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Course 7 · Lesson 7.3

What an apostle was and how apostolic authority worked

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 7 outline

Module 1: The World of the New Testament

  1. Second Temple Judaism in the time of Jesus
  2. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and other movements
  3. Rome, the Herods and the province of Judea
  4. Hopes, protest and revolt in Jewish political life

Module 2: Jesus in History

  1. Sources for Jesus: Christian, Jewish and Roman
  2. The quests for the historical Jesus and their methods
  3. Criteria of authenticity and their limits
  4. Historical results and Christian confession

Module 3: The Gospels as Books

  1. The gospels and ancient biography
  2. Traditions of authorship and the arguments about them
  3. The synoptic problem: the evidence of agreement and difference
  4. Solutions: Markan priority, Q, Matthean priority and others
  5. Four portraits of Jesus: the distinct emphasis of each gospel

Module 4: Acts and the Spread of the Church

  1. Pentecost and the Jerusalem church
  2. The mission to the Gentiles and the council at Jerusalem
  3. Paul in Acts and in his own letters
  4. Acts as history and as theology

Module 5: Pauline Theology

  1. Paul and his letters: occasion, authorship and order
  2. Gospel, faith and righteousness in Romans and Galatians
  3. Christ, the Spirit and the body of Christ
  4. Reading Paul: traditional, new perspective and other approaches

Module 6: Johannine Theology

  1. The Gospel, the three letters and Revelation: authorship questions
  2. Word, light, life and love in the Gospel of John
  3. The signs and the I am sayings
  4. The Spirit, the community and the Johannine letters

Module 7: Hope, Authority and Church Order

  1. The kingdom of God and last things in Jesus and the apostles
  2. Ways of reading New Testament eschatology
  3. What an apostle was and how apostolic authority worked
  4. Offices and order in the first churches
  5. How Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches read the evidence

Module 8: The Testaments Together

  1. Fulfilment and continuity: how the New Testament uses the Old
  2. Law and covenant across the Testaments
  3. Comparing Paul and John: a method
  4. Shared convictions and meaningful differences

All courses

Program / Course 7: New Testament Theology and History / Lesson 7.3

What you will learn

  • Explain the meaning of the word apostle and the criteria the New Testament gives for it.
  • Distinguish the Twelve, Paul and other persons called apostles.
  • Describe how apostolic authority was exercised in the letters and Acts.
  • Compare how Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches understand the continuing authority of the apostles.

The big idea

An apostle is someone sent, a messenger with the authority of the one who sends. In the New Testament, the title belongs most clearly to the Twelve whom Jesus chose and to Paul, who saw the risen Lord and was commissioned by him. Others are also called apostles. The apostles were witnesses of the resurrection and founders of churches, and their teaching was treated as binding. How that authority continues after the apostles died is a main question that divides the churches.

Key terms

Apostle
From the Greek apostolos, one sent. In the New Testament, a person commissioned by Christ or by a church as a messenger and representative.
The Twelve
The inner circle of disciples chosen by Jesus, whose number recalls the twelve tribes of Israel. After Judas’ death, Matthias was added (Acts 1:26).
Witness of the resurrection
A person who saw the risen Jesus. Acts 1:22 makes this a condition for replacing Judas, and Paul claims it for himself (1 Corinthians 9:1).
Apostolic tradition
The teaching handed down from the apostles. Paul uses the Greek word paradosis for what he received and passed on (1 Corinthians 11:2, 15:3).
Apostolic succession
The doctrine, held by the Catholic, Orthodox and some other churches, that the bishops of the church are the successors of the apostles through a continuous line of ordination.
Canon
The list of books accepted as Scripture. Many Protestants hold that apostolic authority now lives in the New Testament writings.
Pseudo-apostle
A false apostle, a term Paul applies to rival teachers in Corinth who claimed apostolic standing (2 Corinthians 11:13).

Background

The Jewish world knew the idea of an agent with authority. A Jewish legal principle held that a person’s agent is as the person himself. Jesus gave this authority to his disciples: ‘He that receiveth you receiveth me’ (Matthew 10:40). The gospels name twelve whom he called apostles (Luke 6:13) and sent out to preach and heal. After the resurrection, they are sent into the world (John 20:21, Matthew 28:19).

