Apostleship

1. Apostleship is a spiritual gift — 1 Corinthians 12:28

2. Apostles are appointed (Sovereign decision — no merit involved) by:

a) God the Father — Romans 1:1

b) Jesus Christ provided the spiritual gifts — Ephesians 4:11

c) The Holy Spirit matches the gift to the individual — 1 Corinthians 12:11

3. No apostle was appointed to the Church until after the Ascension of Christ — Ephesians 4:8-11. Peter was NOT appointed an apostle to the Church in Matthew 16:18,19. The disciples were appointed apostles to Israel (at that time), not to the Church. Note Matthew 10:6, “house of Israel” .The “keys” are the prerogative of witnessing and they do not carry special authority.

4. An apostle must be an eye witness to the resurrected Christ — 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8,9.

5. An apostle also had the gift of miracles. Paul did not have the gift of healing at the end of his life, it was removed from him before he died, some ten years before, in 57 AD — 2 Corinthians 12:6-10; Philippians 2:27 with 2 Timothy 4:20.

6. This using of miracles was necessary to sustain their absolute apostolic authority — Acts 5:15; 16:16-18; 28:8,9.

7. There is no perpetuation of apostleship. No sons became apostles. We never receive anything in the Christian life through physical birth. Everything we have comes as a result of spiritual birth, regeneration.

8. Apostles exercised absolute authority (spiritual dictatorship) over the churches until the completion of the Canon of scripture (66 Bible books) which is now absolute. Today no one has the right to exercise authority over more than one church. Each local church should be self-sustaining and self-governing.

9. Apostles received direct revelation from God. All revelation today is through the Word. All writers of the New Testament were either apostles or someone closely associated with an apostle (Mark and Luke).

10. No one today has or will reach apostolic stature — 2 Corinthians 12:12. No human being can perform miracles at will today.

11. Once the Canon of scripture was complete, the gift of apostleship was withdrawn (Writing of Revelation). The Canon of the New Testament became the basis of modus operandi and the absolute criterion.

12. Apostle is an Attic Greek word: Admiral, supreme commander, one who has the highest rank. Apostles exercised absolute authority (spiritual dictatorship) over the churches until the canon of scripture was completed. The Canon is now the absolute authority.