who were the apostles

I was asked to write an article on the word “apostle” found in Scripture, how it is used, and if it is still applicable to today (or did it cease after the last apostle died). This stems from an older movie called “The Apostle” as well as other modern-day pastors/preachers calling themselves apostles. This is a three part-series where today we will focus on introducing the subject, reviewing the movie, and beginning to look at the usage of the word “apostle.”

The word “apostle” and its meaning is easily misunderstood. Many seem to think that apostle only refers to members of the original twelve men called by Christ. But what about Matthias? He became an apostle in Acts when he was chosen to replace Judas. Also, Paul considered himself an apostle as did many others of that time. Since Paul’s letters are some of the earliest writings of the New Testament, and since he uses the Greek word for apostles, apostolos, more than any other author in the New Testament, all historical investigations of the origin, meaning and significance of the word properly begin with his letters.[1] However, many dispute Paul’s claims at being an apostle for various reasons which leads back to the matter at hand of apostleship. What is an apostle and how does one become an apostle? This paper will show that there are two definitions for an apostle, one in a narrow or provides a definition in the technical sense and the other in a broad or non-technical sense. Apostle refers to the twelve members originally called by Jesus and includes Matthias and Paul who both met the qualification of Acts 1:21; and the word apostle refers to those sent as messengers of the church. It will be shown that unlike Sonny from the film The Apostle, who declared himself an apostle, that people were declared apostles by others for a purpose. This paper will examine the film The Apostle and how the word apostle is used. In addition, the narrow and broad use of the word apostle will be examined including qualifications to be an apostle and whether or not Paul was an actual apostle.