Study Guide
The Latter Day Apostles
2,286 words, about 11 min read
The apostle is responsible for the doctrines taught in the church, therefore, it is of the utmost importance he is thoroughly convinced of the message he delivers. After the resurrection, Jesus remained with them for forty more days, teaching those things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. The Scriptures declare that after the receiving of the Holy Ghost they understood the things He had taught them before His death. Before ascending into Heaven, He commissioned them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.
They obeyed.
They went into all the known world and set up churches, ordaining elders and setting in order all things pertaining to the worship of God, through Jesus Christ. They wrote letters to the churches and sent ordained men to pastor and train others. However, after about seventy years or so, the last of the original apostles died.
Through much persecution and the scattering of the church, eventually Apostolic Order faded away. The church went into what is commonly called the Dark Ages. This was a time of no enlightenment. A time when Christianity became fragmented and denominationalism replaced sound doctrine. Many were and are the victims of this non-enlightened church. But where are we now? This is the year 2014. There are earthquakes in divers places, wars and rumors of wars, pestilence and famine throughout the world. This is the beginning of sorrows. This means that there is only a small window left open to preach the Gospel of Christ to the nations of the earth. But what is the true gospel; seeing as how all the branches are yielding different and complex fruit? Who is going to carry this Gospel? Which one of the broken branches of Christendom will be chosen for such a task?
1 Corinthians 1:10
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
The scripture calls for unity in our preaching of the Word, and in our judgments. It demands there be no divisions among us. But more than that, it calls for all the saints of God to have the same mind. Sadly, the hope of these things ever being accomplished in what we know to be the Body of Christ today has all but totally diminished.
The people of God do not expect to ever unite in one belief and one mind. Nevertheless, the Scripture continues to speak…
Ephesians 4:1-6
1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
The unity of the ‘one Faith’ is found in the Spirit that is in all born again believers. However, Paul admonishes us to walk worthy of this great vocation (carrier of the gospel of Jesus Christ). Hence, the elders of the Body have fallen short of this command. Their souls have become wanton; and lowliness was replaced with self-exaltation, meekness with pride and longsuffering with intolerance. The souls of God’s people have become high things that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God. They have departed from the right way… and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
2 Peter 2:15
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness
It would really help if we knew the mind of the Father in this matter. I mean, what is His intent or plan here? Are we to simply remain splintered and disjointed; or is there a fails-safe plan in place here? We all claim to believe in the Father and the Son. We all preach from the same book. But it seems the more we preach the more we become divided. Beloved, were it not for steadfast faith in the Word of God, we would be most miserable, having no hope of ever seeing the Scriptures fulfilled in our time.
Ephesians 4:11-13
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
The disunity in the Body of Christ has overthrown the faith of some, causing them to draw back. But the Lord is faithful to His Word. No matter how much of an ‘impossibility unity of the faith’ seems to be at this time in church history, it will be accomplished. However, there are some legitimate questions being asked that beg to be answered.
What is the truth?
Who will be given this great end-time mouthpiece?
Where are the apostles of today? Maybe a better question would be, were there any other apostles after the original twelve and Paul; and has God ordained any modern day apostles?
Apostleship Strong’s Number: Original Word: ἀπόστολος, apostolos Usage: “one sent forth” (apo, “from,” stellō, “to send”). Messenger to the church. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words. A thorough search of the scriptures reveals the apostle to be a specially sent messenger to the Body of Christ. These apostles are special messengers sent to the Church and the world. The thing that makes them special is that the Mystery of Christ was given to them.
Ephesians 3:4-5
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Real apostles are given the knowledge of the Mystery of Christ. They are then sent into the world and the Church to proclaim that mystery.
The criteria for becoming an apostle seems to be set in the book of Acts by Peter, as they attempted to replace Judas who had hung himself after betraying the Lord.
Acts 1:20-22
20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.
21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
The Criteria:
He must have been with the disciples from the baptism of John to the ascension of Christ.
He must be an eyewitness of the resurrection of Christ. (He must have seen Jesus).
John the Revelator also seems to bear witness of this criteria in his epistle.
1 John 1:1-3 (KJV)
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
If this is the criteria set by the Lord for receiving the apostleship; then there would be no others ordained in this office beyond Matthias. But we know right off the bat such is not the case. We have Paul who is undoubtedly proclaimed throughout scripture to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some also believe that Paul was the last of the apostles, concluding that there are no real apostles today. But I respectfully disagree with that conclusion.
Consider the following passages. Titus was a messenger to the churches. The Greek word used in this passage is apostle.