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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.

Why do Matthew’s and Mark’s listings of the names of apostles differ from Luke’s in listing Thaddeus instead of a second Judas?

Question:

Why do Matthew’s and Mark’s listings of the names of apostles differ from Luke’s in listing Thaddeus instead of a second Judas?

Answer:

The apostle Thaddeus mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew (10:3) and Mark (3:18) is one and the same as the first Judas mentioned in Luke (6:16). It is likely that this apostle was called by other names to avoid confusing him with Judas Iscariot. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture explains:

Doubtless like others of his time he enjoyed several names, and it is natural that the early Christians should have avoided the name he shared with the traitor. (p. 948)

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