Not to argue the point but we know that Matthew was a tax collector so he would have had to be fluent in several languages and numbers and writing I would think.
Luke was a doctor.
All of them, except the Alpheus twins, were graduates of the synagogue schools, having been thoroughly trained in the Hebrew scriptures and in much of the current knowledge of that day.
Seven were graduates of the Capernaum synagogue schools, and there were no better Jewish schools in all Galilee.
And we know what Jesus thought of the highly educated scribes and Pharisees poring over the scriptures, ultimately, it seems to their condemnation. So, if most of Jesus' Apostles were highly educated, it will not have been for their worldly intellect that Jesus chose them.
The deepest truths, even in physics, are paradoxical in nature, so the worldly intellect, which cannot handle paradoxes/mysteries, can only accept them, and use them as staging-posts from which to leap to further discoveries. Not acceptable by atheists in spiritual matters, nor embraced by them generally. A matter of the will, being within the province of the soul's faculties of memory, will and understanding.
We shall be judged, after all, not on our head, but on our heart : not on our worldly, academic wisdom, but on our spiritual wisdom, the choices of our heart. Indeed, it was the Anawim Jesus was chiefly adressing in his Sermon on the Mount and Beatitudes.
Note the literal interpretation given by some of Jesus' followers, when he told them that they would have to eat his flesh and drink his blood, and how, when they walked away muttering about it being intolerable language, Jesus made no attempt to explain it to them. Indeed, he would have known in advance how they would respond. His Anawim followers must have said to themselves, 'Well, that sounds very strange. I don't understand what he means. But we've seen him and heard enough from him already, to want to keep believing in him and keep following him, as he'll surely make it clearer, some time.'
Docility actually means 'teachability', and that is what they possessed in their humility (knowing our limitations), that key Christian virtue that most of the religious leaders of the day did not possess.
Faith and knowledge merge with each other, forming a continuum or a 'confusion of concepts'. When I enter my living-room of an evening, I switch on the light. I don't know for sure if it will come on, but I have faith that it is highly likely to do so. How often does the bulb blow ? So, that is an instance of secular faith.
However, our Christian faith is similar. We have many reasons to believe in Christ, according to our lights (actually with ever greater certainty as new scientific discoveries are very confirmatory, to say the least), because we choose to, our hearts tell us to. But why would God inspire us to believe, and not make ourselves and the world to match those teachings and beliefs ?
So, interaction occurs between our Christian faith-knowledge and our corresponding secular faith-knowledge, and we form a picture of 'how the land lies', the spiritual landscape, and act in our lives on earth with our world-view combining the two.
It is why only in Christendom was empirical science taken up as an ongoing project, while other cultures, such as that of China would make a serious discovery (such as printing) centuries before any other country, and then 'go back to sleep' in terms of engaging in further investigation of the natural world.
Similarly, atheists act according to their generally, materialist world-view, bizarrely find confirmation of its soundness in their own eyes. Almost invariably, however, atheism is driven by the desire not to be hampered by conscience in relation to the person's sexual behaviour. Aldous Huxley, who wrote, Brave New World and the fascinating treatise on comparative religion, called The Perennial Philosophy, admitted that that was what was behind the behaviour of his set in their younger days. He had been a great fan of D H Lawrence. Eventually, he became a Vedantist, a peculiarly-pure form of Hinduism, when compared with the way it has developed.
At the end of the day, however, we know, thanks to Jesus' own teaching, that only one thing is necessary ; which will however be accompanied by wisdom, which can even be expressed via the visitation of the Holy Spirit, subliminally, in a severely brain-damaged person. I witnessed such a lad (with his mother) standing up in his pew during the Mass, when the priest raised the Sacre Host, and making curious, but clearly excited noises - evidently seeing something (or, rather someone) beyond the scope of our vision.
Until recently, God made sure to leave some 'wriggle-room' for atheists to reject him, since while he was never too proud to use fear to prompt us, yet he certainly would not want merely cynical souls who would only love him for his overwhelming power. Despite there arguably being no 'wriggle-room' left, being who they are, the die-hards will still call up down and down up, and refuse to believe the clear Christian implications of modern science.
