Leadership in the Church of Christ:
THE APOSTLES OF THE CHURCH
We began discussing Christian leaders last week. We noted that Jesus is the Head of the church. All other leaders play a supportive role to His work. One of those special roles included the “apostles.” We noticed how in Ephesians 4:11 Paul says: "And Christ gave gifts to people—he made some to be apostles…" Do you know what it means to be an apostle?
The original meaning for the word apostle was "one who has been sent." An apostle is seen like an ambassador or a representative. Jesus used the word in a general sense when he said that a "messenger" is not greater than the one who sends him (John 13:16). Similarly, Paul referred to some apostles whose names were not important enough to be given; the NIV calls them "representatives" (II Corinthians 8:23). That was the general function of an apostolos. When Paul called Epaphroditus an apostolos, he may have meant simply that Epaphroditus was a messenger of the church at Philippi (Philippians 2:25). It is interesting that Jesus, who was sent by the Father, was called an Apostle (Hebrews 3:1).
When we think of apostles we think of the Twelve. There were 12 disciples who were sent by Jesus that wore the name "apostles" (Mark 3:14). Obviously, the disciples are not in the same category of authority as Jesus, but the same Greek word is used. Barnabas and Paul were also sent out, and they were called apostles (Acts 14:4, 14).
The 12 apostles (designated disciples) and Paul used the term apostolos as the name of their leadership role in the church (Acts 15:23, Romans 11:13, Galatians 1:1 etc.). The authority they possessed came with the sending. A messenger sent by Jesus Christ had an authoritative understanding of that message.
James may have been an apostle though not always included among them (I Corinthians 15:7, Galatians 1:19). Similarly, Timothy is excluded sometimes (II Corinthians 1:1, Colossians 1:1) and included once (I Thessalonians 2:6). In the latter verse Paul may have been using the term in a general sense of messenger or representative. Also similar terms are used in Romans 16:7 refering to Andronicus and Junias (or Junia). It is possible that as long as the original apostles were living they continued to replace the ones that died out, much like they did with Judas (Acts 1) until there were none qualified (I Corinthians 9:1, II Corinthians 12:12). Some people falsely claimed to be apostles (II Corinthians 11:13, Revelation 2:2) others were considered "super-apostles" (II Corinthians 11:5, 12:11, 15:9).
Since God appointed some people to be apostles (I Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11) this was part of the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20, 3:5). They would lay their hands on prophets, servants, deacons, and evangelists whom the people had chosen (Acts 6:6) and they appointed elders after the church reached maturity (Acts 15:22). What else do we know? Find out next week . . .