In the later New Testament and the second century, ‘the apostles’ becomes a way of referring to the generation that stood at the foundation. Ephesians 2:20 speaks of the church ‘built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets’, and Revelation 21:14 sees twelve foundations in the new city. The importance of that foundation explains why the early church valued books and teachers that could be tied to the apostles.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Who was an apostle

The gospels and Acts give the Twelve as the apostles par excellence. When Judas died, Peter said that his replacement must be someone who had accompanied them from the baptism of John to the ascension, as a witness to the resurrection (Acts 1:21 to 22). Matthias was chosen by lot.

Paul claims the title for himself on the basis of his encounter with the risen Lord. He writes, ‘Am I not an apostle? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?’ (1 Corinthians 9:1), and calls himself ‘one born out of due time’ (1 Corinthians 15:8). He insists that his gospel came to him by revelation and not from the Twelve (Galatians 1:11 to 12), yet that the pillars in Jerusalem accepted it (Galatians 2:9). Others are called apostles in the New Testament: Barnabas (Acts 14:14), James the Lord’s brother (Galatians 1:19), Silas and Timothy by implication (1 Thessalonians 2:6), and Andronicus and Junia (Romans 16:7).

Step 2: Junia and the wider circle

Romans 16:7 greets Andronicus and Junia as ‘of note among the apostles’, and says they were in Christ before Paul. The name Junia is feminine. Early commentators such as John Chrysostom took her to be a woman and praised her. Some medieval and later translators took the name to be masculine, Junias, but that name is not found in ancient sources. Most scholars now accept Junia as a woman. They debate whether ‘of note among the apostles’ means that she was herself an apostle or that she was well regarded by the apostles. The Greek can be read either way.

The wider use of apostle suggests that the word had a range: from the Twelve, whose position was unique, to missionaries sent by churches (2 Corinthians 8:23, Philippians 2:25, where the Greek word is used of delegates). The Didache, a very early church manual, speaks of traveling apostles who were to stay no more than a day or two and not ask for money (Didache 11). Scholars differ on how fixed the title was in the first generation.

Step 3: How their authority worked

Apostolic authority shows in the letters. Paul gives commands, settles disputes, and rebukes (1 Corinthians 5, Galatians 1:8). He distinguishes his own judgment from the Lord’s command (1 Corinthians 7:10 and 12), yet says that he has the Spirit of God (7:40), and that what he writes is the Lord’s commandment (14:37). He also says that apostolic authority is for building up and not for tearing down (2 Corinthians 13:10), and that he is a servant of the church (2 Corinthians 4:5). He calls on the churches to hold to the traditions he delivered (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

The authority was bound to the gospel. In Galatians 1:8, Paul says even an angel from heaven should be accursed if he preaches a different gospel. Authority rests on the message and not on the person alone. Apostolic signs and wonders (2 Corinthians 12:12) and suffering (2 Corinthians 11) were marks of the true apostle.

Step 4: After the apostles

As the apostles died, the churches faced the question of who would carry the teaching on. 1 Clement (about 96 AD) says that the apostles appointed bishops and deacons and arranged for their succession (1 Clement 42 and 44). Irenaeus (about 180 AD) and Tertullian argued that the churches founded by the apostles preserve their teaching through lists of bishops and the rule of faith. The New Testament writings, associated with the apostles or their circle, were collected and recognized as Scripture.

The churches answer the question of continuing authority differently. Catholic and Orthodox churches hold that the bishops are the successors of the apostles, though they differ about the role of the bishop of Rome. Protestant churches hold that the apostles’ authority now rests in their writings in the New Testament, and that the church is bound by Scripture. Some churches of the Anglican and Lutheran traditions keep bishops as a sign of continuity, with differing doctrines of their authority.

  1. Why did the early church require that an apostle be a witness of the resurrection?
  2. What does Paul’s claim to be an apostle show about the importance of his encounter with the risen Lord?
  3. How do you read Romans 16:7, and why does the reading matter?
  4. How did apostolic authority function in the disputes in Corinth and Galatia?
  5. What are the strengths of locating apostolic authority in the New Testament writings, and what questions does it raise?
  6. What are the strengths of locating it in a line of bishops, and what questions does it raise?

Examples

Choosing Matthias

In Acts 1:15 to 26, the believers pray and cast lots between two men who had been with Jesus from the beginning. The account shows that the Twelve were seen as a group that needed to be complete, and that a witness to the whole ministry was required.

