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.”

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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.

Review of The Apostle

The critically acclaimed film, The Apostle, follows the life of Euliss “Sonny” Dewey (Robert Duvall), a charismatic southern preacher as he lives between faith and sin. Sonny is presented as a weak, imperfect, and flawed preacher, but also as one who seems to genuinely love God and care for people. Even when Sonny is out of the limelight and all alone, he still spends time praying, helping others, and leading people to Christ, yet his glaring flaws ultimately destroy him.

While Sonny is not an example for Christians to follow, the movie portrays God using Sonny to teach others. Christians should always be on the lookout for false preachers and prophets, but the life of Sonny give an example of Philippians 1:15-18 where some were preaching Christ from envy and strife and some from good will. But Paul says “What does it matter?” Paul rejoices that Christ is proclaimed and this is shown in the life and career of Sonny.

A career that started at an early age for Sonny Dewey, the film catches up with Sonny later in life driving along with his mom, when they happen to come across a bad accident. As if being called to a certain area, Sonny begins walking out into a field only to find a car with two young individuals in it that are barely alive. He shares the Gospel with them and asks the man to accept Jesus into his heart. A paramedic comes on the scene and tells Sonny he has to leave but he does not leave the scene until this young man accepts Christ. In this moment we see the love and compassion of Sonny, but soon after the audience is shown his dark side which is prone to violence, adultery, and alcoholism.

Sonny receives a “dream” from God that tells him his wife is having an affair with another man, who happens to be a pastor at their church. He catches her in bed with the pastor, and a little later on it is shown she wants out of their marriage because he is never around, has a wandering eye, and wicked ways. She believes God told her to get a divorce. The downward spiral does not end there as Sonny’s church is then taken from him by a secret vote. All of this climaxes to the turning point of the movie when Sonny goes to see his kids playing a baseball game. In his drunken stupor, Sonny yanks his wife around by the hair and as her lover tries to stop him, Sonny clubs him in the head with a bat. The man ends up dying and Sonny skips town.

Sonny then tries to fake his own death by getting rid of all identification and his car. He sets out to a small Louisiana bayou town to start over. He decides that not only does he want to change his name, but he wants to be an apostle of Jesus, so he baptizes himself twice as an apostle and starts living the way of an apostle. Sonny changes his name to Apostle E.F. and gives his life back to God. Sonny starts a church with a local retired pastor, who tells Sonny that he is going to watch him and believes God will reveal everything if Sonny is lying to him.

As Sonny begins to promote the church more and more, the townspeople are drawn to it by his magnetism and charisma. The church begins to grow and thrive with each passing week. Sonny’s love and compassion are shown as he picks up the people to go to church in a bus, he distributes food to the poor, and sticks up for his congregation against an angry racist. Sonny’s love for the church is shown as he stands in the way of a bulldozer driven by this racist, and the scene ends in Sonny helping the man through his anger.

In a weird stroke of chance, the radio station that Sonny’s wife was listening to begins to go in and out, and she hears Sonny’s voice and the location. As Sonny is preaching one night to a full house, the police show up, but they let Sonny finish his sermon on salvation and redemption. A conversion occurs and Sonny is sent off to jail. The prayer of Sonny’s partner Reverend Blackwell is answered as Sonny is truly shown for what he is. As the movie closes, Sonny is working on the highway chain gang preaching about Jesus to his fellow workers.

The Apostle provides a wonderful example of what a diverse church looks like and how to handle internal issues. While Sonny’s theology is flawed, he continually preaches the name of Jesus and talks about the Holy Ghost. For Sonny, the word apostle seems to mean one who sent with a purpose to do the work of God. While Sonny’s life has a faint resemblance to the apostle Paul’s, Sonny is nothing like Paul who was a true apostle. But what is an apostle? Did this movie get it right or is there something more to that word?

Historical Background on “Apostle”

There has been considerable debate over the social origins of the word apostle and more significantly over the criteria for apostleship and the nature of the authority which Paul claimed over the Gentile churches which others questioned or rejected. The word apostolos (“apostle”) was used very infrequently in the Greek language prior to New Testament times.[2] It was originally used to describe a dispatch that was usually made by sea.[3] It is used only once in the Septuagint (LXX), referring to the prophet Ahijah (1 Kgs 14:6). However, the term occurs thirty-five times in the Pauline letters and eighty times in the New Testament, and is evident that apostolos was very important within the early church movement.[4]

Apostolos generally means someone or something sent. In the New Testament, it usually refers to someone sent out as an authorized agent by Jesus or the Christian community (Matt 10:2; 2 Cor 8:23; Heb 3:1).[5] Despite various opinions on the origin, character, and significance of apostolos in the New Testament, there is broad agreement that apostolos is used in two main senses – a solemn or narrow sense (1 Cor 1:1) and a non-technical or broad sense which refers to those sent as “messengers from the churches” (2 Cor 8:23). In the technical sense, it refers to a person sent out as an authorized agent, either of Jesus or, in the early missionary work, of a distinguished congregation.[6] This may be related to the rabbinic use of “emissary or “sent one” (šālîaḥ), which refers to someone who is authorized to act on behalf of another and represent the authority of that person.[7] A prime example of that illustrates this conceptual linkage of apostolos in the New Testament and šālîaḥ is found in John 13:16 which talks about the messenger being like the sender (cf. Mark 6:30; Luke 11:49).[8]

