Apostles & Prophets: Their Roles in the Past, the Present, and the Last DaysSample

What Is an Authentic, Christ-Given Apostle?

If you were asked to provide a description of what an apostle is, maybe you would say, “An apostle is someone who is a leader” or, “An apostle is a person who has done something new, innovative, and pioneering.” Perhaps you might even answer, “An apostle is someone who starts churches.”

Well, let me ask you — how many people do you know who have started a church? Does merely starting a church make them a Christ-given apostle? If so, then that would mean any person who starts a church is an apostle. But that is not the case, so there must be more to the word “apostle” than this, even though apostles certainly do start churches as a part of their Christ-given calling.

Everyone is not called into fivefold ministry. The gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher are much rarer than the large conglomeration of people who today call themselves by these names or who are called these names by those who misuse the terms to describe them. The overuse of fivefold ministry names has given the incorrect impression that these Christ-given gifts can be found in large doses and that people can be self-titled and self-called. The result is the awe, respect, and weightiness that Christ intends for these authentic gifts to possess among us — so they can perform their building, equipping, and unifying function — is degraded.

So what is an apostle?

No one wrote more extensively about the ministry of Christ-given apostles than the apostle Paul himself. The Greek word that is translated “apostle” in the New Testament is apostolos. The very simplest meaning depicts one who is sent away. This Greek word appears more than 80 times in the New Testament, but the root of apostolos, which is the word apostello, is used more than 132 times in the New Testament and more than 700 times in the Old Testament Greek Septuagint! I give you these figures to show you that the use of apostolos and apostello is very well established in the Bible.

As it is used in the New Testament, the word apostolos, or “apostle,” depicts individuals who were appointed, empowered, or invested with authority — either by the leadership of the Church or by the Lord — and were dispatched to represent leadership to do some kind of special task. It was only used to depict individuals who were dispatched either by the Church or by Christ Himself to establish the Church in places where it had not previously existed.

Questions to Discuss:

What do you think are the consequences of using an important biblical term in an incorrect way? Can you see how the overuse or wrong use of the word “apostle” has diluted its powerful meaning and diminished the importance of this unique gift to the Body of Christ?