Don’t assume “disciples” means only male disciples. As Jesus’ ministry grew, his group of followers expanded far beyond the “original” twelve. There are more verses about the crowds, but you get the idea. Luke 19:37 When he came near the place where the road goes down from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God… Luke 10:1 …the Lord appointed seventy-two and sent them two by two ahead of him… A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over…. Luke 6:17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. Luke 6:13 called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them whom he also designated apostles. Don’t assume “disciples” means just the twelve apostles. Here are five things to consider when you see the word “disciples” in your bible: 1. But when I read through the New Testament, a very different picture emerges one I find to be more engaging and appealing and am guessing you will too. The phrase “unschooled, ordinary men” perpetuates the misconception that Jesus traveled in the company of twelve male disciples of questionable abilities (remember those Jesus film parodies?). (More on the nuances of the Greek words for “unschooled” and “ordinary” can be found here.) While the verse refers to Peter and John and probably had more to do with their lack of religious training than anything else, over the years this description has been applied to the disciples as a whole. The genesis of this idea is found in Acts 4:13: “When saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished”. This idea that Jesus chose poor, uneducated fishermen as his disciples is entrenched in evangelistic teaching, and was something I heard often growing up in the church.
Recently, I heard it said in a sermon that the early church was led by “unschooled, ordinary men”.