Posts in month: February, 2010

The word apostolos means “sent one”. So, from that we derive that an apostle is one who is sent. But, the word apostle also has a range of meanings in the New Testament and we’ll have to begin to take a look at those meanings if we are to understand who apostles were in the New Testament and who apostles are today.

Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in Corinth and told them that they were ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5.20). I believe that the description “ambassadors” applies to all the followers of Jesus in all times and in all places. So, there is a sense in which all followers of Christ are sent ones, apostles, though I do not know any text of Scripture that uses the term apostle in reference to all the followers of Jesus. Regardless, that is not how the word apostle is used in Ephesians 4.11-13, as it is clear not all followers of Christ are in view in that description.

We’re really trying to come to an understanding of the meaning of the word apostle in Ephesians 4.11-13, And God gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the followers of Jesus for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

There are some people who believe that the word apostle as it is used in Ephesians 4.11-13 finds its modern fulfillment in the sending of missionaries. They reason that missionaries are the “sent ones” of churches today. Again, they grab the general meaning of the word apostle and try to fit it to the post-Reformation reality of the church. I am a missionary, but I am not an apostle in the Ephesians 4 sense of the word. Where Ephesians 4 is concerned, I am a teacher, but I am also a cross-cultural missionary. Most of the missionaries that I know are evangelists, pastors and teachers, but very few are apostles as we read about them in Ephesians 4 (and I have yet to meet any who are prophets). So, I do not agree with those who see missionaries today as all being equivalent to the apostles that God has given to the church in order to have a complete and healthy church.

We find the word apostle used in many texts in the New Testament, but the word is not always used to indicate the same thing. Let’s look at a few examples.

The word apostle is applied to Jesus in Hebrews 3.1. Jesus was certainly one sent. However, Jesus was not an apostle in the Ephesians 4.11-13 sense of the word apostle.

Jesus chose twelve men to be His disciples. The word “apostle” is sometimes used in reference to these twelve men. The ministry of the twelve and their unique relationship with Jesus leads me to believe that the apostles referred to in Ephesians 4 are not apostles in the same sense as the twelve apostles (and Matthias and Paul). The key to understanding this will be to understand that the New Testament refers to more than 14 men as apostles.

In fact, there are 22 people in addition to Jesus who are referred to as apostles in the New Testament. Here’s the list:

Paul – many Scriptures, but Rom. 11:13 “to the Gentiles”
Peter – many Scriptures, but I Peter 1:1, Matthew 10:2
Andrew – Matthew 10:2
James (son of Zebedee) – Matthew 10:2
John – Matthew 10:2
Philip – Matthew 10:2
Bartholomew – Matthew 10:2
Thomas – Matthew 10:2
Matthew – Matthew 10:2
James (son of Alpheus) – Matthew 10:2
Thadeus – Matthew 10:2
Simon the zealot – Matthew 10:2
Judas Iscariot – Matthew 10:2
Matthias – Acts 1:26
Barnabas – Acts 14:14
James (Jesus’ brother) – Galatians 1:19
Epaphroditus – Philippians 2:25
Andronicus – Romans 12:7
Junia (a female apostle) – Romans 16:7
Cephas – may also be Peter I Cor. 9:5, but is not necessarily Peter
Silas – I Thessalonians 2:6
Timothy – I Thessalonians 2:6

I have no way to speculate about how many apostles actually existed in the New Testament era. I do find the following text to be interesting though.

For I [Paul] delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also (1 Corinthians 15.3-8).

In I Corinthians 15:3-8 Paul refers to Jesus appearing to Peter and then to the Twelve after His resurrection and before His ascension. In the same context, Paul states that Jesus appeared to James and then to all the apostles. Paul stated that Jesus had already appeared to the Twelve and Paul goes on to refer to all the apostles. That he referred to both seems to indicate two different groups. I believe the two different groups are the Twelve (a group of apostles that would include Matthias and Paul) and then the Ephesians 4 type of apostles. I believe the first type is no longer with us, but that the later type of apostles remain and minister among us today.

Please check back soon, as I plan to explain my understanding of the ministry of apostles today.

I have just added an article entitled “Our Mission” to the articles page.

This is an article that I wrote as part of the study on Acts that I use for discipleship, leadership training and training church planters. I find it important for the people around me to understand what is going on in my head when I talk about “our mission” and the work here. It was originally written in Portuguese and I translated it into English to post here.

Since I watched the Verge2010 Conference on the Live Stream, I realize that there are churches and leaders in the US who share many of the same ideas I’ve expressed in this article. However, this is my own explanation of what I believe the Great Commission really means.

You can read the article by clicking this link “Our Mission“. Or, you can read it from the articles page and see what other articles are there too.

Also, I’d like to say thanks to the folks at Verge2010 for making the Live Stream available, and for free at that, to those who could not be there live! That was extremely cool of them!

I went to a non-denominational meeting of pastors a few months ago. The organizers had invited a well known apostle from this area to speak. This man had received the blessing, the unction, of a well known Pastor/Prophet from another country and therefore had gained esteem locally. I’ll refer to this apostle as Apostle X.

