would have been better leaving out the speculation and sticking to facts. This would have meant the book would have been half it's length. Also, I noticed he used a verse to "prove" the death penalty was okay. I had to read this book for church, otherwise I wouldn't have made it through the first chapter. In non-fiction, I prefer facts to speculation. I think making this into a historical fiction book would have worked better because then the different things that were thrown in as "likely" wouldn't have irritated me the way it did in something suppossedly non-fiction. To know what the preferences of the disciples were based on the culutre of the day isn't fact. Nor the way he said "He never". Just because something isn't stated in Scripture doesn't mean it didn't happen.
November 3, 2013
First, I was shocked to discover that Mark and Luke, writers of two of the Gospels were not disciples of Jesus'. Second, this book really brings home the fact that God can and will use an imperfect man such as I. In fact, it seems to be a prerequisite of His that I be as far from perfection as possible, before I can be used of Him. I got a lot of encouragement from this book and highly recommend it for everyone.
May 21, 2008
Jesus didn't choose the wealthiest, noblest, smartest, most religious, nicest, prettiest, or most athletic to be his disciples. He chose from the bottom of the barrel. The ordinary people like you and me. We can relate to all of the disciples in some way.
December 14, 2022
Honestly, before reading this, I'm not sure I could have named all of the 12 disciples. I think I unconsciously avoided reading this thinking I knew enough about the subject matter. And while, yes, the content is familiar, I also learned a lot and was encouraged by God's work in the Apostle's lives.
The biggest theme of this book is how God selected the unworthy and the unqualified. It was solely the work of God to mold and shape these very ordinary men to do the work of the kingdom; displaying how God truly chooses the poor and humble of this world to accomplish His goals.
just some ordinary fishermen...
just an ordinary tax collector...
just some ordinary, regular guys...
"Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God" - 2 Corinthians 3:5
The biggest theme of this book is how God selected the unworthy and the unqualified. It was solely the work of God to mold and shape these very ordinary men to do the work of the kingdom; displaying how God truly chooses the poor and humble of this world to accomplish His goals.
just some ordinary fishermen...
just an ordinary tax collector...
just some ordinary, regular guys...
"Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God" - 2 Corinthians 3:5
August 12, 2021
I thought this was a great read to enrich my knowledge on the lives of the disciples. MacArthur describes both their strengths and weaknesses at length, and how God used them for the building of the church despite major flaws and imperfections. He gives some speculation on the lesser known disciples, but seems believable given the amount of study he’s done.
August 5, 2024
Some of this was okay. But unfortunately at least 40% of the book was his own personal opinion that he states as fact. I feel this can be dangerous and misleading to those beginning their walk with Jesus. The parts that are taken straight from the Bible are done well.
May 26, 2025
Faith Building
Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur is a collection of biographical sermons about the original 12 Apostles. Let me say from the outset that this is my favorite book by the author. I’ve already read it three times, and I intend to read it again at some point. The book humanizes the Apostles. They were chosen by God, and developed into the developers of the Christian church, but they were just men.
The reader will appreciate the person-by-person structure of the book. A standout chapter is the one about Andrew, Peter’s younger brother. Why? Because all Andrew did was introduce people to Jesus. It is encouraging to understand that if Christ can use someone like Andrew, he can also use someone like me.
If any are wondering, this book even takes a look at Judas. It’s as comprehensive as it can be. It uses some church history writings to fill in some gaps, but the primary source of reference for the information is, of course, the Bible.
I’d recommend Twelve Ordinary Men to anyone looking for personal growth, especially those in leadership. Your faith will grow as you gain insights into the lives and faith of the Apostles.
Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur is a collection of biographical sermons about the original 12 Apostles. Let me say from the outset that this is my favorite book by the author. I’ve already read it three times, and I intend to read it again at some point. The book humanizes the Apostles. They were chosen by God, and developed into the developers of the Christian church, but they were just men.
The reader will appreciate the person-by-person structure of the book. A standout chapter is the one about Andrew, Peter’s younger brother. Why? Because all Andrew did was introduce people to Jesus. It is encouraging to understand that if Christ can use someone like Andrew, he can also use someone like me.
