Definition and Meaning, Bible Dictionary. APOSTLE a- pos'- l (. In earlier classical Greek there was a distinction between an aggelos or messenger and an apostolos, who was not a mere messenger, but a delegate or representative of the person who sent him. In the later Judaism, again, apostoloi were envoys sent out by the patriarchate in Jerusalem to collect the sacred tribute from the Jews of the Dispersion. It seems unlikely, however, that either of these uses bears upon the Christian origin of a term which, in any case, came to have its own distinctive Christian meaning. To understand the word as we find it in the New Testament it is not necessary to go beyond the New Testament itself. To discover the source of its Christian use it is sufficient to refer to its immediate and natural signification. The term used by Jesus, it must be remembered, would be Aramaic, not Greek, and apostolos would be its literal equivalent. The Twelve. In the New Testament history we first hear of the term as applied by Jesus to the Twelve in connection with that evangelical mission among the villages on which He dispatched them at an early stage of His public ministry (Matthew 1. Mark 3: 1. 4; 6: 3. Luke 6: 1. 3; 9: 1). From a comparison of the Synoptics it would seem that the name as thus used was not a general designation for the Twelve, but had reference only to this particular mission, which was typical and prophetic, however, of the wider mission that was to come (compare Hort, Christian Ecclesia, 2. Luke, it is true, uses the word as a title for the Twelve apart from reference to the mission among the villages. But the explanation probably is, as Dr. Hort suggests, that since the Third Gospel and the Book of Ac formed two sections of what was really one work, the author in the Gospel employs the term in that wider sense which it came to have after the Ascension. But even so it does not denote a particular and restricted office, but rather that function of a world- wide missionary service to which the Twelve were especially called. In His last charge, just before He ascended, Jesus had commissioned them to go forth into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Matthew 2. The Ministry of External Affairs attests original documents//true copies of documents for use abroad. Attestation done by the Ministry of External Affairs is. Office of the Resident Commissioner of Arunachal Pradesh in New. Pastor John Eckhardt gives insight into this unique office. Facebook; Twitter; Home; Magazine. Subscribe to Charisma; Subscribe to Ministry Today. Experience the presence of the Holy Spirit every month as you read Charisma. Mark 1. 6: 1. 5). He had said that they were to be His witnesses not only in Jerusalem and Judea, but in Samaria (contrast Matthew 1. Acts 1: 8). They were apostles, therefore, qua missionaries- -not merely because they were the Twelve, but because they were now sent forth by their Lord on a universal mission for the propagation of the gospel. Paul. The very fact that the name . If any such tendency existed, Paul effectually broke it down by vindicating for himself the right to the name. His claim appears in his assumption of the apostolic title in the opening words of most of his epistles. And when his right to it was challenged, he defended that right with passion, and especially on these grounds. Jesus, and so was qualified to bear witness to His resurrection (1 Corinthians 9: 1; compare Acts 2. Romans 1: 1; 1 Corinthians 1: 1, etc.; Galatians 2: 7; compare Acts 1. Corinthians 9: 2; 2 Corinthians 1. Galatians 2: 8). It was by this last ground of appeal that Paul convinced the original apostles of the justice of his claim. He had not been a disciple of Jesus in the days of His flesh; his claim to have seen the risen Lord and from Him to have received a personal commission was not one that could be proved to others; but there could be no possibility of doubt as to the seals of his apostleship. It was abundantly clear that . And so perceiving the grace that was given unto him, Peter and John, together with James of Jerusalem, recognized Paul as apostle to the Gentiles and gave him the right hand of fellowship (Galatians 2: 9). Apostle Chris Peterson, the ICAL. They have just concluded our inaugural 'Indian Coalition of Apostolic Leaders Summit' with over 500. I encourage you to contact an ICAL member apostle or the ICAL office to locate a. The Ministries of Apotles & Prophets in the Church Today. There isn't any other reason for that ministry office. The church has lost the ministries of the prophet and apostle. The Office of the Secretary of State is in the process of updating its websites to reflect a court order. The Wider Circle. It is sometimes said by those who recognize that there were other apostles besides the Twelve and Paul that the latter (to whom some, on the ground of 1 Corinthians 1. Galatians 1: 1. 