Modern Day Apostles?

[BlessedByTheBest]

2Co 11:12  But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

 

i have seen modern day apostles whose main mission appears to be planting churches, which makes sense.  but do these men scripturally qualify to be named an Apostle of Jesus Christ, or are they self-appointed?

 

Scripture makes it clear that any member of the body of Christ is divinely appointed by the Head Himself, through the Holy Spirit.

so i would like to discuss apparent requirements that i believe are found in the Bible for this particular member of Christ's Body;

and whether or not it is valid beyond those who personally walked with Jesus Christ and witnessed Him in resurrected form.

 

1Co 9:1  Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? 

 

1Co 15:7  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

1Co 15:8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 

 

1Jn 1:1  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;

1Jn 1:2  (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 

1Jn 1:3  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. 

1Jn 1:4  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 

 

Luk 6:13  And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;

 

Act 1:21  Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 

Act 1:22  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.

 

1Ti 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; 

 

2Co 12:12  Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

 

 

so it seems to me that at the very least, a named apostle must be an eyewitness of the Lord's resurrected body.

am i in error?

 

secondly, an apostle is gifted with great power and mighty deeds from on high.  apostles display signs and wonders of God's power in mighty deeds such as casting out devils, and healing miracles, and seemingly operate in all gifts of the Spirit.

apostles like Peter preach and 3000 souls of different nations and tongues get saved by nothing short of a miracle from God.

 

an apostle is a messenger of Christ blessed with miraculous powers.  are modern day apostles genuine or fraudulent?

 

thoughts?

[BlessedByTheBest]

bump police 

[nikki1]

I do not believe there are any more apostles. The criteria for an apostle are set forth in you post. To be an apostle one would have to be a witness to the Resurrection.

 

Also, the original apostles were given the power to do signs and wonders because at the time, the Jews required a sign, and the Greek sought after wisdom. 1 Corinth. 1:22

 

 

 

are modern day apostles genuine or fraudulent?

 

 

frauds

[Qnts2]

I do believe there are modern day apostles, but I also believe they are not usually those who claim the title.

 

From

http://kentcrockett.com/biblestudies/howmanyapostles.htm

 

 

 

The list 20 apostles. If that is true, then the list of apostles is beyond the original 12

 

1. Simon Peter (Matt. 10:2)
2. Andrew (Matt. 10:2)
3. James the son of Zebedee (Matt. 10:2)
4. John (Matt. 10:2)
5. Philip (Matt. 10:3)
6. Bartholomew (Matt. 10:3)
7. Thomas (Matt. 10:3)
8. Matthew (Matt. 10:3)
9. James the son of Alphaeus (Matt. 10:3)
10. Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3), or Judas the son of James (Luke 6:16)
11. Simon the Zealot (Matt. 10:4)
12. Judas Iscariot (Matt. 10:4)
13. Matthias (Acts 1:26)
14. Paul (Gal. 1:1)
15. Barnabas (1 Cor. 9:5-6, Acts 14:4, 14)
16. Andronicus (Rom. 16:7)
17. Junias (Rom. 16:7)
18. James, the Lord's brother (Gal. 1:19)
19. Silas (Silvanus) (1 Thess. 1:1, 2:6)
20. Timothy (1 Thess. 1:1, 2:6)
21. Unnamed apostles (1 Cor. 15:7)

 

[OakWood]

Belief in so-called modern day Apostles is the reason why the Catholic and Orthodox churches have so many saints!!!!!!

[nebula]

2Co 11:12  But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

 

i have seen modern day apostles whose main mission appears to be planting churches, which makes sense.  but do these men scripturally qualify to be named an Apostle of Jesus Christ, or are they self-appointed?

 

Scripture makes it clear that any member of the body of Christ is divinely appointed by the Head Himself, through the Holy Spirit.

so i would like to discuss apparent requirements that i believe are found in the Bible for this particular member of Christ's Body;

and whether or not it is valid beyond those who personally walked with Jesus Christ and witnessed Him in resurrected form.

 

1Co 9:1  Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? 

 

1Co 15:7  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

1Co 15:8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Did Paul actually state that seeing Jesus qualified him to be an apostle? In 1 Cor. 1:9 he states four qualifying points for his authority. It looks to me like these four points are separate points rather than the last three extending off the first.

