Did the Apostles abandon their daily work and their families to follow Jesus? Did any of them have children? How did their families survive after they left home to take up missionary work?
Answer:
Luke 5:11 says that Peter “left everything and followed Jesus.” Peter had one boat, and Jesus borrowed that one when he wanted to teach the people (v. 3). When James and John followed Jesus, they “left their father Zebedee with the hired employees” to run their family fishing business. We know from historians that “the Lord’s brothers” had children, but there are no direct references to the children of the Apostles. But it would be very unusual if all the Apostles were childless. And how appropriate it would be if the “little child” whom Jesus put in their midst was one of Peter’s family.
Paul says, “Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other Apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas (Peter)? Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?” (1 Cor. 9:5,6). This indicates that all the Apostles, including Peter and Jesus’ half-brothers, took their wives with them as missionaries. It also indicates that all their wives were believers (sisters). Also, they worked for and were supported by the Church, and did not have to find ordinary jobs in the world. Mark tells us that Peter and his wife, his wife’s mother, and Andrew all lived in the same house (Mark 1:29,30). Historians tell us that Peter’s wife was still alive at the time of her husband’s martyrdom.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One