If any are wondering, this book even takes a look at Judas. It’s as comprehensive as it can be. It uses some church history writings to fill in some gaps, but the primary source of reference for the information is, of course, the Bible.
I’d recommend Twelve Ordinary Men to anyone looking for personal growth, especially those in leadership. Your faith will grow as you gain insights into the lives and faith of the Apostles.
December 9, 2008
This book highlights each of the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus to follow him and how each one of them was "ordinary." Yet in their ordinariness, Jesus changed them and formed them into the church leaders that they eventually became. It also served as a warning of how hard-heartedness and pride, as in the case of Judas Iscariot, can cause our downfall. As far as the content of the book goes, I found it interesting how John MacArthur could create a picture of each of these apostles even with little being written about them in the Bible. The end of each chapter emphasized their common characteristics, but also highlighted how they impacted the early church and how many of them were martyred. Although MacArthur sometimes makes side commentary that was unnecessary in speaking to the character of these apostles, I found this book to trigger some reflection on my own character and how ordinariness can be used in spiritual growth.
September 17, 2018
Twelve Ordinary Men was no ordinary book. I learned a lot about the apostles lives, background, and their relationship with Jesus. It definitely cleared up wrong misconceptions that I had like the whole Simon/Peter name confusion, and that the apostle James isn’t the James who wrote the book of James. Although, some of it was speculative based upon what the Bible tells us of these men, I think that the conclusions MacArthur makes in those instances are likely accurate. It was also very interesting reading MacArthur try and dissect the thoughts and desires of Judas Iscariot.
Would recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about these ordinary Galileans.
Would recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about these ordinary Galileans.
June 13, 2012
It was based on past sermons, It is really an insight to the personalities of the Apostles. Although much speculation, it is all Scripture based and very believable
November 12, 2019
"The legacy of their greatness is the church, a living, breathing organism which they helped found and of which they became the very foundation stones..the church, now some two hundred years old, exists today because these men launched the expansion of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth."
This book is an adaptation of a series of messages about the apostles. It gives information about each one according to what was written in the Bible by or about each apostle and includes some extra-biblical sources as well.
It was an interesting book and I learned quite a bit about the apostles and saw them in a new light. However, there were a few things that took away from the content.
1. I just really struggle with MacArthur's writing tone. He comes off as authoritative, overly sure of himself and condescending of people that aren't like him (and this seems consistent in other books of his I've read). In some places, like when he was talking about Peter's leadership, the author seemed to include himself in the description of desirable qualities (saying, "some of us...") and then in other places, like talking about how boring and uptight (my paraphrase) Phillip was as more of an administrator, he seemed pretty inhospitable. It felt to me like he was more dismissive of people's weakness if their strengths were more like the author's (I could be totally reading into that, but that's how it felt). He also makes a somewhat random comment about how almost all school shooting perpetrators were prescribed Ritalin instead of being disciplined by their parents. I think it's a little more complex than that, but ok. His opinions are off-putting to me.
2. There was a lot of speculation. Like a lot. I get it. There's not a lot to go on in the Bible about these people (especially the lesser known apostles), but I'm really not comfortable with guessing at their personalities or assigning them motivations from the little that can be pieced together about them. At one point he writes, "Phillip, being the typical administrative type, probably carried around in his head a full manual of protocols and procedures. (In fact, if he was like many administrators I have known, he might have had an actual written policy manual, which he fastidiously devised and insisted on following to the letter. He strikes me as that kind of by-the-book person.)" Doesn't that sound kind of belittling (of Phillip and of administrators)? It's comments like that are a total turn off to me about MacArthur's writing. The whole chapter on Phillip (the "bean counter" according to the author) was disappointing, but almost all of the chapters had quite a bit of conjecture and unwarranted uses of "undoubtedly" and "we can be certain."