With 1 Cor. 15, where does it state that seeing Jesus was a qualification for Apostleship?

 

 

1Jn 1:1  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;

1Jn 1:2  (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

1Jn 1:3  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. 

1Jn 1:4  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Is there anything here that indicates John is speaking of apostolic qualifications or calling?

 

Luk 6:13  And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;

Here is a question - where did the word "apostle" come from? Is this a word Jesus made-up? Or was this a normal Greek word? if so, what does that Greek word mean? And then why were The Twelve called this?

Act 1:21  Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 

Act 1:22  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.

Well, according to this criteria, Paul could not be an apostle because he didn't accompany them from the time of John's baptism to Jesus' resurrection. So, A and B are not adding up here.

 

1Ti 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; 

 

2Co 12:12  Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

Again, how does this state that signs and wonders are qualifications of apostles?

[BlessedByTheBest]

I do not believe there are any more apostles. The criteria for an apostle are set forth in you post. To be an apostle one would have to be a witness to the Resurrection.

 

Also, the original apostles were given the power to do signs and wonders because at the time, the Jews required a sign, and the Greek sought after wisdom. 1 Corinth. 1:22

 

 

 

are modern day apostles genuine or fraudulent?

 

 

yes

 

thanks nikki

[BlessedByTheBest]

I do believe there are modern day apostles, but I also believe they are not usually those who claim the title.

 

From

http://kentcrockett.com/biblestudies/howmanyapostles.htm

 

 

 

The list 20 apostles. If that is true, then the list of apostles is beyond the original 12

 

1. Simon Peter (Matt. 10:2)

2. Andrew (Matt. 10:2)

3. James the son of Zebedee (Matt. 10:2)

4. John (Matt. 10:2)

5. Philip (Matt. 10:3)

6. Bartholomew (Matt. 10:3)

7. Thomas (Matt. 10:3)

8. Matthew (Matt. 10:3)

9. James the son of Alphaeus (Matt. 10:3)

10. Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3), or Judas the son of James (Luke 6:16)

11. Simon the Zealot (Matt. 10:4)

12. Judas Iscariot (Matt. 10:4)

13. Matthias (Acts 1:26)

14. Paul (Gal. 1:1)

15. Barnabas (1 Cor. 9:5-6, Acts 14:4, 14)

16. Andronicus (Rom. 16:7)

17. Junias (Rom. 16:7)

18. James, the Lord's brother (Gal. 1:19)

19. Silas (Silvanus) (1 Thess. 1:1, 2:6)

20. Timothy (1 Thess. 1:1, 2:6)

21. Unnamed apostles (1 Cor. 15:7)

 

 

could you maybe expand on this Q? thank you.

 

and also, would you care to comment on these verses in regards to the 20+ named in the list?

 

Rev 2:1  Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

 

in what manner have these self-proclaimed apostles been tried?  is this a reference to a witnessing of the resurrection of Christ and miraculous signs and wonders?

 

and also:

 

Rev 21:14  And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

 

 

love to you.

[BlessedByTheBest]

Belief in so-called modern day Apostles is the reason why the Catholic and Orthodox churches have so many saints!!!!!!

 

interesting point Willow.  God bless

[Willa]

Apostle means one who is sent out. An ambassador or messenger. If a person is called by God to be an evangelist he will be doing that at home. We have a person or two who are doing this in our church. They have a drive in them to share the gospel that compels them to do so much like that which Paul discribes. When the church recognizes this gift they may send the person out to another country with its blessings. This would technically be an apostle but few would call themselves that. We might call them missionaries today.

We used to have a family in another church that called themselves apostles because they went around to churches singing and preaching. I don't think so. They were self appointed and they considered themselves over the pastors in rank. Not good. God disciplined them by a terrible accident by which he lost his ability to speak fluently. But he could still sing and God used his singing to glorify Himself. While unconscience the guy had seen himself in hell.

There are many false apostles today And no one is comprable to the original Apostles. I especially am warey of those who have appointed themselves as authorities or as ones with special knowledge or insight. That is something that the church must first recognize and evaluate or appoint. People cannot just go around declaring themselves such. And some lead many astray because they tell people what they want to hear (as in the prosperity gospel). That is also how bad leaders deceive and get elected and honost ones get rejected.