Key Characters

Every week's overview lists the key characters for that week's readings. The pages gathered here go deeper: who each person was, what Scripture records of them, artwork from the church's long tradition of picturing them -- always an artist's interpretation, never a photograph -- and links to the places where their stories unfolded.

• Abraham and Sarah The father and mother of all who believe -- the New Testament's chief witnesses for faith.
• Adam The first man, whose fall framed the race -- answered clause by clause in the last Adam.
• Agabus The prophet of the famine and the belt -- accurate about the suffering, answered by obedience anyway.
• Agrippa II and Bernice The last Herod -- expert in the Jewish questions, "almost persuaded," never moved.
• Ananias and Sapphira The couple who lied to the Holy Spirit about a real estate deal -- and the fear of God that fell on the young church.
• Ananias of Damascus The ordinary disciple who obeyed a terrifying errand and called the persecutor "Brother Saul."
• Andrew The first-called disciple, remembered every time he appears for one habit -- bringing people to Jesus.
• Anna The 84-year-old prophetess who never left the temple, and told everyone waiting for redemption about the child.
• Apollos The eloquent Alexandrian, mighty in the Scriptures -- corrected in private, and all the better for it.
• Balaam The prophet-for-hire who could not curse Israel -- and taught Balak how to make Israel curse itself.
• Barabbas The guilty man released while the innocent took his cross -- substitution made visible.
• Barnabas "Son of Encouragement" -- the man who vouched for Saul, built Antioch, and gave John Mark his second chance.
• Caiaphas The high priest who prophesied better than he knew -- "it is better that one man should die for the people."
• The Centurion of Capernaum The Gentile officer whose grasp of authority produced faith that astonished Jesus himself.
• Claudius Lysias The tribune who rescued Paul three times -- and discovered his prisoner outranked him in citizenship.
• Cornelius The praying centurion of Caesarea -- the Gentile threshold God kicked open from both sides.
• David Shepherd, psalmist, king -- the man after God's own heart whose greater Son sits on his throne.
• Demas Fellow worker in three letters, deserter in the fourth -- "in love with this present world."
• Demetrius the Silversmith The craftsman whose profit-and-piety speech packed a theater with two hours of "Great is Artemis!"
• Elijah The fire-and-drought prophet whose return was promised -- and fulfilled in a camel-hair forerunner.
• Elizabeth Barren and righteous, the first person to bless Mary and call her child "my Lord."
• Elymas (Bar-Jesus) The court sorcerer who fought to keep his patron from the faith -- and was struck blind for it.
• Epaphras Founder of the Colossian church -- remembered for one ministry above all: wrestling in prayer.
• Epaphroditus Philippi's messenger, who gambled his life to complete his church's service to Paul.
• The Ethiopian Eunuch The African treasurer reading Isaiah in his chariot, baptized at the first water -- the gospel's early leap toward another continent.
• Euodia and Syntyche Two gospel co-workers in conflict -- named, honored, and gently urged to agree in the Lord.
• Eutychus The young man who fell asleep in the sermon, fell three stories -- and was raised, to everyone's immeasurable comfort.
• The Family of Jesus His mother and brothers -- who once came to take him home, and later led the church.
• The Father of the Boy The desperate parent whose prayer became everyone's: "I believe; help my unbelief!"
• Felix The governor who trembled at Paul's preaching, hoped for a bribe, and left him in prison as a favor.
• Festus The brisk new governor bewildered by "a certain Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul asserted to be alive."
• Gabriel The angel who stands in the presence of God, sent with the two greatest birth announcements in history.
• Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius Three men of one congregation -- hospitality, ambition, and a good name, sketched in the Bible's shortest book.
• Gallio The proconsul who threw the case out -- and unwittingly gave the gospel legal shelter.
• Gamaliel The revered rabbi who counseled caution -- and trained the church's fiercest persecutor.
• The Gerasene Demoniac The man no chains could hold -- freed, clothed, in his right mind, and sent home as the first missionary to the Gentiles.
• The Good Samaritan The outsider who proved neighbor -- Jesus' answer to a lawyer looking for limits.
• The Hemorrhaging Woman Twelve years of suffering, one touch of a garment's fringe -- and a public healing Jesus refused to keep anonymous.
