The Organization of the Church – Gifted Leaders (Part One)

In Ephesians 4 Paul mentions that gifted leaders have been given to the church:

¹¹ So Christ himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

The giftings that each of these leaders has in common is communicating the Word of God and leading. Some of these leaders have ministry across the local churches and some are more or less confined to one community.

Apostles

In Acts 1 we see the eleven apostles selecting another man to the apostleship vacated by Judas Iscariot. The qualification for this person is “one of those who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us” (Acts 1:21,22). That is a very limited pool to draw from, and there is only one more who can be added to this number. In Revelation 21:14 we’re told that the heavenly Jerusalem that comes down to earth has twelve foundation stones that bear the names of the twelve apostles. This is a special role of leadership whose members are not added to, leaders who were taught directly by Jesus and who could give faithful and authoritative witness to Jesus’ life, ministry and teaching.

However, Paul is made an apostle (Romans 1:1,5; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 12:11; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:1; 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:1; Titus 1:1), the apostle to the Gentiles in contrast to Peter who is the apostle to the Jews (Romans 11:13; Galatians 2:8), who classes himself among the other apostles (1 Corinthians 4:9; 9:5; 12:28; Galatians 1:17), though he says he is the least of the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:9). In 2 Corinthians 12:12 Paul says he displayed the marks of an apostle, doing signs, wonders, and miracles, with the authority of an apostles (1 Thessalonians 2:6), with the responsibility of being a herald and teacher of the truth (1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11), and whose writings are considered Scripture (2 Peter 3:16). Presumably Paul’s name will not be on one of the foundation stones of the Heavenly Jerusalem, but he has the authority and credibility of those twelve apostles.

The term apostle is used of a few other people in the New Testament. Barnabas is called an apostle in conjunction with Paul (Acts 14:14), and it is possible that Andronicus and Junia are so termed (Romans 16:7), given how that passage is interpreted. The term apostle means “sent one,” and this usage of apostle for these may be more general, as they were sent on mission by the church.

Can there be more apostles of same kind as Paul and the Twelve? The Church worldwide has not recognized anyone else as such an apostle. The Roman Catholic Church asserts that the Popes are apostles in this sense, in a line of apostolic succession, each Pope inheriting Peter’s authority and responsibility for the church. Some Protestant denominations appoint individuals as apostles. But there is nothing in the New Testament that suggests that there would be apostles beyond those so proclaimed in Scripture. These still lead the church through their writings, which have formed the majority of the New Testament (Matthew, Peter, John, and Paul).