Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

BARTHOLOMEW, The Apostle

Disciple of Jesus included in all four lists of the 12 apostles (Mt 10:2-4; Mk 3:16-19; Lk 6:14-16; Acts 1:13), though not otherwise mentioned in the NT. Nothing is told about him in any of the lists. Because the name means “son of Tolmai,” it has been speculated that he was known by another name in addition to his “patronymic” name. In the lists in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the synoptic Gospels), Bartholomew is named immediately after Philip, suggesting the possibility that the Nathanael brought by Philip to Jesus (Jn 1:45-50)—who seems to be linked with some of the disciples (Jn 21:2)—was Bartholomew. It thus seems possible that the apostle Bartholomew is referred to in the fourth Gospel by another name; it is not certain, however, that John’s references to Nathanael were intended to identify him as one of the Twelve.

Eusebius, an early church historian, recorded an early tradition that Pantaenus, the first head of the catechetical school in Alexandria (AD 180), went to India and there found Christians who knew of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew letters. According to Eusebius, Bartholomew had preached to them and had left the Gospel of Matthew with them. In other traditions, Bartholomew was an evangelistic partner of Philip and Thomas and suffered martyrdom in Armenia.

A number of spurious and apocryphal writings have been ascribed to Bartholomew; none of them is genuine. In the fourth century Jerome mentioned a Gospel of Bartholomew, which is also noted by a few other writers. There are also references to the so-called Questions of Bartholomew (extant in Greek, Latin, and Slavonic fragments) and to a Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew (extant in Coptic). Other references were made to Acts of Bartholomew and Apocalypse of Bartholomew, both otherwise unknown.