3. I think because this was a sermon series originally, each of the chapters probably needed to be about the same length. It seems like because of that, some chapters had a lot of filler in them. The author would go into great detail about kind of minor things, or give the full backstory about episodes or Old Testament references. It's not bad, it's just kind of obvious that he was trying to find ways to talk about each person that didn't really have a lot to to with that person specifically. Along with that, the author was kind of repetitive.
That all being said, it was worth reading because I did learn about the apostles and I did appreciate MacArthur's emphasis that there was nothing inherently special about these men that made them prime candidates for being apostles. God chose ordinary men and equipped them for extraordinary service. MacArthur makes this point multiple times and I think it's important. Each man was different (although I definitely don't agree with the author that "there's at least one of every imaginable personality" represented in the 12; what a narrow view of personality). God used these men, weaknesses and sin and all for his great purposes and, while they're not heroes, there's a lot to admire about their service and sacrifice. We serve a great God who assembled and trained a group of men that went on to proclaim his good news so that, far down the line, someone like me could hear and believe. Praise God for his unexpected but perfect plan!
This book is an adaptation of a series of messages about the apostles. It gives information about each one according to what was written in the Bible by or about each apostle and includes some extra-biblical sources as well.
It was an interesting book and I learned quite a bit about the apostles and saw them in a new light. However, there were a few things that took away from the content.
1. I just really struggle with MacArthur's writing tone. He comes off as authoritative, overly sure of himself and condescending of people that aren't like him (and this seems consistent in other books of his I've read). In some places, like when he was talking about Peter's leadership, the author seemed to include himself in the description of desirable qualities (saying, "some of us...") and then in other places, like talking about how boring and uptight (my paraphrase) Phillip was as more of an administrator, he seemed pretty inhospitable. It felt to me like he was more dismissive of people's weakness if their strengths were more like the author's (I could be totally reading into that, but that's how it felt). He also makes a somewhat random comment about how almost all school shooting perpetrators were prescribed Ritalin instead of being disciplined by their parents. I think it's a little more complex than that, but ok. His opinions are off-putting to me.
2. There was a lot of speculation. Like a lot. I get it. There's not a lot to go on in the Bible about these people (especially the lesser known apostles), but I'm really not comfortable with guessing at their personalities or assigning them motivations from the little that can be pieced together about them. At one point he writes, "Phillip, being the typical administrative type, probably carried around in his head a full manual of protocols and procedures. (In fact, if he was like many administrators I have known, he might have had an actual written policy manual, which he fastidiously devised and insisted on following to the letter. He strikes me as that kind of by-the-book person.)" Doesn't that sound kind of belittling (of Phillip and of administrators)? It's comments like that are a total turn off to me about MacArthur's writing. The whole chapter on Phillip (the "bean counter" according to the author) was disappointing, but almost all of the chapters had quite a bit of conjecture and unwarranted uses of "undoubtedly" and "we can be certain."
3. I think because this was a sermon series originally, each of the chapters probably needed to be about the same length. It seems like because of that, some chapters had a lot of filler in them. The author would go into great detail about kind of minor things, or give the full backstory about episodes or Old Testament references. It's not bad, it's just kind of obvious that he was trying to find ways to talk about each person that didn't really have a lot to to with that person specifically. Along with that, the author was kind of repetitive.
That all being said, it was worth reading because I did learn about the apostles and I did appreciate MacArthur's emphasis that there was nothing inherently special about these men that made them prime candidates for being apostles. God chose ordinary men and equipped them for extraordinary service. MacArthur makes this point multiple times and I think it's important. Each man was different (although I definitely don't agree with the author that "there's at least one of every imaginable personality" represented in the 12; what a narrow view of personality). God used these men, weaknesses and sin and all for his great purposes and, while they're not heroes, there's a lot to admire about their service and sacrifice. We serve a great God who assembled and trained a group of men that went on to proclaim his good news so that, far down the line, someone like me could hear and believe. Praise God for his unexpected but perfect plan!
