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The Training of the Twelve

Alexander B Bruce

Alexander Balmain Bruce (1831-1899) was a prominent Scottish minister and New Testament exegete. He was born in Perthshire, and studied theology at the University of Edinburgh, before entering the Divinity Hall of the Free Church of Scotland. Early on he was greatly affected by accounts of the Life of Christ, a theme upon which he would expound often in his writings. He was assistant minister at Ancrum and Lochwinnoch until 1859, followed by pastorates at Cardross (until 1868) and the East Free Church of Broughty Ferry. In 1875 he was named professor of apologetics and New Testament exegesis at the Free Church Hall in Glasgow. Most of writings date from this period, and are centered in exposition of the Gospels, and in study of the Life of Christ – in fact his teachings tended to focus specifically on the person and work of the historical Jesus. In 1890, some of his points of textual criticism came under serious scrutiny by the Free Church, but were ultimately judged to be orthodox.

A gospel study of the twelve apostles of Christ, and of training for ministry.

This book, published in Edinburgh in 1871, was Bruce's first major exegetical work. Written during the years he was himself a pastor, it offers guidance, following the example of Christ, to those beginning in the ministry on how to equip other believers for service unto God. Divided into thirty-one chapters, the book is a chronological "harmony" of the gospels, centered on the twelve apostles, and ending in the first half of Acts. Throughout, the relationships of these twelve men with Christ and with each other are carefully detailed, in a work which "documents the struggles and the successes of the first group of people who endeavored so to love each other that they became recognizable as Christ's disciples".

Theology & Doctrine

Ministry