How Old Were The Disciples?

I always assumed that the disciples were older. The movies and paintings I saw as a child showed them as father figures. But, the question How Old Were the Disciples? opens the door to a fascinating truth about Christ’s earliest followers.

I love exploring questions like this one about the disciples, where the Bible does not give us an explicit answer. Analyzing scripture in context can reveal interesting clues to the answer, just as with Mary’s age. And, the process of exploring and interpreting the Bible with a question in mind grows my faith.

How Old Were the Disciples, Really?

There are many scriptural and contextual clues that help us to answer this question of the disciples age with a degree of authority. And, while I can’t determine their exact ages, I can safely say that they were mostly teenagers.

In the interest of brevity and saving you time, I will only provide a brief synopsis of each reason, here. If you want more info, be sure to check out the linked articles.

Reasons To Believe They Were Teenagers

• Jesus told Peter to pay the temple tax for just the two of them.
  The temple tax was required of Jewish men, twenty years and older. But, Jesus instructed Peter in Matthew 17:24-27 to pay it only for the two of them, noticeably excluding the other eleven.

• Only Peter had a wife in the gospels (Matt 8:14). The others wed later.
  There were clear cultural norms for marriage in antiquity. This makes the absence of wives stand out. Paul’s reference in 1 Cor 9:5 suggests that the others were younger, as they eventually wed.

• The cultural context for discipleship affirms their youth.
  Disciples were typically chosen in their teens, after basic religious education but before becoming fully established. Rabbis invested in students who were still formable, not men already anchored by careers, households, and status.

• The mother of James and John appealed to Jesus on their behalf.
  Grown men did not need their mother to advocate publicly (Matthew 20:20-28) on their behalf. Her involvement makes more sense, if James and John had not yet established households of their own.

• No one referred to the disciples as presbuteros until after Acts.
  Presbuteros means an elder. The Bible commonly applies the term to leaders of the early church, but always in reference to older men. Its absence here suggests they were still younger, even as they grew into leadership roles.

The Aging of the Apostles

Don’t worry, if you’re confused by the claim that the disciples were teenagers. I was, too. The aging of the apostles has been happening for a very long time. Media portrayals consistently place them beyond what the biblical context suggests.

Consider the depictions of the Last Supper by Davinci, and in the Monreale Cathedral mosaics. They were created hundreds of years ago, but just look at the apostles. Some of them are shown as the grey haired elders of Christ.

Why would artists render the disciples this way?

• We have pretty big spoilers about who the Twelve eventually became.
• We tend to associate leadership and spiritual maturity with greater age.
• Many works are designed to evoke a sense of their later apostolic authority.

The Chosen television series portrays the disciples as roughly the same age as Jesus. While this is closer to reality, it also points to a modern reason why we tend to imagine the apostles as older than they were.

• A grown Jesus recruiting teenage boys to leave their homes and follow him would probably feel unsettling to a modern audience.

All that to say, it’s entirely understandable that we picture the apostles as older. We see them through the lens of who they became. And, age feels like a natural companion to such wisdom, faith, and authority.

But Jesus met them as he meets us all, before their experience with him could form and shape them. We must hold space for the reality of who they were in the Gospels. It deepens the reading. It reminds us that God works patiently through those of us who are still growing into who He wants us to be.

Application for Today

If the disciples were indeed younger than we imagine, then there is at least one lesson we can learn for today. Youth is not a liability to be overcome. It is the place where transformation begins.

I have been guilty of approaching the youth in my church from the perspective that they are children in need of feeding. Perhaps this is not the worst thing, as Jesus did instruct Peter, that if he loved Him, then he should feed and tend to his lambs.

But, God chose and prepared many of the greatest Christian thinkers and evangelists for ministry during their period of adolescence. They went on to do incredible things. Adolescent callings appear in the Biblical narratives, as well.

So, today I am considering the following:

1. What could I do to better equip my children to follow Jesus as adults?
2. Do I listen like Jesus would, as they discuss and share their thoughts on faith?
3. Am I prepared to respect them as the next generation of adult leaders?

More on the Disciples

• Was Paul a disciple?
• Who was the youngest disciple?
• The Oldest Disciple