December 2, 2019
This is a great book about the 12 apostles, I highly recommend it! Each chapter collects all the passages we have in Scripture about each of the apostles to highlight their character and journey of faith. I loved all the historical detail that MacArthur provided, which is so helpful in understanding the context. I also liked how he highlighted historical documents about the end of the apostles' lives to give us an understanding of what they did after the last things recorded about them in Acts.
MacArthur's main point was, as the title suggests, that each of the men were quite ordinary, they struggled with sinful hearts, yet the Lord used them for His extraordinary purpose. So this book is quite an encouragement for all of us!
MacArthur's main point was, as the title suggests, that each of the men were quite ordinary, they struggled with sinful hearts, yet the Lord used them for His extraordinary purpose. So this book is quite an encouragement for all of us!
January 16, 2012
A great work by John MacArthur! Dig deep into studying the lives of these men - how God/Jesus took 12 ordinary men and how God used them for the glory of His kingdom and for His purpose. :) I learned a lot of things that aren't as easily "spelled out" about the disciples in the Bible as well as a lot of lessons about what God desires of us, His children and how my life can be used for His glory! :D
April 15, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this book about the twelve apostles. McArthur did a good job of introducing us to these ordinary men. I learned something new about each one. God loves using ordinary people for extraordinary purposes.
January 26, 2008
The best book I've read about the 12 disciples. This very biblically based book does an excellent job of showing the character and character flaws on the 12 disciples. I'd highly recommend it.
October 6, 2025
“The Lord didn’t choose one recognized religious leader. He chose instead men who were not theologically trained – fishermen, a tax collector, and other common men.” John MacArthur
This book gave me fresh, multi-dimensional views of the twelve disciples – in a way that I had never fully seen or pieced together before. Biblically based in its foundation, John MacArthur skillfully presents the unique backgrounds and experiences of these men through the Gospel accounts, the book of Acts and historical writings from Josephus, Eusebius, and others.
What made an impression on me was witnessing the progression and the spiritual growth of these disciples - presented in a way that revealed to me the powerful transformation on a person’s life that happens when you spend time with Jesus on a daily basis. You see all of their inadequacies, weaknesses and faults - yet God chose to use these simple men to help change the world for all eternity.
One miracle that stood out to me was the account in Matthew 17, where there is a discussion about whether or not Jesus should pay taxes. He instructs Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish, which He then used to pay the taxes in question. This story highlights both Jesus’ submission to earthly authorities and His absolute sovereignty over nature in directing that fish to swallow the coin. This was a great new insight for me.
Another interesting contrast outlined that I had never clearly seen before, is the example given between ‘sovereign election’ and ‘human free choice’ through the example of the disciple Philip when he met Jesus.
Additionally, the insight provided into the betrayal of Judas was both enlightening and devastating to me. Sad in so many ways, yet God used that treachery to carry out His plan of salvation for all humankind.
If you are interested in learning more about the disciples from insightful comparisons and facts brilliantly outlined, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. John McArthur’s wisdom and insightful teaching has blessed my personal walk with Jesus. He is a wonderful teacher and will be missed.
*On Mary anointing the feet of Jesus and the betrayal of Judas: “The contrast is staggering: Our Lord is anointed with overwhelming love by Mary and betrayed with overwhelming hate by Judas at the same time.” – John MacArthur
This book gave me fresh, multi-dimensional views of the twelve disciples – in a way that I had never fully seen or pieced together before. Biblically based in its foundation, John MacArthur skillfully presents the unique backgrounds and experiences of these men through the Gospel accounts, the book of Acts and historical writings from Josephus, Eusebius, and others.
What made an impression on me was witnessing the progression and the spiritual growth of these disciples - presented in a way that revealed to me the powerful transformation on a person’s life that happens when you spend time with Jesus on a daily basis. You see all of their inadequacies, weaknesses and faults - yet God chose to use these simple men to help change the world for all eternity.
One miracle that stood out to me was the account in Matthew 17, where there is a discussion about whether or not Jesus should pay taxes. He instructs Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish, which He then used to pay the taxes in question. This story highlights both Jesus’ submission to earthly authorities and His absolute sovereignty over nature in directing that fish to swallow the coin. This was a great new insight for me.