New Testament Development

The majority of passages that use the word apostle are found in Acts and in the Pauline Letters. It should be noted that the concept of apostle did not originate with Paul as he mentions “those who were apostles before me,” who were located in Jerusalem (Gal 1:17).[9] The creedal tradition (1 Cor 15:5-9) mentioned by Paul is helpful for two reasons. First, it states that the risen Lord appeared “to all the apostles” before he appeared to Paul (1 Cor 15:7, 8), suggesting that there were “apostles” at or close to the time of Jesus’ resurrection. Second, it is helpful because it distinguishes between the Twelve and “all the apostles.” Christ appeared to Cephas, who is placed with the Twelve, then to James, placed with “all the apostles,” then finally to Paul. Since Cephas is referred to as an apostle elsewhere (Gal 1:18-19; 2:8; 1 Pet 1:1; 2 Pet 1:1), it is understood that the Twelve were called apostles but that there were more apostles than twelve, and that among them were James and Paul himself, as he claimed (1 Cor 15:9). Logically, the differentiation between the Twelve and the apostles is that the Twelve had been applied to the twelve disciples of Jesus from the time of the Galilean mission and that the apostles were these and others, who at the first Easter were among those who were commissioned by the risen Lord.[10] The Gospel writers may have then included the idea in their descriptions of how Jesus called His disciples.[11]

Regardless of historical question of the origin of the word apostle, there are identifiable differences in how the term is used in the New Testament writings. Apostle is never applied to Jesus in the Gospels and it is only used once in the rest of the New Testament to describe Him (Heb 3:1). It is clear from the sayings of Jesus, however, that He saw Himself as sent by God to carry out the commission of God the Father (Mark 9:37; Matt 15:24; Luke 10:16; John 5:36).[12] Although the term is uncommon in the Gospels, the description of the disciples’ commission (Mark 6:7-13) shares many components with how Jesus portrays His own commission.[13] The ministry of the disciples is linked to that of Jesus Himself, including a calling to continue His ministry with His authority. The notion of the origin of apostleship may be best explained by the šālîaḥ concept which was current at the time of Jesus and that he took it, applied it to Himself as the One sent by God (Mark 9:37) and then, by extensions, to those who were sent by Him first to Galilee and then to the Gentiles.[14] The Twelve can then be regarded as the bridge between the ministry of Christ and the establishment of early Christianity.

Acts presents two different understandings of apostle. It first appears in Acts 1:2, which gives the most common usage of the term as referring to the Twelve as a group. The other usage is found in several places, including chapter 14 where Paul and Barnabas are called apostles (Acts 14:4, 14) singled out by the Holy Spirit for special work (Acts 13:1-2). Thus, the term apostle is used for leading emissaries of a distinguished congregation, regardless of whether they belong to the Twelve.[15] The terms “apostle” and “disciple” do not have the same meaning in the New Testament. The term “disciple” is only used in the Gospels and in Acts, where it usually refers to the Twelve, whereas “apostle” is mainly used in Acts and the Letters. Disciples in the Gospels are all those who are called into discipleship by Jesus and only a few of them are sent out by Him as apostles. In the epistles, the term “disciple” is never used and Jesus’ original 12 disciples are referred to either as apostles or the Twelve.[16]

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[1] P. W. Barnett, “Apostle,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 46.

[2] P. W. Barnett, “Apostle,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 45.

[3] D. Nässelqvist, “Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al., (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), under chap. ‘A’, sec., “Apostle,” Logos Bible Software.

[4] P. W. Barnett, “Apostle,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 45.

[5] D. Nässelqvist, “Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al., (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), under chap. ‘A’, sec., “Apostle,” Logos Bible Software.

[6] D. Nässelqvist, “Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al., (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), under chap. ‘A’, sec., “Apostle,” Logos Bible Software.

[7] P. W. Barnett, “Apostle,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 45.

[8] P. W. Barnett, “Apostle,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 46.

[9] P. W. Barnett, “Apostle,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 46.

[10] P. W. Barnett, “Apostle,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 47.

[11] D. Nässelqvist, “Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al., (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), under chap. ‘A’, sec., “Apostle,” Logos Bible Software.

[12] D. Nässelqvist, “Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al., (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), under chap. ‘A’, sec., “Apostle,” Logos Bible Software.

[13] D. Nässelqvist, “Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al., (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), under chap. ‘A’, sec., “Apostle,” Logos Bible Software.

[14] P. W. Barnett, “Apostle,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 47.

[15] D. Nässelqvist, “Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al., (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), under chap. ‘A’, sec., “Apostle,” Logos Bible Software.

[16] D. Nässelqvist, “Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al., (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), under chap. ‘A’, sec., “Apostle,” Logos Bible Software.