• Herod Agrippa I The king who killed James, jailed Peter, accepted worship -- and was struck down mid-oration.
• Herod Antipas The tetrarch of Galilee -- John's executioner, Jesus' "fox," and the ruler who wanted a miracle show.
• Herod the Great The brilliant, murderous client-king who rebuilt the temple and slaughtered Bethlehem's infants.
• Herodias and Salome The grudge and the dance that cost John the Baptist his head.
• The Heroes of Faith Abel, Enoch, Noah, Rahab, and the cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 11.
• The Holy Spirit The promised Paraclete -- the Lord and giver of life, at work from the Jordan to Pentecost to every believer.
• Jairus The synagogue ruler whose faith had to outlast an interruption, a delay, and a death notice.
• James, Son of Zebedee A Son of Thunder and member of the inner three -- the first apostle to die for Jesus.
• James, the Brother of the Lord The skeptical brother turned pillar of the Jerusalem church -- "James the Just," author of the letter.
• Jesus The Word made flesh -- the center of every page of this study.
• Job The sufferer who kept faith in the dark -- James' model of steadfastness and the Lord's compassion.
• John Mark The deserter of the first journey, restored by a second chance -- and remembered as the Gospel-writer Mark.
• John the Baptist The forerunner -- the voice in the wilderness who prepared the way and pointed to the Lamb.
• John, Son of Zebedee The disciple Jesus loved -- fisherman, Son of Thunder, evangelist, and seer of Patmos.
• Joseph The righteous carpenter of the house of David, who obeyed four dreams and never speaks a recorded word.
• Joseph of Arimathea The secret disciple on the council who found his courage on the darkest afternoon.
• Judas Iscariot The trusted treasurer who sold his teacher for thirty pieces of silver and could not live with the receipt.
• Jude Brother of James and of the Lord -- author of the fierce little letter that contends for the faith.
• Julius the Centurion The courteous officer of the Augustan Cohort who kept Paul alive through storm and shipwreck.
• Lazarus Four days dead, called out by name -- the sign that sealed both his life and Jesus' death.
• The Least of These The hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned -- in whom the King is met, or missed.
• Levi / Matthew The tax collector who left the booth mid-shift, threw a party for his old colleagues, and wrote a Gospel.
• Lois and Eunice Grandmother and mother whose sincere faith and childhood Scriptures built Timothy.
• Luke The beloved physician and careful historian -- author of the Gospel and Acts, faithful to the end.
• Lydia The purple-cloth merchant of Thyatira whose opened heart opened Europe's first church.
• The Magi Gentile scholars from the East who followed a star, asked directions from a tyrant, and worshiped a child.
• The Man Born Blind Healed at Siloam, cross-examined by experts, and armed with one unanswerable fact: "I was blind, now I see."
• Mary Magdalene Delivered of seven demons, last at the cross, first at the tomb -- the apostle to the apostles.
• Mary and Martha of Bethany Two sisters, two postures -- the served table and the listened-to word, both loved by Jesus.
• Mary, the Mother of Jesus The young woman of Nazareth whose "let it be to me according to your word" carried the incarnation.
• Melchizedek The priest-king of Salem, without recorded beginning or end -- pattern of Christ's eternal priesthood.
• Michael the Archangel Heaven's warrior prince -- who wins his war in Revelation and models restraint in Jude.
• Moses Deliverer, lawgiver, and faithful servant in God's house -- surpassed only by the Son who built it.
• Nathanael The skeptic under the fig tree -- "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" -- turned confessor in a single sentence.
• Nicodemus The Pharisee who came by night, defended Jesus at the council, and carried myrrh to his tomb in daylight.
• Onesiphorus The friend who searched Rome's prisons until he found Paul -- and was not ashamed of the chains.
• The Paralytic's Friends Four unnamed men who dug through a roof -- the faith Jesus saw was theirs.
• Paul Persecutor turned apostle to the Gentiles -- church planter of the Aegean world and author of a third of the New Testament.
• The Pharisee and the Tax Collector Two men at prayer; only one went home justified.
• Philemon and Onesimus A master, his runaway slave, and the one-page letter that undermined slavery from the inside.