Another interesting contrast outlined that I had never clearly seen before, is the example given between ‘sovereign election’ and ‘human free choice’ through the example of the disciple Philip when he met Jesus.
Additionally, the insight provided into the betrayal of Judas was both enlightening and devastating to me. Sad in so many ways, yet God used that treachery to carry out His plan of salvation for all humankind.
If you are interested in learning more about the disciples from insightful comparisons and facts brilliantly outlined, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. John McArthur’s wisdom and insightful teaching has blessed my personal walk with Jesus. He is a wonderful teacher and will be missed.
*On Mary anointing the feet of Jesus and the betrayal of Judas: “The contrast is staggering: Our Lord is anointed with overwhelming love by Mary and betrayed with overwhelming hate by Judas at the same time.” – John MacArthur
January 18, 2024
Chirp audio 7 hours 46 min. Narrated by Maurice England (A)
The narrator sounds so much like the author that it often felt like John MacArthur was sitting in my room and reading this book to me.
MacArthur is so well-versed in the Scriptures and examined them carefully and chronologically for every reference to each of Jesus's twelve disciples of whom eleven would become Apostles. There are very few references to these twelve men in the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. During Christ's earthly ministry, many probably thousands of people were drawn to Jesus because of his teaching, and most of all, they were attracted by his miracles. They were called disciples or "followers."
The first chapter was about the group as a whole unit and the amount of time spent in close relationship with Christ. Each of the following chapters was about the life and personality of each disciple, including Judas Iscariot. Some of it was repetitious, some ideas were conjecture or implied, especially when it came to personality, but none was a stretch of the imagination. I decided to listen to this book slowly, allowing myself time to reflect on individual men. It was not all new material, but I believe we tend to focus on these men as a whole or as a small group,like Peter, James, and John. This is easy reading and not spectacular in its depth. but the contents show just why Jesus chose ordinary, forgettable men to be the foundation for the spread of the gospel.. I don't buy books for our adult children, but I have already ordered copies of this book for our two sons and a daughter. That's the greatest recommendation I can give a book.
The narrator sounds so much like the author that it often felt like John MacArthur was sitting in my room and reading this book to me.
MacArthur is so well-versed in the Scriptures and examined them carefully and chronologically for every reference to each of Jesus's twelve disciples of whom eleven would become Apostles. There are very few references to these twelve men in the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. During Christ's earthly ministry, many probably thousands of people were drawn to Jesus because of his teaching, and most of all, they were attracted by his miracles. They were called disciples or "followers."
The first chapter was about the group as a whole unit and the amount of time spent in close relationship with Christ. Each of the following chapters was about the life and personality of each disciple, including Judas Iscariot. Some of it was repetitious, some ideas were conjecture or implied, especially when it came to personality, but none was a stretch of the imagination. I decided to listen to this book slowly, allowing myself time to reflect on individual men. It was not all new material, but I believe we tend to focus on these men as a whole or as a small group,like Peter, James, and John. This is easy reading and not spectacular in its depth. but the contents show just why Jesus chose ordinary, forgettable men to be the foundation for the spread of the gospel.. I don't buy books for our adult children, but I have already ordered copies of this book for our two sons and a daughter. That's the greatest recommendation I can give a book.
June 29, 2024
Actual rating 3.5 🌟
I found this to be an interesting read. Unlike some non-fiction, Bible based writings, it wasn't too dry or written in such a way that was hard to understand. The everyday average person, such as myself, can read, understand, and take something away from this book.
The author's tone was quite authoritative, but there were many times he was merely speculating about one of the disciples. In the Biblical narrative, there is a lot left unsaid about many of the disciples. Some of those gaps can be filled in with historical references, but sometimes the gaps are just that, gaps. I prefer for an author to admit that we do not know this or that rather than to speculate.
I'm not sure I 100% or even 75% agreed with his take on Judas, bad from the beginning. But, this will definitely encourage further personal study into the life of Judas on my part.
