GodReflection: A Brand-New Life And Have Everything To Live For.
Today’s post is based on both Biblical fact and Scriptural speculation. Bartholomew is only mentioned four times in the New Testament. He is found in each of the lists of Jesus’s apostles recorded by the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and also in Acts 1:13 after Jesus ascends into the clouds where the eleven apostles return to the upper room meeting place to select a replacement for Judas Iscariot. Nothing else is known about him from Scripture.
Now here is where my Scriptural Speculation starts. In the Hebrew Scriptures Bartholomew is a family name meaning “son of Tolmai.” Since this “son of Tolmai” is found associated with the Apostle Philip in the Gospel of John there is speculation that he may be the Nathanael mentioned in John 1:43–51, who was called by Jesus when he called Philip.
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. (John 1:45).
His full name would then be Nathanael bar Tolmai. This identification 
seeks to explain how the otherwise unknown Bartholomew could be mentioned in the list of Apostles by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, while Nathanael, whose call is explicitly listed by John’s Gospel as an Apostle, is not on the list of the other three Gospels.
According to tradition, Bartholomew served as a missionary to India, Ethiopia, Iran, and in Turkey. The Great Apostle, Nathanel Bartholomew, at the command of the Armenian king Astyages, was skinned alive, and then beheaded—meeting his death and meeting his King Jesus’s loving arms and compassionate smile.
The Apostle Nathanel Bartholomew, who first doubted “can anything good could come from Nazareth”, had his answer.
Yes! The Savior, Jesus the Messiah, King of Creation, came from Nazareth. For Nathanel Bartholomew it’s been A Good Life. Among the other Apostles, he has experienced a Rich Gift found only in Jesus and belongs with those who have A Brand-New Life And Have Everything To Live For.
Stay tuned.
Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection: What About Nathaneal Bartholomew?
God Reflection 