Bible Question:
Saints, be greeted in the most powerful name of Jesus Christ!!! My Question is as follows: Can you please define and/or explain to me "What is an Apostle?" and what kind of a person, can be described as an Apostle? What are the characteristics of an Apostle? Thank you! |
Bible Answer: Greetings Thokozani! "APOSTLES 1. Identification. The apostles were chosen messengers of Jesus Christ, including specifically the 12 disciples Jesus sent out to spread the good news of the Gospel. "These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him" (Matthew 10:2-4). Once Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ and committed suicide, the number of apostles was brought back up to 12 when they chose Matthias (Acts 1:23-26). Paul and James (the brother of Jesus) were also considered apostles in the New Testament (1 Cor. 1:1; Galatians 1:19)." "2. Agents of Revelation. Just as the prophets were God's representatives in Old Testament times, so the apostles were God's representatives in New Testament times. They were specially handpicked by the Lord or the Holy Spirit (Matthew 10:1-4; Acts 1:26). They were the special recipients of God's self-revelation and were aware that God was providing revelation through them (1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 John 1:1-3). It is clear that they recognized their special divine authority (1 Cor. 7:10; 11:23)." "3. Foundation Builders. Ephesians 2:19-20 (NASB) refers to God's household as "having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets," whom Christ had previously promised to guide into "all the truth" (John 16:13; see also 14:26; 15:27). It is particularly significant that God's household was founded on the apostles (Ephesians 2:20). Obviously, once a foundation is properly constructed, the foundation never needs to be laid again. A second foundation is out of the question." "4. Unique. Two key factors show the utter uniqueness of the apostles. First, they were all authenticated by miraculous signs. In Acts 2:43 we read that "everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles" (see also Acts 3:3-11; 5:12; 9:32-42; 20:6-12)." "Second, the apostles (that is, the "Twelve") were granted an eternal place of honor. In the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, we read: "And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (verse 14)." "Scripture indicates there can be no apostles today. An apostle had to be an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. When Paul was proving his apostleship in 1 Corinthians 9:1, he said, "Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" Later in the same book, Paul said that the resurrected Christ appeared to James, then all of the apostles, and finally to Paul himself (1 Cor. 15:7-8). Obviously, no one living today can claim to have witnessed the resurrected Christ, and hence there can be no apostles. Further, as noted above, the church was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20), and once a foundation is built, it does not need to be built again." [Taken from "Find It Quick: Handy Bible Encyclopedia" by Ron Rhodes, pgs. 19-21, 2003, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR] - Makarios |