One thing I loved about this book is the way the author pointed out each disciple's "ordinary" character traits, reminding the reader that God can and does use anyone to accomplish His good purposes. He can even use someone like me.
I found this to be an interesting read. Unlike some non-fiction, Bible based writings, it wasn't too dry or written in such a way that was hard to understand. The everyday average person, such as myself, can read, understand, and take something away from this book.
The author's tone was quite authoritative, but there were many times he was merely speculating about one of the disciples. In the Biblical narrative, there is a lot left unsaid about many of the disciples. Some of those gaps can be filled in with historical references, but sometimes the gaps are just that, gaps. I prefer for an author to admit that we do not know this or that rather than to speculate.
I'm not sure I 100% or even 75% agreed with his take on Judas, bad from the beginning. But, this will definitely encourage further personal study into the life of Judas on my part.
One thing I loved about this book is the way the author pointed out each disciple's "ordinary" character traits, reminding the reader that God can and does use anyone to accomplish His good purposes. He can even use someone like me.
September 20, 2022
Very good group of biographies
October 30, 2025
May I be one also...
March 12, 2022
I read this book as part of a men's group I belong to. I must admit that I was a little nervous about it when we starting, knowing MacArthur's reputation. I have to admit that that nervousness was rather justified.
This book is a compilation of a couple versions of sermon series on the lives of the twelve apostles. Now, as anyone who has some acquaintance with the Bible will quickly realise, that isn't necessarily an easy prospect. Some apostles are mentioned a lot in the Bible, so sketching their character isn't that difficult. Some, well, are hardly mentioned past the lists of apostles in each of the Gospels. MacArthur solves this by grouping the apostles at times and sometimes by extrapolating from the admittedly scanty information we have. The result is certainly a lively piece of writing which is highly readable and often helpful.
Yet, this book left a lot of sour notes for me. MacArthur does play a little fast and loose with the Biblial accounts at times, and especially in his deployment of Greek words to support his argument. That is subtle, but can lead to some false conclusions. In addition, there is very much a Christian self-help on manhood vibe under some of these biographies, which can get a bit frustrating because it very much feels forced a lot of the time.
I'm not sure I would recommend this book, without a lot of caveats. While readable, I'm not sure I trust its readings a lot of the time.
This book is a compilation of a couple versions of sermon series on the lives of the twelve apostles. Now, as anyone who has some acquaintance with the Bible will quickly realise, that isn't necessarily an easy prospect. Some apostles are mentioned a lot in the Bible, so sketching their character isn't that difficult. Some, well, are hardly mentioned past the lists of apostles in each of the Gospels. MacArthur solves this by grouping the apostles at times and sometimes by extrapolating from the admittedly scanty information we have. The result is certainly a lively piece of writing which is highly readable and often helpful.
Yet, this book left a lot of sour notes for me. MacArthur does play a little fast and loose with the Biblial accounts at times, and especially in his deployment of Greek words to support his argument. That is subtle, but can lead to some false conclusions. In addition, there is very much a Christian self-help on manhood vibe under some of these biographies, which can get a bit frustrating because it very much feels forced a lot of the time.
I'm not sure I would recommend this book, without a lot of caveats. While readable, I'm not sure I trust its readings a lot of the time.
January 23, 2023
Goes through the twelve apostles one by one.
The good stuff: Bases itself clearly on scripture, has helpful insights about the nature of apostleship and how Jesus organized and led His apostles. Many good and helpful points. Particularly helpful in describing Peter and John, of whom much is known.
The bad stuff: Assumes a lot based on a little. Creates complex personalities for even the more obscure apostles based on little evidence. Seems to assume that the gospel writers are trying to give the readers an impression of the character of each of (or most of) the apostles, rather than giving the reader an impression of who they were as a group. Philip was a fact-driven beurocrat. Nathanael was driven by faith in Scripture and thus started out where most of the disciples hoped one day to be (here Macarthur assumes no backsliding). Etc.
The bottom line: Good with the apostles we know a lot about. Assumes too much based on very little evidence when it comes to the more obscure apostles.
