Apostle (Latter Day Saints) he chose and ordained (John 15:16) to be his closest disciples during his ministry on earth, and whom he sent forth to represent him after his ascension into heaven. The calling of an apostle is to be a special witness of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world, particularly of his divinity and of his bodily resurrection from the dead (; ). Twelve men with this high calling constitute an administrative council in the work of the ministry. When a vacancy occurred with the death of Judas Iscariot, Matthias was divinely appointed to that special office as a
Judas Iscariot to the Corinthians , in which Paul the Apostle does not mention Judas by name, but uses the passive voice of the Greek word "paradidōmi" (παραδίδωμι), which most Bible translations render as "was betrayed": "...the Lord Jesus on the night when he "was betrayed" took a loaf of bread..." Nonetheless, many biblical scholars argue that the word "paradidōmi" should be translated as "was handed over". This translation could still refer to Judas, but it could also instead refer to God metaphorically "handing Jesus over" to the Romans. In his book "Antisemitism and Modernity" (2006), the Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby suggests