- Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
- But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.
Paul preached Jesus for solid three years before he even met the leader of the twelve apostles, Peter.
It is interesting to note that Peter stuck it out in Jerusalem and preached Jesus in the midst of the Jews.
Peter would have faced a lot of opposition and persecution from his own people including Pharisees, yet he continued to be faithful to his calling of preaching to the people of Israel in Jerusalem, Zion of God.
So, when Paul comes down to Jerusalem, the apostle of the Gentiles (Paul) meets the apostle of the Jews (Peter).
So, Paul was in Jerusalem for 15 days, and what did he do? We learn in Acts,
- So he(Paul) went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord (Jesus).
- And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists (Jews). But they were seeking to kill him.
- And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
It is also interesting to note that Paul saw only Peter and James and none of the other apostles when he first visited Jerusalem.
Presumably, the other apostles were not in Jerusalem at the time when Paul visited there. The other apostles were probably scattered around Judea, Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8) being Jesus' witnesses and preaching the word just as He commanded them.
The tradition records that Thomas the Apostle even reached India. It is believed that Thomas reached Kerala and preached Jesus there. Even today, the Christian population make up about 20% of the population of Kerala Indians, and distinctly, Saint Thomas Christians (or Nasrani) make up 65 to 75% of the Christians.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians#cite_note-NSC_Demographics-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Kerala
We are mostly aware of Paul the Apostle who preached Jesus in the Roman empire but not very familiar with other apostles' acts around the world at the time.
Although, we know James, John's brother, was killed by the king Herod early,
- He killed James the brother of John with the sword (Acts 12:2)
we do not know how far did the other apostles reached to preach Jesus in wherever they got to.
It'd be definitely interesting to find out about the Acts of the other Apostles once we get to heaven. :)
Additionally, it is interesting to note, James (different James from the Apostle James), the Lord Jesus' brother became one of the pillars of the early church in Jerusalem.
We know from the Gospel that Jesus' brothers did not appear to have much faith in their older brother, Jesus. For example,
John 7:2-5
- Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand.
- So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
- For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”
- For not even his brothers believed in him.
But now James became one of the main leaders of the Jerusalem church.
Galatians 2:9
- James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars
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