9, would add James the Lord's brother) were the apostles par excellence, while the other apostles mentioned in the New Testament were apostles in some inferior sense. It is hardly possible, however, to make out such a distinction on the ground of New Testament usage. There were great differences, no doubt, among the apostles of the primitive church, as there were among the Twelve themselves- -differences due to natural talents, to personal acquirements and experience, to spiritual gifts. Paul was greater than Barnabas or Silvanus, just as Peter and John were greater than Thaddaeus or Simon the Cananean. If apostleship denotes missionary service, and if its reality, as Paul suggests, is to be measured by its seals, it would be difficult to maintain that Matthias was an apostle par excellence, while Barnabas was not. Paul sets Barnabas as an apostle side by side with himself (1 Corinthians 9: 5; Galatians 2: 9; compare Acts 1. Andronicus and Junias as . And the very fact that he found it necessary to denounce certain persons as . Apostles in Didache. When we come to the Didache, which probably lies beyond the boundary- line of New Testament history, we find the name . This makes it difficult to accept the view, urged by Lightfoot (op. Gwatkin remarks that we have no reason to suppose that this condition was ever waived unless we throw forward the Didache into the 2nd century. But it seems very unlikely that even toward the end of the 1st century there would be a whole class of men, not only still alive, but still braving in the exercise of their missionary functions all the hardships of a wandering and homeless existence (compare Didache 1. Jesus. In Luke 2. Acts 1. 8: 2. 2 it is the chosen company of the Twelve who are in view. In 1 Corinthians 9: 1 Paul is meeting his Judaizing opponents on their own ground, and answering their insistence upon personal intercourse with Jesus by a claim to have seen the Lord. But apart from these passages there is no evidence that the apostles of the early church were necessarily men who had known Jesus in the flesh or had been witnesses of His resurrection- -much less that this was the primary qualification on which their apostleship was made to rest. The Apostleship. We are led then to the conclusion that the true differentia of the New Testament apostleship lay in the missionary calling implied in the name, and that all whose lives were devoted to this vocation, and who could prove by the issues of their labors that God's Spirit was working through them for the conversion of Jew or Gentile, were regarded and described as apostles. The apostolate was not a limited circle of officials holding a well- defined position of authority in the church, but a large class of men who discharged one- -and that the highest- -of the functions of the prophetic ministry (1 Corinthians 1. Ephesians 4: 1. 1). It was on the foundation of the apostles and prophets that the Christian church was built, with Jesus Christ Himself as the chief corner- stone (Ephesians 2: 2. The distinction between the two classes was that while the prophet was God's spokesman to the believing church (1 Corinthians 1. His envoy to the unbelieving world (Galatians 2: 7,9). The Twelve were called personally by Jesus to an apostolic task at the commencement of His earthly ministry (Matthew 1. His resurrection this call was repeated, made permanent, and given a universal scope (Matthew 2. Acts 1: 8). Matthias was called first by the voice of the general body of the brethren and thereafter by the decision of the lot (Acts 1: 1. Paul's call came to him in a heavenly vision (Acts 2. Antioch, which sent him forth at the bidding of the Holy Ghost (Acts 1. Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead (Galatians 1: 1). Barnabas was sent forth (exapostello is the verb used) by the church at Jerusalem (Acts 1. Paul, by the church at Antioch (Acts 1. Acts 1. 4: 4). It was the mission on which they were sent that explains the title. And when this particular mission was completed and they returned to Antioch to rehearse before the assembled church . It was not official, and in the nature of the case could not be transmitted to others. Paul claimed for himself complete independence of the opinion of the whole body of the earlier apostles (Galatians 2: 6,1. God (2 Corinthians 4: 2). There is no sign that the apostles collectively exercised a separate and autocratic authority. When the question of the observance of the Mosaic ritual by Gentile. Christians arose at Antioch and was referred to Jerusalem, it was . In those cases in which he was appealed to or was compelled by some grave scandal to interpose, he rested an authoritative command on some express word of the Lord (1 Corinthians 7: 1. Divine commandment (1 Corinthians 1. His appeals in the latter case are grounded upon fundamental principles of morality common to heathen and Christian alike (1 Corinthians 5: 1), or are addressed to the spiritual judgment (1 Corinthians 1. Christ Jesus through the gospel (1 Corinthians 4: 1. It may be added here that the expressly missionary character of the apostleship seems to debar James, the Lord's brother, from any claim to the title. James was a prophet and teacher, but not an apostle. As the head of the church at Jerusalem, he exercised a ministry of a purely local nature. The passages on which it has been sought to establish his right to be included in the apostolate do not furnish any satisfactory evidence. In 1 Corinthians 1. James is contrasted with . And in Galatians 1: 1. Peter, none of the apostles was seen by Paul in Jerusalem, but only James the Lord's brother (compare the Revised Version, margin). Lambert. These files are public domain.
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