Bartholomew The Twelve Apostles Sermon Series Part 7 of 14

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. We are officially at the halfway point of our sermon series on the Twelve Apostles. If you’re new with us, then please check out the playlist. Get caught up. It’s on our YouTube channel and also on our website.

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Now today, we’re talking about Bartholomew. Bartholomew is also known as Nathaniel, speculation there, but pretty certain. Some scholars speculate that Bartholomew was his last name. Nathaniel might’ve been his first name. It’s indeed possible that Bartholomew and Nathaniel are one and the same person.

Nathaniel is mentioned about six times in six different verses. Bartholomew is only about four times in four different verses throughout the New Testament. Last week, we spoke about Phillip.

Phillip was the one who introduced Bartholomew to Jesus. He, he, Phillip — Jesus called him and he ran away immediately and went and got Bartholomew, or Nathaniel, and brought him to Jesus.

Phillip also died upside down on a cross. And while he was dying, he was convincing everyone and the people around him, preaching, and he convinced them to let Bartholomew go.

Bartholomew was hanging upside down next to him on the cross and they let Bartholomew go. They did that after they had converted the proconsul’s wife to Christianity. Now, I mentioned that we saw this before in one of the other apostles and that it could’ve been James. Well, it wasn’t James. We were right, partially. It was King Herod Agrippa that killed James with the sword.

His accuser was so motivated that he requested to be beheaded with him. But the one that converted another person’s wife was the governor of Greece and that was Andrew. He converted Governor Aegeas’ wife and son to Christianity and then was sentenced to execution. He died on an X-shaped cross which is Saint Andrew’s cross.

And then we had Phillip who also — Phillip and Bartholomew — they converted the proconsul’s wife and they were sentenced to execution as well. So it seems that a lot of these popular governing officials’ wives were seeking something more.

Probably because their husbands were too stone-cold and always busy. So they were looking for other things and they found Jesus. Found Christianity. Then when the husband found out, he was angry, jealous, furious, and sentenced to whoever converted the wife to execution.

Either way, Bartholomew. We don’t know a ton about him. As mentioned, he’s mentioned — the word Nathaniel is mentioned like six times, and it’s really only through one section and that is when “Phillip goes and finds Nathaniel,” “and then he brings Nathaniel to Christ,” “Jesus said to Nathaniel,” and it’s all right within that one little paragraph, that same story.

And so then the only other things we know about this person, is when it’s mentioned as Bartholomew. So that’s why scholars believe it’s the same. It’s the same person, one and the same.

Bartholomew was the son of Talmai. How do we know that? Well, the roots of the word we have “bar” and “tholomew” or “bar-talmai” What does that mean? Bar-Talmai.

Well, “bar” means “son of.” So we have “son of Talmai.” Who is this Talmai? Well, Bartholomew lived in Cana. Of Galilee. So he was also a Galilean and we get that from John Chapter 21 Verse 2.

So, let’s go there. We’ll start out with that. John 21 Verse 2 (John 21:2), “Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.” So Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee.

Now, whether he was really from Cana or whether that was some type of a translation error and it was known as something like that. We’re not sure. We’ll come up with that later on in other messages about the other disciples.

But for now, they were all together, these disciples were together. We believe that Bartholomew could have been a fisherman and the only reason I say this is because the next verses to follow.

“‘I am going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat and that night they caught nothing.” And, so maybe they were all fishermen, or maybe they just went with Peter because Peter needed to go fishing.

Now this is also the only disciple, Bartholomew, who could have come from royal blood. Now why do we say this? Well, it could be a stretch, but the original Talmai or “Tall Me” was a king of Geshur.

His daughter Maakah was the wife of King David. She was the mother of Absalom. So David, his son Absalom. He came from that line. How do we know they came from that line?

Well, we can go back to 2 Samuel 3:3 and we’ll get the genealogy there and then we can draw some lines because if Bartholomew was the son of Talmai or Bar-Talmai then where did they get that name?

Now, of course, this is thousands of years apart. David, King David, was not alive with Jesus. It was generations later and so how do we have that? Well, it was tradition, that the name got carried down, or passed down, throughout the lineage.

And so we have the original Talmai who was king, and then we have Bartholomew who is son of Talmai of the New Testament age. Then it’s possible that that royal lineage was continued down.

Now, if this was indeed the case, we know that Jesus came from where? Through David’s line. So it’s possible that they were indeed related.

That Bartholomew could have been a cousin or something of Jesus. Or Nathaniel could have been a cousin of Jesus. We don’t know, it’s all speculation, but that’s okay.

Let’s go to 2 Samuel 3:3, “His second, Kileab the son of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third, Absalom the son of Maakah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur.” So it was married in.

David was royal and Maakah was a royal. Of Geshur. She was the daughter of the king of Geshur. They married and had Absalom.

Now, of course, the question becomes then, we know that Absalom — if you know the Old Testament — Absalom ends up dying. He may have had children and that may have continued down, but we don’t know for certain.

