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Four of the Twelve are identified as fishermen: Simon Peter, his brother Andrew, and the brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Matthew explicitly calls Peter and Andrew fishermen. For James and John, the evidence is the nets, the boat, and Luke’s statement that they were partners with Simon. “The Twelve” means the core group of disciples named in the Gospels and Acts, and that is the group this answer covers.
The four fishermen at a glance
| Disciple | Family link | Evidence of fishing | Main passages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Peter | Brother of Andrew | Casting a net with Andrew; the narrator calls the two brothers fishermen; Luke places his boat at the center of the catch | Matthew 4:18–22; Luke 5:1–11 |
| Andrew | Brother of Simon Peter | Casting a net with Simon Peter; explicitly labeled a fisherman in Matthew | Matthew 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20 |
| James son of Zebedee | Brother of John | Mending nets in a boat with their father Zebedee; named as Simon’s partner in Luke | Matthew 4:21–22; Mark 1:19–20; Luke 5:10 |
| John son of Zebedee | Brother of James | Same as James: mending nets with Zebedee; named as Simon’s partner in Luke | Matthew 4:21–22; Mark 1:19–20; Luke 5:10 |
What each Gospel says
Matthew 4:18–22
Matthew says that Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew were casting a net into the sea. The narrator then gives the reason for their work: “for they were fishermen.” This is the wording of the New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition as reproduced by Brisbane Catholic Education’s Catholic Identity scripture resource. The label comes from the narrator, not from a character speaking in dialogue.
Matthew then turns to James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Matthew does not repeat the word “fishermen” for these two in that passage. The occupation is shown through the nets and the boat rather than stated as a label.
Mark 1:16–20
Mark tells the same paired call: two pairs of brothers, nets, and a boat. Mark’s version is shorter and keeps the same four names. Read alongside Matthew, it confirms the pairings rather than adding new disciples.
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Luke 5:1–11
Luke gives the fuller setting. The fishermen have come in from the lake and are washing their nets (Luke 5:2). Jesus gets into Simon’s boat, and a large catch follows. Luke then names James and John, sons of Zebedee, as partners of Simon (Luke 5:10). Andrew is not named in this scene. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges commentary on Luke 5, hosted by BibleHub, is a useful companion for the wording of this passage.
Luke’s catch story is not found in Matthew or Mark. Treat the accounts as parallel call narratives with different details, not as one seamless event. Do not merge them into a single timeline unless you are relying on a source that establishes that sequence.
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Where the text does not establish an occupation
- Matthew (also called Levi) is identified in the Ligonier Ministries study “Who Were the Twelve?” (February 16, 2016) as a tax collector, not as one of the four fishermen.
- Thomas, Nathanael, and the other members of the Twelve have no stated occupation in these passages. The Gospels say relatively little about most of them.
- A later fishing scene, such as the one in John 21, shows several disciples fishing together. That scene does not establish that each of them was a professional fisherman, so it should not be used to expand the list of four.
Scope: the Twelve and other disciples
The Twelve are named in lists in Mark, Matthew, Luke, and Acts, and those lists differ in small ways. The word “disciple” can also refer to followers outside this core group, so a fishing scene involving a disciple is not the same as a statement about the Twelve. The four fishermen named above are the answer for the Twelve in the Gospel accounts.
Where the calls took place
The call narratives are set at the Sea of Galilee, which Luke calls the Lake of Gennesaret. The sources support that location for the fishing scenes, but they do not give a precise harmonized chronology for the four men’s calls. Readers who want exact sequence should consult a Gospel harmony and check how it treats the differences in Luke.
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Quoting the wording accurately
If you quote the phrase about the fishermen, use the exact text from Matthew 4:18, “for they were fishermen,” and identify the translation you are using. The phrase is a narrator’s explanation, so it should be presented as the Gospel’s description of the men, not as something Jesus or one of the disciples said.
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