The names … are these: translators should render this sentence naturally. “Here are the names of the twelve apostles…” or “The twelve people who were Jesus’ apostles were…” are possible translations.
Only here in Matthew are the twelve disciples referred to as apostles. The title is also found in the Lukan parallel (6.13); Luke uses it elsewhere as well to refer to the twelve (9.10; 11.49; 17.5; 22.14; 24.10). The reason for its more frequent occurrence in Luke is perhaps due to his desire to relate it to the continuation of his narrative in Acts. The word apostle literally means “one who is sent”; it is assumed that the person has the authority to act in behalf of the one who sent him, as is seen in verse 1.
Apostles can often be translated fairly literally as “Sent Ones.” In some languages the sender has to be identified, and in Acts and in the Epistles translators have used “Sent Ones of God.” Here in Matthew, however, “Jesus’ twelve Sent Ones” or “the twelve Sent Ones of Jesus” will be more appropriate. In other languages there is a word which has the semantic component of someone sent with the authority of another. In such a case that word can be used, possibly with the addition of “of Jesus.”
The term is very close semantically to “messenger,” “angel” (literally “messenger”), and “prophet,” which means “spokesman” (see comments on 1.22). Care has to be taken to distinguish “apostle” from these. If the suggestions above do not do this, then it may be necessary to add the element of authority to apostles, as in “men sent with Jesus’ authority.”
Some languages have trouble with “Sent Ones,” since they must specify some goal of the sending, as in “Ones sent to the world.” But “Ones who carry Jesus’ authority” is another possible solution.
There are several other lists of the twelve in the New Testament (Mark 3.16-19; Luke 6.13-16; Acts 1.13), and the lists are not entirely in agreement one with the other. However, they do have two things in common: they each begin with Peter and end with Judas.
The word first before the name of Simon, who is called Peter is best taken merely as a reference to his position in the list, not to some special position of authority which he may have held. Peter does have an outstanding role in the Gospel of Matthew, but there is no intimation that he holds a position of higher rank than any of the others.
From this discussion it follows that possible renderings of first can be “the first one is Simon…,” or simply “first, Simon…,” as Good News Translation has done.
Simon is a Jewish name, while Peter is Greek. For Simon, who is called Peter, see comments on 4.18.
The group is listed two by two. Together with Peter is his brother Andrew, which is also a Greek name.
The two brothers James and John are listed next. Both names are Jewish.
Translators should find ways to list these pairs of brothers in a way that is natural. See 4.18 and 4.21 for related discussions. Here a possible rendering is “first is Simon whose other name is Peter, and his brother Andrew; (then) James and his brother John. They were the sons of Zebedee (or, Zebedee was their father).”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .