Question: Is the office of Apostle still in existence in today’s world? If not, why is there a movement to reestablish it?
Answer: “APOSTLE” means in Greek: “APOSTOLOS is, lit., one sent forth apo, from, stellō, to send). “The word is used of the Lord Jesus to describe His relation to God, Hebrews 3:1; see John 17:3. The twelve disciples chosen by the Lord for special training were so called, apostles Luke 6:13; 9:10. Paul, though he had seen the Lord Jesus 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8, had not ‘companied with’ the Twelve ‘all the time’ of His earthly ministry, and so was not eligible for a place among them, according to Peter’s description of the necessary qualifications Acts 1:22. Paul on the other hand was commissioned directly, by the Lord Himself, after His ascension, to be an apostle to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles. So there were Twelve special Apostles, Judas being replaced by Matthias as Scripture says in Acts 1:26. “And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”
“The word has also a wider reference. In Acts 14:4, 14, it is used of Barnabas as well as of Paul; in Romans 16:7 of Andronicus and Junias. In 2 Corinthians 8:23 (R.V., margin) two unnamed brethren are called ‘apostles of the churches;’ in Philippians 2:25 (R.V., margin) Epaphroditus is referred to as ‘your apostle.’ It is used in 1 Thessalonians 2:6 of Paul, Silas and Timothy, to define their relation to Christ.
“2. APOSTOLĒ, a sending, a mission, signifies an apostleship, Acts 1:25; Romans 1:5; 1 Corinthians 9:2; Galatians 2:8. (VINE’S) The word we use more often today is “Missionary.” Some would teach that this gift is not operating today, but this would make no sense at all because how could this be a gift to the Church in our time? All the other gifted offices that are mentioned here are for the Church today, so why would the first one not be for us also. If it is not meant for the Church today why didn’t Paul say so? No, it is most certainly needed today; however, apostles of today or missionaries, as we call them, will never take the place of the first Twelve, since they have a special role to play in God’s kingdom. We do need missionaries today, they are ones that start new works, or go where no one has gone before with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (VINE’S)
We see in the choosing of Matthias as Apostle what their qualifications had to be, and that was that they had to have been with them for the full time of Jesus’ ministry (probably three-and-a-half years) “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection. And they proposed two Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, ‘You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.’ And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” (Acts 1:21)
These were the foundation of the Church and their names are engraved on the foundation stones of New Jerusalem. “Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb.” (Revelation 21:14) So will there be any more Apostles like the first twelve that were with Jesus His whole ministry? No, it would be impossible today for anyone to meet those qualifications.
Now, on the other hand the word “Apostle” means “sent one” as we saw in the Greek definition of the word. With that general meaning Jesus is an Apostle because He came from heaven to reach us. “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.” (Hebrews 3:1-2)
St. Paul was an Apostle to the Gentiles, mainly, and He was chosen by God to do this ministry. “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” (1 Corinthians 9:1) “After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:7-9)
I know there are those who try to prove that they are anointed by someone anointed before them who were anointed as apostle, etc. However, nowhere in scripture do we see instructions to keep passing the office down. Yes, we are to lay hands on people to be prayed for, and set apart for ministry. “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.” (1 Timothy 4:14) I have been prayed for in such a manner. This is not for apostleship, though, but to use the gift or gifts that God has given me.
You also asked why there is a movement to reestablish it. If there is such a movement, then it is wrong and not of God. I believe they would say this to try to make themselves look like somebody special. Sometimes when people do this they want to lead people astray, by claiming they have a new revelation from God or new scripture. We know the Bible is complete in the 66 books and anyone who would try to add to it would be wrong.
We believe that the book of Revelation was the last book of the Bible to be written and what does it say about anyone who would add to it? Some say, “It is only referring to adding to the book of Revelation.” My comment to that person would be, “Do you want to take that chance? (https://modtreks.com) ” “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things. God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)
To answer your question, no, there is no new apostleship today, and those who make such claims are going against the clear teaching of the word of God!
I hope this answers your question,
Gary T. Panell
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PASTOR MATTHEW ABLORDEY
Hello Pastor Matthew, How did you hear about us? A word of advice, your email came to the Spam side of letters. Also, here if you write everything in capital letters, it is like you are screaming at us. Why don’t you tell a little about yourself and your beliefs. Are you born again? What do you preach as the way of Salvation? Thank you, Gary
Greetings,
I agree with 90% of what you said except the end. In 1 Corinthians 12:28-30, Paul writes that God established an order in His church that is a very familiar passage …it says, “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.”
So if I am to take your position and if the “ministry gift” of apostle is no longer part of God’s established order, then neither are prophets, pastors, teachers, gits of healing, helping, administrating miracles, various kinds of tongues.
First, Apostles are called by God. Paul who wrote Corinthians was called after the 12. In that we know a couple of things.
1. We know that God is sovereign and God does what He wants to do and is not confined by the understanding, wisdom, interpretation nor presumption of men.
2. Next, if it were true that the ministry gift of apostle was removed by God then Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is false.
Yet, the Scripture teaches us that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” So the Bible says let God be true and every man a liar! So we know that the Scripture is true because holy men through the utterance of the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible. Which means, God wrote the Bible and thus again the Scripture declares, let God be true and every man a liar!
In the word of God, office is only associate with Elders, Bishops and Overseers. If they want to hold this position and have adhered to the standards set forth in the word of God then they can be given the office. In the order God established for his church found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, apostle is now a ministry gift used for the perfecting of the saints and not an office. An office is something that you can aspire to and be given. So the question becomes, “Why would God remove one and not all? ”
Moreover, “Why would God establish an order then remove one ministry gift but no other when all the ministry gifts were given for the perfecting of the saints?” As these gifts are tantamount to parts of the body that fit jointly together, would not the body be missing a part without the ministry gift of apostle?
On that note and in that regard, I couldn’t agree with you that this ministry gift is no longer valid because that would make all of us invalid. Did the great commission only apply to the 12? Is God’s body incomplete?
Hi Brother, This again is my position. I am not saying there are no apostles today. I would rather call them missionaries. The reason for that is that there are some today in the ministry that are calling themselves ‘apostles’ in the line from the twelve. There will never be the twelve again called as the twelve apostles of Jesus, as we see in choosing of a replacement for Judas. Yes, in a general sense there are apostles today. I just would rather use another term so as not to confuse people. The same is true of the term ‘Prophet,’ I would not encourage people to use these terms of themselves. Yes, these ministries are still in effect today, but in humility I would rather use another term. There are even people who are selling apostleship’s today. I don’t want to be numbered with that group. Here again is my position:
APOSTOLĒ, a sending, a mission, signifies an apostleship, Acts 1:25; Romans 1:5; 1 Corinthians 9:2; Galatians 2:8. (VINE’S) The word we use more often today is “Missionary.” Some would teach that this gift is not operating today, but this would make no sense at all because how could this be a gift to the Church in our time? All the other gifted offices that are mentioned here are for the Church today, so why would the first one not be for us also. If it is not meant for the Church today why didn’t Paul say so? No, it is most certainly needed today; however, apostles of today or missionaries, as we call them, will never take the place of the first Twelve, since they have a special role to play in God’s kingdom. We do need missionaries today, they are ones that start new works, or go where no one has gone before with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (VINE’S)
We see in the choosing of Matthias as Apostle what their qualifications had to be, and that was that they had to have been with them for the full time of Jesus’ ministry (probably three-and-a-half years) “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection. And they proposed two Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, ‘You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.’ And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” (Acts 1:21)
These were the foundation of the Church and their names are engraved on the foundation stones of New Jerusalem. “Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb.” (Revelation 21:14) So will there be any more Apostles like the first twelve that were with Jesus His whole ministry? No, it would be impossible today for anyone to meet those qualifications.
Now, on the other hand the word “Apostle” means “sent one” as we saw in the Greek definition of the word. With that general meaning Jesus is an Apostle because He came from heaven to reach us. “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.” (Hebrews 3:1-2)
St. Paul was an Apostle to the Gentiles, mainly, and He was chosen by God to do this ministry. “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” (1 Corinthians 9:1) “After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:7-9)
I know there are those who try to prove that they are anointed by someone anointed before them who were anointed as apostle, etc. However, nowhere in scripture do we see instructions to keep passing the office down. Yes, we are to lay hands on people to be prayed for, and set apart for ministry. “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.” (1 Timothy 4:14) I have been prayed for in such a manner. This is not for apostleship, though, but to use the gift or gifts that God has given me.
I hope this helps, if you would like to discuss this more, I would be glad to. brother Gary
;Nice
Hi James, Thank the Lord. Brother Gary
We should call the five ministry graces / gifts ( specifically Apostles) what the Holy Spirit calls them.. Apostles. That’s the biblical name. Missionary is a man made name. There are even some “missionaries” who have neither apostolic grace nor gifting.
Hi Grace, I am not totally opposed to this what you have said. I think what turns people off is for someone to put it in your face and say, I am an Apostle and then make it known that they want everyone to call them this, or else. You don’t see any of the apostles making sure everyone knew their title, except Paul and he did this, because, some were questioning his gift. I believe I am an apostle, but I’m not going to go around flaunting it. We must be humble and realize that we have nothing except what God has given us. Apostle, really means sent one, in that since too, we are all apostles. God bless you, brother Gary
I agree with Ruth Roman. The “fivefold ministry” as it is commonly referred to is for the church of Paul’s time and the church of today. When Paul wrote that epistle, Jesus’ earthly ministry was over. Paul is the perfect example of an apostle of the ministry after Jesus left the earth. Paul was certainly not one of the twelve, yet he is still an apostle. I really think these five ministries are more of the “officers” if you will in the Kingdom of God, those that are in ministry as the major part of their lives. These five designations seem to be in rank order, the apostle being the highest rank, like a general in an army. The general, or apostle, can function at many levels, including being a pastor, evangelist, teacher or prophet or any combination and can move in and out of those offices. I do not think the modern day missionary is the same as the high office of apostle. Paul when writing the epistles states his name and then his rank. I believe that he is addressing his audience from the high office of an apostle, with authority over the church being addressed.
Just my thoughts
Hello Leon, I would basically agree with you, but there are times when I would not use the terms Apostle. For example I would not call myself an Apostle, even though I might fit in that category. Yes, as you pointed out, there were other people in the Epistles that were apostles besides the 12. Jesus is even an Apostle, because the word means “Sent One.” When Christians today say, I am Apostle So and So.
It smacks of the Mormons who say they are equal to the 12 Apostles of the Bible. It also smacks of pride, in my opinion. So, I do not go around introducing myself as, I am Apostle Gary or Apostle Panell. Even Billy Graham, as I remember it, did not say of himself, I am Evangelist Billy or Evangelist Graham.
John the Beloved did not use his own name in his books. James or Jude did not say, I am the brother of Jesus, humility has to be first and foremost in our lives. So, you are right in your understanding, but I would differ in how to apply this knowledge. Thank you for your comments. Brother Gary