What is an Apostle

[OBW]

Originally Posted by YP0534

Perhaps Admin can move at least my most recent post out of that thread?

Thanks OBW.

You are welcome.

I was not compaining in any way. I was giving this subject the separate discussion it deserves. We'll see how far gets.

[YP0534]

Originally Posted by OBW

You are welcome.

I was not compaining in any way. I was giving this subject the separate discussion it deserves. We'll see how far gets.

Well, there ain't a whole lot of denominations out there with active working concepts of "apostleship," which does make this something of a particular LC thing. And if we're going to debunk "deputy authority" it probably behooves us to study what the Bible actually says about what is presumably the "highest ranking" of the "deputy authority" which, as I believe is taught, is the "office" of "apostle."

Digging into Kittel has already led me to realize at least a couple of errors Lee made along these lines. I'm also fellowshipping these points elsewhere with a couple of other brothers and I intend to bring forward whatever light the study yields.

One of the most interesting points so far is that the word \apostolos\ is basically a New Testament coinage. Almost entirely unheard of in the classical world in the New Testament sense. So to know what it means, you absolutely must study it's use in the New Testament. (There is an interesting usage where it seems like it might refer to "letters of authority" but I need to look into that further; seeing as how we are "letters of Christ" it might be relevant.)

Another point is that in the usage in the Gospels, the "authority" the apostles bore was over demons and disease. You couldn't find there where they had "authority" over anything or anyone else if you only had the Gospels to define the term. And the term in the Gospels means "special disciple" more than anything else. The terms "disciple" and "apostle" are used almost completely interchangably at some points.

Also, there is rare NT usage of \apostolos\ outside of Luke's gospel, Acts, and Paul's epistles. Once in Matthew. Once in John. Once, maybe twice, in Mark. Which basically means you've got two perspectives on what that word meant back in that day. I believe Acts may eventually yield the most light.

[YP0534]

This is pretty interesting:

1Cr 12:27 Now *ye* are Christ's body, and members in particular.
1Cr 12:28 And God has set certain in the assembly: first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; then miraculous powers; then gifts of healings; helps; governments; kinds of tongues.

The Bible says that apostles are set in the assembly.

That's sure the opposite of thinking that they are nomadic and belong to no one assembling group in particular, isn't it?

Lee's footnote here is little more than gobbledygook that expressly references "Universal Church" to reach his conclusions. You already know what I think about that doctrine...