Apostle And Apostleship

Notes
Transcript
Questions to be addressed;
What is an Apostle
Who can be and Apostle
Are there Apostles today?
Word of the night…
parádosis
Names to be familiar with:
Polycarp of Smyrna (60-155AD)
Clement of Rome (35AD)
Ignatius of Antioch

Foundation Scriptures

Mark 3:13–19 CSB
13 Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 He appointed the Twelve: To Simon, he gave the name Peter; 17 and to James the son of Zebedee, and to his brother John, he gave the name “Boanerges” (that is, “Sons of Thunder”); 18 Andrew; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Acts 1:8 CSB
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Ephesians 2:19–20 CSB
19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
1 Corinthians 3:5–11 CSB
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.

Apostle the word

Apostolos/ ἀπόστολος
This is a compounded construct word consisting of two greek words the first,
“apo” which defines;
from
away from,
then “stello” which defines;
to set,
place, set in order,
arrange to fit out, to prepare,
equip to prepare one's self, to fit out for one's self to fit out for one's own use to prepare one's self.

General/Secular use

a delegate
legal representive
messenger
one sent forth with orders
Envoy
Herald
Quotes

From Herodotus on, apostolos refers to the bearer of a message, such as the herald sent by Alyattes to Miletus (1.21). Varus authorizes a “delegation” (ton apostolon) of Jews to Rome (Josephus, Ant. 17.300, the only occurrence; 1.146 is very poorly attested). The word means someone sent on a mission out of the country, or an “expedition,” or a group of colonists (Dionysius of Halicarnassus 9.5).

Greek Usage. The Greek word for “apostle” is not used outside the NT in the same sense as it is in the NT. It is derived from the verb “to send” and is at home in the language of the sea meaning a particular “ship” or “group of ships,” a “marine expedition” or “the leader” of such. Its usage is almost always impersonal and thoroughly passive. There is no hint of personal initiative or authorization, merely the connotation of something being sent. Later papyri use the word to mean “bill” or “invoice” or even a “passport,” continuing to reflect the vocabulary of maritime affairs.

None of these meanings from everyday or legal parlance, except for the basic meaning “envoy, emissary,” can explain the extreme theological density of this term in the NT, especially in St. Paul. Paul’s usage presupposes a Semitic substrate, namely that of the šaliaḥ, an institution apparently going back to Jehoshaphat. This person is not a mere envoy but a chargé d’affaires, a person’s authorized representative; his acts are binding upon the “sender.”11 At this point the principal and the proxy are equivalent: “A person’s šaliaḥ is as the person himself.”

Scriptures

John 13:16 CSB
16 “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him.
Philippians 2:25 CSB
25 But I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus—my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier, as well as your messenger and minister to my need—
2 Corinthians 8:23 CSB
23 As for Titus, he is my partner and coworker for you; as for our brothers, they are the messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.

What Is An Apostle?

one sent forth with orders specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ
in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers of Barnabas, Timothy and Silvanus.
Quotes

In the New Testament, apostle was used to designate a special group among the disciples. Out of Jesus’ seventy-two disciples, he selected twelve to be His apostles. These were the men who were sent by Jesus to take his message to the world and then raise up churches (Matt. 10:1–4; Mark 3:13–19; Luke 6:12–16). They maintained a particularly close relationship with Jesus, received private instruction, and witnessed His miracles and controversy with the Jewish authorities. On one occasion, Jesus sent these men out to preach the message of repentance, to cast out demons, and to heal the sick—that is, to minister in ways that were characteristic of His own work (Matt. 10:1–15; Mark 6:7–13, 30; Luke 9:1–6). This relationship between Jesus and His apostles is best expressed in the saying, “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me” (Luke 10:16, NASB). Jesus makes it quite clear that the purpose of the twelve disciples is not merely to share Jesus’ teachings with others, but to also represent His very person. After the resurrection, Jesus commissioned the Twelve to proclaim the gospel. Only those who had been with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry to His resurrection were qualified to be His apostolic witnesses (Acts 1:21–22). Paul qualified because he had seen the risen Christ (1 Cor. 15:4–10). His apostleship was accompanied by a great deal of suffering, including false teachers in the Corinthian church who doubted his authority. Thus, in 2 Corinthians, Paul had to repeatedly defend the genuineness of his apostleship.

Paul’s writings demonstrate two characteristic uses of the word “apostle.” On occasion, it refers to persons authorized by local congregations and entrusted with the safe delivery of specific gifts for other members of the Christian community (2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25). The other meaning is far more common and refers to those who are the “sent ones of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 16:7; 1 Cor. 9:1, 5; 12:28; Gal. 1:17–19). Apostles are the chosen vessels of Christ’s message and love.

One who fulfills the role of being a special messenger (generally restricted to the immediate followers of Jesus Christ, but also extended, as in the case of Paul, to other early Christians active in proclaiming the message of the gospel)—‘apostle, special messenger.’ Παῦλος δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, κλητὸς ἀπόστολος ‘Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called (by God) to be an apostle’ Ro 1:1. The relationship of an apostle to Jesus Christ is sometimes expressed as ‘being Christ’s messenger’ or ‘being a special messenger of Jesus Christ.’ In such a phrase, the term ‘special’ refers to having been commissioned by Jesus Christ for a particular task or role
Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 541). New York: United Bible Societies.

Shalach/apesteilen(Verbs) Shaliach/Apostolos(Noun)

1 Samuel 25:40 CSB
40 When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”
Isaiah 6:8 CSB
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

What Prerequisites are necessary to qualify Apostleship?

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