Paul’s defense

In 2 Corinthians 10 to 13, Paul defends his apostleship against rivals who boast of their credentials. He answers by pointing to his sufferings and the churches he founded, and to the signs of an apostle. It is the most extended discussion of what an apostle is in the New Testament.

Clement’s letter

About 96 AD the church in Rome wrote to Corinth, where some elders had been removed. The letter appeals to the order established by the apostles, who set the first fruits as bishops and deacons and gave instructions for succession. It is one of the earliest uses of the idea of succession.

Different perspectives

Catholic view

The Catholic Church teaches that Christ chose the Twelve and that the bishops are their successors, with the bishop of Rome as successor of Peter. The Catechism states that apostolic succession guarantees the faithful handing on of the apostles’ teaching, within the Church’s tradition and Scripture.

Orthodox view

The Orthodox Church holds apostolic succession of bishops as essential to the church’s life, and understands each bishop as the successor of all the apostles within his local church. It does not accept the Catholic teaching on papal primacy of jurisdiction.

Protestant view

Most Protestant churches hold that the office of apostle was unique and ended with the first generation, and that the apostles’ authority lives in the New Testament. Some Pentecostal and charismatic groups use the title for current leaders. Anglicans and some Lutherans maintain bishops as a sign of continuity, without holding that the church depends on it.

Scholarly view

Scholars note that the New Testament uses apostle in several senses. They debate how fixed the idea of succession was in the first century, whether Junia was an apostle, and how the emphasis on the Twelve developed. Most historians accept that the idea of apostolic authority was central to the earliest churches.

Why it matters

The question of apostolic authority is at the root of disagreements about Scripture, tradition and church order. A reader who knows what the New Testament says about apostles can think clearly about the claims of different churches, and about why later generations looked back to the apostles with such respect.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Apostle and disciple mean the same thing.

Correction: Disciple means a learner or follower, and many disciples were not apostles. Apostle means one sent, and the title applies to a narrower group.

Misunderstanding: Only the Twelve are called apostles in the New Testament.

Correction: Paul, Barnabas, James and others are called apostles. The title had a wider use, though the Twelve held a unique place.

Misunderstanding: The idea of apostolic succession appeared only in the Middle Ages.

Correction: Clement of Rome and Irenaeus speak of it in the first and second centuries. Its meaning and weight are debated, but it is very old.

Misunderstanding: Protestants reject the apostles’ authority.

Correction: Protestants hold the apostles’ authority in the highest regard, and locate it in their writings. They differ from Catholic and Orthodox churches on how it is carried on.

Knowledge check

What does the word apostle mean?

It comes from the Greek for one sent. An apostle is a messenger with the authority of the one who sends him. In the New Testament, the term is used chiefly of those commissioned by the risen Christ, and also more widely of delegates and missionaries.

What qualifications does Acts 1 give for replacing Judas?

The person must have accompanied the disciples throughout Jesus’ ministry, from John’s baptism to the ascension, and be a witness of the resurrection. Matthias was chosen by lot from two men who met these conditions.

On what basis does Paul claim to be an apostle?

That he saw the risen Lord and was commissioned by him to preach to the Gentiles, receiving his gospel by revelation. He supports the claim by pointing to the churches he founded, his sufferings and the signs that accompanied his ministry.

What is debated in Romans 16:7?

Whether Junia was a woman, which most scholars now accept, and whether the phrase ‘of note among the apostles’ means she was an apostle or was esteemed by them. The Greek permits both readings.

How do churches differ about apostolic authority today?

Catholics and Orthodox hold that bishops are successors of the apostles. Most Protestants hold that the apostles’ authority now rests in the New Testament writings. All three honor the apostles as the church’s foundation.

Think it through

  1. Why do you think the early church valued a link to the apostles so highly?
  2. How does a church today decide what is faithful to the apostles?
  3. What do you think of the way Paul speaks of authority in 2 Corinthians?
  4. What would be lost, in your view, if no group claimed continuity with the apostles?

Independent assignment

The marks of an apostle

In your own notebook, write 300 to 450 words. Read Acts 1:15 to 26, 1 Corinthians 9:1 to 6, 15:1 to 11 and 2 Corinthians 12:11 to 13. List what each passage says about the qualifications and marks of an apostle. Then write a paragraph on how your own church or tradition understands apostolic authority. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study