Apostle: A person sent by another; a messenger; envoy. This word is once used
as a descriptive designation of Jesus Christ, the Sent of the Father
(Hebrews 3:1; John 20:21) It is, however, generally used as designating the
body of disciples to whom he intrusted the organization of his church
and the dissemination of his gospel, "the twelve," as they are called
(Matthew 10:1-5; Mark 3:14; 6:7; Luke 6:13; 9:1) We have four lists of the
apostles, one by each of the synoptic evangelists
(Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16)
(Luke 6:14) and one in the Acts
(Acts 1:13) No two of these lists,
however, perfectly coincide. Our Lord gave them the "keys of the kingdom,"
and by the gift of his Spirit fitted them to be the founders and
governors of his church
(John 14:16,17,26; 15:26,27; 16:7-15) To them, as
representing his church, he gave the commission to "preach the gospel
to every creature"
(Matthew 28:18-20) After his ascension he communicated
to them, according to his promise, supernatural gifts to qualify them
for the discharge of their duties
(Acts 2:4; 1 Corinthians 2:16; 2:7,10,13; 2 Corinthians 5:20)
(1 Corinthians 11:2) Judas Iscariot, one of "the twelve," fell by transgression,
and Matthias was substituted in his place
(Acts 1:21) Saul of Tarsus was
afterwards added to their number
(Acts 9:3-20; 20:4; 26:15-18; 1 Timothy 1:12; 2:7)
(2 Timothy 1:11) Luke has given some account of Peter, John, and the two
Jameses
(Acts 12:2,17; 15:13; 21:18) but beyond this we know nothing from
authentic history of the rest of the original twelve. After the
martyrdom of James the Greater
(Acts 12:2) James the Less usually
resided at Jerusalem, while Paul, "the apostle of the uncircumcision,
" usually travelled as a missionary among the Gentiles
(Galatians 2:8) It
was characteristic of the apostles and necessary
1. that they should have seen the Lord, and been able to testify of
him and of his resurrection from personal knowledge
3. It was essential that they should be infallibly inspired, and
thus secured against all error and mistake in their public
teaching, whether by word or by writing
(John 14:26; 16:13)
4. Another qualification was the power of working miracles
(Mark 16:20; Acts 2:43; 1 Corinthians 12:8-11) The apostles therefore could
have had no successors. They are the only authoritative
teachers of the Christian doctrines. The office of an apostle
ceased with its first holders. In
(2 Corinthians 8:23; Philippians 2:25) the word
"messenger" is the rendering of the same Greek word, elsewhere
rendered "apostle."
