Apostle

(Gk. apostolos [ajpovstolo"]). Envoy, ambassador, or messenger commissioned to carry out the instructions of the commissioning aget.

Etymology and Usage of the Term Pre-Christian use of apostolos [ajpovstolo"] in the sense of messenger is rare. More common is the verb apostello, referring to the sending of a fleet or an embassy. Only in Herodotus (1.21; 5.38) is it used of a personal envoy. Josephus employs it once (Antiquities17.11.1) in the classical sense of an embassy. Epictetus (Discourse3.22) speaks of the ideal Cynic teacher as one "sent by Zeus" to be a messenger of the gods and an "overseer" of human affairs.

The Septuagint uses apostello [ajpostevllw] or exapostello [ejxapostevllw] some seven hundred times to translate the Hebrew salah [j;l'v] ("stretch out, " "send"). More than the act of sending, this word includes the idea of the authorization of a messenger. The noun apostolos [ajpovstolo"] is found only in 1ki 14:6, where the commissioning and empowering of the prophet are clearly in mind. Thus, the Septuagint uses the apostello [ajpostevllw] word-group to denote the authorization of an individual to fulfill a particular function, with emphasis on the one who sends, not on the one who is sent.

The noun apostolos [ajpovstolo"] appears seventy-nine times in the New Testament (ten in the Gospels; twenty-eight in Acts; thirty-eight in the Epistles; and three in Revelation). The vast majority of these occurrences are found in Luke-Acts (thirty-four) and in the Pauline epistles (thirty-four), and refer to those appointed by Christ for a special function in the church. Their unique place is based not only on having witnessed the resurrection, but also on having been commissioned and empowered by the resurrected Lord to proclaim the gospel to all nations.

In the New Testament apostolos [ajpovstolo"] is applied to Jesus as the Sent One of God ( Heb 3:1 ), to those sent by God to preach to Israel ( Luke 11:49 ), to those sent by churches ( 2 Col 8:23 ; Php 2:25 ), and most often, to the individuals who had been appointed by Christ to preach the gospel of the kingdom. This latter category, however, is understood differently by New Testament writers. For example, Luke-Acts uses the term "apostle" to refer almost exclusively to the Twelve, while Paul uses it in relation to a broader group of individuals. The expression "all the apostles" in 1 Corinthians 15:7 seems to include more than the twelve referred to in verse 5. James is considered here, and in Galatians 1:19, to be an apostle. Barnabas is referred to as an apostle in ac 14:14 ( 11:22-24 ; 13:1-4 ). Paul calls Andronicus and Junias apostles in Romans 16:7. In this broader sense, an apostle was a witness to the resurrection of Christ, sent by him to make disciples of all nations.