Now you can check out Complete-Bible-Genealogy.com with hyphens, and you can do all kinds of investigating into this if you’d like to establish the lineage, and a family tree, and see where Bartholomew indeed came from, and know where Jesus came from.

We know Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. The lion out of Judah, through David, and on and on. And so, yeah, maybe Bartholomew was a cousin of Jesus from the other side of the royalty line, but Absalom died out.

So if Absalom had other wives or children, which is very likely given the nature of Absalom and what we know of him. That lineage could’ve been carried down and Bartholomew could be there in the New Testament as a distant relative of Jesus, which is kind of cool.

Again, not a salvation issue whether you believe it one way or another. It’s not going to affect you going to Heaven, but it’s pretty neat to know and understand that there is so much more going on in the Bible than we really realize.

That if they were indeed related, Jesus knew His disciples. He hand-picked them because of who they were, not just that day, but who they — where they came from. Their lineage, everything.

He called brothers. He called sets of brothers. He called relatives. Cousins. These guys were a family. Whether they knew it at the time or not. They were a family and they became a family through traveling together. So that’s pretty cool.

Either way, Bartholomew was a devout believer. He followed Christ to the very end. To the very end. He preached with Phillip in Egypt. Remember the city of Heliopolis?

He was sentenced to crucifixion there and Phillip and Bartholomew were sentenced to execution, hung upside down on a cross. By the grace of God, he was released. He was released.

After that, he traveled to India where he translated the gospel of Matthew for the believers there. Now you say, “Why did he only translate Matthew? Why didn’t he translate all the other gospels?”

Well, maybe he only had time to translate Matthew? Maybe Matthew was the only one who wrote down everything? Matthew was the only really educated disciple. He was a tax collector.

He could read and write and do math and calculate numbers. He had all of that formal education, and so, it’s very likely that Matthew had distributed his manuscript — more widely distributed than the others.

So Bartholomew translated Matthew for people in India. He was very studious. He studied the Scripture. The Law of the Prophets. He obviously read Matthew. Bartholomew didn’t write a book of his own, but he was translating his friends’ books.

He eventually ended up dying through a very brutal death. He was beaten, then skinned alive with a filet knife, and then beheaded. You say, “Wow! The beating wasn’t enough?” Nope, just like Jesus with the crucifixion. He was flogged, and then beaten, and then this, and then that. And so Bartholomew was beaten first and then was skinned.

Now of course, if they skinned all of his skin off, he would have died during that process. So it’s very possible they only skinned a portion. Whether they peeled off the skin of his back or whatever they did, they skinned a portion of his body, and then eventually they chopped off his head and he died.

Bartholomew was a very interesting believer. A very interesting person. And, through the Bible, unfortunately, he isn’t mentioned a lot which is sad because it seems like this is a type of a person that we would want to know more about.

Now what’s also interesting, is Bartholomew’s name appears in every list of the disciples. So we know for sure he was an apostle. And Nathaniel, there weren’t 13 apostles so it’s very likely — like there wasn’t a Bartholomew and a Nathaniel.

So Nathaniel, or Bartholomew, is a name — a second name. One of them. Either Bartholomew or Nathaniel is a disciple and then one of those other names could have been a name for one of the other apostles.

Well, we know their names. So we’re pretty certain that Bartholomew and Nathaniel are the same person. But Bartholomew, his name appears in every list of disciples. And you can check them out. Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:14, Acts 1:13.

We can read one of them, let’s go to Matthew 10:3 and we’ll check that out quick. We’re not going to read them all, because it’s the same list. Very similar list in all of them.

Matthew 10:3 says, “Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” Bartholomew was there.

Now another thing that we need to check out is in Matthew Chapter 16 Verse 17 we get — I mentioned how Bartholomew is Bar-Talmai or “son of Talmai” and you say “Well how do we know that bar is ‘son of?’ You didn’t give us any evidence for that.”

Well, you could look it up. You know, do a little work and research and look it up and see what that means in that language. Just like in Arabic, the word “Abu” is that. It means “son of” so you say — or “father of.”

If you say your name is Abu Yusef, it’s father of Yusef. So they say that, “Abu.” Or what’s interesting is, in that movie, Aladdin, the little monkey is named Abu. Which could kind of be “father of.” Of Who? We don’t know. But interesting significance.

Now, how do we know that “bar” means son of? Well, let’s go to Matthew 16 Verse 17 (Matthew 16:17) where we see a verse where it’s explained. “Jesus said, blessed are you Simon son of Jonah.” In some translations, it’s “Simon Bar-Jonah” which is the son of.

Simon Bar-Jonah. Simon son of Jonah. Peter. You know Simon is Peter. And so that’s where we get that “son of.” So Bartholomew son of Talmai. Bar-Talmai if they reworded it.