Apostle X revealed several things about his ministry while he was preaching. He is the pastor of a large church. He is an evangelist. He has a teaching ministry. And, during his preaching he stated, “The Prophet commands the Spirit.” He was, of course, referring to himself as the prophet who controls the Holy Spirit. Following this announcement, he said, “If you want to receive the unction raise both your hands!” Sadly, almost all the pastors from this city raised both of their hands. Now, let me explain why I find this to be saddening.

And God gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the followers of Jesus for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4.11-13)

The Bible clearly states that God gave these five to the church in order to have a complete and healthy church. Apostle X was claiming to be all five in one person. This goes against what the Bible clearly teaches. It is saddening that he makes this claim, but sadder still that the majority of the pastors in the city where I live and minister do not know the clear teaching of Scripture on this matter.

The claim made by Apostle X – the prophet commands the Spirit – was shocking! Yet, very few of the pastors in the room found it offensive to hear a man say, “I can command the Holy Spirit of God!” Rather, they hoped this was true and hoped that Apostle X would command the Spirit to give them power. They are hungry for what no man can give them.

One of my greatest concerns is that Apostle X may very well have a powerful spirit that he can command. However, no man can command the Holy Spirit of God. Only God the Father and Jesus the Son can command the Holy Spirit.

I found Apostle X to be a very present example of a false apostle; a man who does not understand the New Testament nor how it applies to apostolic ministry today. This is but one example of the misuse, or abuse, of the title “apostle” today.

Nonetheless, I will not allow the misuse, or abuse, of the word “apostle” deter me from seeking the function of the apostle in the church today.

In 2 Corinthians 11.13 we find that false apostles masquerading as apostles of Christ already existed in the New Testament church less than a generation after it began. That did not deter the true apostles of Christ from calling themselves apostles and carrying out their God-given functions within the church.

So, false apostles existed then and they continue to exist today. Our method for determining the true from the false is to test the messages with Scripture. I know four true apostles. In the weeks to come I’ll explain that.

The word “apostle” means “sent one”. Knowing that does not even begin to scratch the surface of what the New Testament teaches us about apostles. Many people are beginning to talk about apostles in the church today and apostolic ministries in the world today. That makes some people a little apprehensive, a little nervous. After all, just what do the folks mean who are talking about apostles and apostolic ministries?

I grew up in Southern Baptist churches – both traditional and contemporary. We had pastors and teachers and occasionally an evangelist. I never gave it much thought. That’s just the way it was and I assumed that was all there was to it. Even in seminary we never really looked beyond that reality of church. Then one day I came across someone teaching about apostles and I really thought they were out of their mind. Imagine having apostles like Peter and Paul running around today writing new books of the Bible and doing miracles. I could not accept it. The canon of Scripture is closed! There will be no more Bible written!

After arriving on the mission field and digging deeply into Scripture to see just what the church of the New Testament was like, I came across a text I had not truly considered before. In Ephesians 4.11-13 we read,

And God gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the followers of Jesus for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Then I realized what this text means. God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to the church in order to have a complete and healthy church.

I had to ask myself, If apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were necessary in the First Century in order to have a complete and healthy church, why do we believe that all five are not necessary today?

I have talked about this with many friends and colleagues. I have heard many arguments from theology and church history for why people think they are not necessary. However, I have yet to find any text of Scripture that tells me that some of these gifts of God to the church will cease to exist.

That is the process that I went through to arrive where I am today. I do believe that all five of these functions are necessary if we are to have a complete and healthy church today. I’ll qualify that by saying that I have heard and seen the title “apostle” abused far more often than I have seen it applied correctly. That saddens me, but it does not discourage me from seeking the true and right application of the function of the apostle in the church today.

In the weeks to come I want to continue explaining my understanding of apostles and apostolic ministries. I hope you’ll join me.

Later this week we’ll be launching a new aspect of our ministry here in Joinville. We’ll be asking people to open their homes for teams to come and pray with them. In many places in the world, houses of prayer play a very important role in house church networks. I have not done any research to learn what exactly those houses of prayer entail. In fact, I had heard about two different places using houses of prayer. I thought, “That’s there. That isn’t here.” And, I did not pursue the idea.

After I had let the idea slip into the back of my mind (actually, I had completely forgotten about it), God brought the idea back to my mind. That’s when I knew it was God’s time for houses of prayer here. I didn’t know when, where or how we would start houses of prayer. That’s where it is good to have team members. God was giving those answers to members of our team.

A few years ago, when I was on staff at a church in the US I had a small group that met for prayer. Our prayer time there was developed from a prayer group in which I participated in Bulgaria. The houses of prayer that we begin here will be based on both of those prayer ministries, though it will not be a copy of either. “Prayer is learned by praying.” I do not recall who wrote that sentence, but it is true. So, we want to teach people to pray through houses of prayer.

I’m adding an article to the “Articles” page here on the blog. I wrote it in 2002 and never put it online. However, I’m making it available now so you can understand a little better what I hope God does through houses of prayer. Please read “How Our Small Group Prays” on the articles page or by clicking this link How Our Small Group Prays.

Blessings – Stan