The good stuff: Bases itself clearly on scripture, has helpful insights about the nature of apostleship and how Jesus organized and led His apostles. Many good and helpful points. Particularly helpful in describing Peter and John, of whom much is known.
The bad stuff: Assumes a lot based on a little. Creates complex personalities for even the more obscure apostles based on little evidence. Seems to assume that the gospel writers are trying to give the readers an impression of the character of each of (or most of) the apostles, rather than giving the reader an impression of who they were as a group. Philip was a fact-driven beurocrat. Nathanael was driven by faith in Scripture and thus started out where most of the disciples hoped one day to be (here Macarthur assumes no backsliding). Etc.
The bottom line: Good with the apostles we know a lot about. Assumes too much based on very little evidence when it comes to the more obscure apostles.
December 7, 2023
Before reading this book, I would look at the 12 disciples and think that they were just 12 prominent figures in church history. But I like how they’re described in this book, as “the twelve most important men in history.” With clearly understandable explanations of the character of these men, taken entirely from what is given us by Scripture, John MacArthur beautifully connects these men, whom we know quite little about, to all ordinary people in the world today. Though some descriptions of disciples may become a little far reaching in further chapters such as when talking about Philip, every single description of the disciples in this book is rooted and founded upon Scripture alone, also with some aid from early church history records. Great read; bravo to John MacArthur for bringing to life these men whom we barely have met in the pages of Scripture.
December 26, 2024
Wow, I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially during the Christmas season as we see glimpses into the heart of God as we look at every aspect of Christ from his birth to his time with the twelve. Such a wonderful character study that reads as a beautiful blend of a biography and a Bible study. I love how much I learned! Beautiful book for any looking to grow in a deeper, personal relationship with Jesus Christ specifically as we can glean so much of His heart and character from the rich descriptions given from Christs closest relationships. I finished the book feeling more love and adoration for my wonderful Savior. ♥️
September 26, 2021
I love how MacArthur relies so heavily on scripture to teach about who each of the disciples was. It’s very helpful to see each of their mentions in scripture laid out and sorted. He also provides helpful background and context regarding who they were (spoiler: they were pretty ordinary men). Only complaint would be how far he extrapolates such admittedly limited information to make declarative statements about who these men were, what their personalities were like, and what their motivations were. It’s helpful for drawing applications for the reader, though, which are all good and true.
July 30, 2020
I really enjoyed learning more about the 12 disciples. This book was very informative and I liked how it referenced Bible verses throughout to show where the author was getting his information. Reading about the 12 also helped with identifying them (since some have multiple names) throughout the New Testament. I would recommend this book if you (like me) are sometimes confused about who was who and how they lived, preached, and died for Christ. Very good book and I plan on reading it again.
July 31, 2023
from ordinary to extraordinary ..
I appreciate how the author highlights the way Jesus fashions the ordinary, humble person into a holy & authentic version of themself that could not have been possible without a deep ,trusting relationship. This brings a new perspective on the fallibility of each apostle along with their willingness to make mistakes but get back up and continue trying to love and follow Christ.
I appreciate how the author highlights the way Jesus fashions the ordinary, humble person into a holy & authentic version of themself that could not have been possible without a deep ,trusting relationship. This brings a new perspective on the fallibility of each apostle along with their willingness to make mistakes but get back up and continue trying to love and follow Christ.
December 13, 2024
I really liked this book. Interesting facts about each disciple.
November 9, 2025
MacArthur takes a deep dive into the twelve disciples, digging through the scripture to build personality profiles. This was interesting for the disciples that we have an abundance of information on, although the author took the liberty of assuming how the men would have felt about different situations.
Overall this was a neat read, with its intention to show that the disciples were not special men but had a special call. A call that every born again believer has: to share the truth of the gospel with the world.
Overall this was a neat read, with its intention to show that the disciples were not special men but had a special call. A call that every born again believer has: to share the truth of the gospel with the world.
February 6, 2020
Excelente introdução à vida dos apóstolos, recheada de detalhes históricos, verdades teológicos e aplicações precisas para a vida cristã.
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