The point is Bartholomew, this is an interesting character. This was a person who, when he was called — remember Phillip went and got him. Phillip was the one that brought Bartholomew to Jesus.

And we know it as Nathanial. But Phillip went there and what was, what was Bartholomew’s first response? He said, “Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?”

Now what does that mean? Well, the town of Nazareth was kind of a little hole in the wall. A dive. A place that nothing ever came from. A kind of accursed town, if you will.

But guess what, Jesus came from Nazareth. So there is some significance in that, even all the way back through the Old Testament, and prophecy was fulfilled from that.

Now, Phillip then said to Bartholomew, “Come and see for yourself,” and Bartholomew did so. He went and saw. He went and saw Jesus. He gave it a chance. And so if you’re out there right now and you’re saying,

“Yeah I don’t know about this, about Jesus, about being a Christian, or if I want to be a freak like these people, these weirdos that keep asking me about Jesus.”

You do. You want to be a Jesus freak. Be one. Go see for yourself, give it a chance like Bartholomew. Take the leap of faith like Bartholomew did. Go see Jesus for yourself and guess what?

You’ll have the same reaction. Bartholomew said, “Surely you are the Son of God.” He was amazed. He couldn’t believe it. He said, “You’re the Messiah,” and he wanted to follow Him instantly. And he did.

He went out preaching throughout the world. He went with Phillip. He went to Asia and went to Egypt and then was beaten and crucified, but then let go, and then went through it again and was beaten and skinned alive.

And now, some images today of Bartholomew. He’s holding a filet knife as a significance. Those are just as a catholic remembrance, I guess, when they portray Saint Bartholomew.

Bartholomew was the type of believer who continued preaching the gospel no matter what. Not only was he hung upside down on a cross and then probably thought he was going to die, but then, by the grace of God, he was released.

And instead of being like, “Whoo, that was a close one. Let me go live my life in peace.” He said, “All right God, you gave me another chance to get out there and preach,” and that’s exactly what he did.

He got released from Egypt, his, probably, best friend ended up dying on that cross and what did Bartholomew do? Did he go into a downward spiral of depression and anxiety and guilt and kill himself?

No, he got up and he said, “Phillip, I’m jealous of you dying on that cross before me. You get to go see Jesus again. But guess what, I’m going to go back out there and I’m gonna get more people to know Jesus.”

He went right back out there into the mission field. Traveled around. He went to India, wherever else, translated Scripture, and just kept going. Until, eventually, he was beaten, skinned alive, and beheaded.

And then he went and met Jesus again. He got reunited with Phillip and he was back up there in Heaven. He wasn’t up there before, but back with Jesus and Phillip again.

But he didn’t let it get him down. He went right back out there and preached, shared the good news, the gospel. He preached no matter what. He was unafraid and definitely not ashamed.

Can you say that about yourself? When something happens in your life. When God gets you down. Think of the tragedy of this. He was being crucified, hung upside down on a cross, next to his best friend.

And then, somehow, he gets released and his best friend is saying, “No, don’t release me, I will die here.” Bartholomew is probably like, “Come on, they’re going to let us go,” and Phillip’s like, “No, I am insisting, I, this is my time.”

I am sure there were some tears. Some discussion, maybe Phillip didn’t, or Phillip and Bartholomew, maybe he didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. Maybe the guards instantly cut him off the cross, and picked him up, and carried him away.

We don’t know. But I guarantee you it was very, very hard. Somehow he was taken away from his best friend and Phillip died and Bartholomew got to live. And Bartholomew could have easily said,

“Why was I let go? Why was I allowed to live? Why was Phillip not allowed to live?” He could have gone into that negativity, that downward spiral, but he didn’t.

He didn’t let it get to him. Sure he had a maybe had a a period of grieving, but then he continued on with the mission. That’s what you gotta do. You gotta continue the mission no matter what happens in your life.

Whether it’s a death in your family, a death of your friend, or whether it’s something else. Where you’re continually having trials or hardships. Whatever it is.

Continue on. Press on. Be unafraid and unashamed. Share the one good thing in life, Jesus Christ, with anyone and everyone around you. Exactly like Bartholomew.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for the courage that Bartholomew had. The boldness that he had. The strength that he had to continue on even throughout the hardships of witnessing Jesus die, then his best friend Phillip died, and who knows if he was around when any other apostles died, but he continued on.

Lord, I ask that you would give those watching and listening, give them his strength. The strength of Bartholomew. To continue on and be unafraid and bold and to preach and share you with everyone they know. With everyone they come into contact with.

That they would constantly be thinking about Jesus and that they would be like, “I gotta share this. How can I tell them about Jesus?” That it would always be on their mind. That you would inspire them to have the strength of Bartholomew. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Bartholomew was an incredible person. Unfortunately, we don’t know a lot more about him. It wasn’t in the Bible. But you can be like him. You can have his strength. Get out there and be bold. Unashamed to share Jesus with others. Have a great week. God bless.