• Philip The disciple from Bethsaida who answered skeptics with three words -- "Come and see."
• Philip the Evangelist One of the Seven who became the first cross-cultural evangelist -- Samaria, the desert road, and a house full of prophesying daughters.
• The Philippian Jailer From drawn sword to washed wounds in one night -- "what must I do to be saved?"
• Phoebe Deacon of Cenchreae, patron of many -- the woman entrusted with carrying Romans.
• Pontius Pilate The governor who found no guilt in Jesus and crucified him anyway.
• The Poor Widow Two small coins, and the only offering Jesus ever praised.
• Priscilla and Aquila The tentmaking couple who hosted Paul, taught Apollos, and risked their necks for the mission.
• The Prodigal Son and the Elder Brother Two lost sons and one running father -- the parable at the heart of Luke's gospel.
• The Rich Fool Bigger barns, smaller soul -- the man whose net worth expired overnight.
• The Rich Man and Lazarus The beggar carried to Abraham's side, the rich man who noticed him too late.
• The Rich Young Ruler The one person in the Gospels said to be loved by Jesus who walked away sorrowful.
• The Sadducees and Chief Priests The temple aristocracy -- deniers of resurrection, managers of the sanctuary, and drivers of the plot against Jesus.
• The Samaritan Woman The five-times-married outsider at Jacob's well whose testimony brought her whole town to Jesus.
• Satan / The Devil The adversary and accuser -- tempter in the wilderness, already a defeated enemy at the cross.
• The Scribes and Pharisees The serious lay movement for holiness that became Jesus' sharpest critics -- and produced some of his followers.
• Sergius Paulus The proconsul of Cyprus -- the mission's first recorded government convert.
• The Servants with the Talents Entrusted fortunes, a long absence, and a settling of accounts -- faithfulness versus fear.
• The Shepherds Night-shift workers outside Bethlehem -- the first to hear the good news of great joy.
• The Shrewd Manager The dishonest steward Jesus paradoxically praised -- for urgency, not for ethics.
• Silas (Silvanus) Prophet, Roman citizen, midnight hymn-singer of Philippi -- Paul's partner and Peter's secretary.
• Simeon The devout man promised he would not die before seeing the Lord's Christ -- and who held him at forty days old.
• Simon Peter The fisherman renamed Rock -- impulsive, failing, restored, and foremost of the Twelve.
• Simon of Cyrene Conscripted at the roadside to carry the cross -- and remembered by name in the church ever after.
• Simon the Sorcerer The magician who believed, was baptized -- and tried to buy the Holy Spirit.
• Stephen Deacon, debater, and the first martyr -- whose dying face shone and whose death planted Paul.
• The Syrophoenician Woman The Gentile mother who took the hard saying, turned it into an argument, and won Jesus' delighted praise.
• The Ten Lepers Ten healed on the road; one -- a Samaritan -- came back.
• Thomas The honest doubter whose demand for evidence ended in the Gospels' highest confession: "My Lord and my God!"
• Timothy Paul's true child in the faith -- timid, often ill, utterly trusted, and twice a letter's addressee.
• Titus Paul's troubleshooter -- the Gentile test case at Jerusalem, the peacemaker at Corinth, the organizer of Crete.
• The Twelve Apostles The learners Jesus appointed "to be with him" -- a new Israel in miniature, sent out to preach.
• The Two Beasts The beast from the sea and the beast from the earth -- power and propaganda in an unholy parody of God.
• Tychicus The beloved courier of Ephesians and Colossians -- Paul's trusted hands and voice on the road.
• The Unmerciful Servant Forgiven a national debt, he choked a friend over pocket change.
• The Widow of Nain The mother burying her only son, met at the town gate by unsolicited compassion.
• The Wise and Foolish Virgins Ten lamps, five flasks of oil, one midnight cry -- readiness that cannot be borrowed.
• The Woman Caught in Adultery Dragged in as a legal trap, sent away as neither condemned nor excused.
• Zacchaeus The chief tax collector up a tree -- found by the Savior who came to seek the lost.
• Zechariah The elderly priest struck silent at the altar of incense, whose loosed tongue sang the Benedictus.