Note 1 at Mk. 3:14: Jesus had many disciples. On another occasion, He appointed 70 disciples to go before Him into each city that He was planning to visit (Lk. 10:1). These men in this verse, however, were set aside as "apostles" (Lk. 6:13) and became the leaders of Christ's church (see note 2 at Lk. 6:13, p. 109). There were other apostles besides these twelve. They were Barnabas and Paul (Acts 14:14), James, the brother of the Lord (Gal. 1:19), Silvanus (Silas), and Timotheus (Timothy--1 Th. 1:1 with 2:6), Andronicus and Junia (Rom. 16:7), and others (1 Cor. 15:5-7).

The term "twelve" began to become descriptive of this group and was applied to them even after Judas had hung himself leaving only eleven of the original apostles (Jn. 20:24; 1 Cor. 15:5). The term "eleven" is used more frequently after Judas' death, however (Mt. 28:16; Mk. 16:14; Lk. 24:9,33; Acts 1:26; 2:14).