Andrew was seen first, and "the first thing Andrew did was find his brother" (John 1.40) who as Peter. Peter is the small rock for the church and wrote the books of Peter; and John wrote major books of the Bible, but Andrew wrote no books of the Bible. In my searching out for the twelve to commence the return to Biblical locality, you may consider me like Andrew, for I won't write great works like Peter or John. I have no gift or talent to do this, nor is it my calling. And keeping with this consistency, I probably won't be the first to be martyred in this move of God as James was first put to death.

Matthew 4 first mentions "Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew" (v.18) and "a little farther" (v.21), Jesus saw "two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee" (v.21).

So who was seen first, James or John to comprise the first three?

The answer is found in the gospel of John 1. Follow this logic.

"The two disciples [Andrew and Simon] of John [the Baptist] turned and followed Jesus" (v.37). "Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of these men" (v.40). "The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon, and tell him" (v.41) about Jesus. This agrees with Matthew.

The third person would have been John in the book of John recording this event since James is not mentioned yet. If James was the third person, John would have mentioned his name, but instead, being humble, he does not mention his own name. The next disciple mentioned was "Philip" (v.43).

Why then is not James mentioned in John yet at this point? I don't know, but I do know James was the first person who was martyred.

Why do you think James was not mentioned in chapter 1 of John?