Exploring the Apostolic – 3.

The origin and use of the term Apostle

 In this series of blogs, we are exploring the ministry of the apostle and the apostolic as I have started to understand it currently. In this third blog we will take a look at the origins and use of the term apostle.

The Root Words: 

Verb: Apostello

- ‘Apo’ meaning ‘out of’ or ‘from’                                                   

-’Stello’ meaning ‘to put in order’ or ‘arrange’

This verb is used some 132 times in the New Testament. It is used over 700 times in the Greek version of the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew word shalach (send).

To really understand the true sense of its use in the New Testament we do need the Old Testament background for the meaning and usage of the word. In the Septuagint - the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament – the Hebrew word "shalach" (send) is consistently translated by the Greek word "apostello" (send). In Isaiah 6:8, the word is used when God called and commissioned Isaiah to be a prophet; it is used for the princes whom King Jehoshaphat sent to perform a task in a distant land, where the king himself could not be. (II Chron. 17:7-9.) As the king's emissaries, they had legal authority to act in his name. The word is used to describe the servant of David who went to Abigail at Carmel and said, "David has sent me to you to take you to himself to be his wife." Thus David became betrothed through the word of his servants. (I Sam. 25:40-42.) Again, the word is also used of the servants David sent to Hanun in the land of Ammon to pay his respects. These servants were shamefully treated, and this precipitated war between Israel and the Ammonites because it was seen that the way they treated the servants they were actually treating David the King. In all of these references the will of the sender is emphasized.

Noun: Apostolos

-       As a noun the meaning is ‘one who is sent out’. An apostle was a sent one. - “one who is sent forth by someone to execute an important task on their behalf. A sent one with the authority of the sender, to do their bidding”.

This noun is used to name at least twenty-two people as apostles in the New Testament, interestingly the noun version of the word is not used once in the Septuagint.

The Historical use

This is not a ‘spiritual’ word. It was in common use in New Testament times and had a few applications. In the ancient Greek world Apostolos (apostle) was a technical word designating an individual sent from someone else with the sender's commission. They would have the necessary credentials, the sender's authority and the implicit responsibility to accomplish a mission or assignment on the senders behalf. Here are some examples: 

-       It was often used in maritime language designating sending a cargo ship with a commissioned cargo or the sending out of a fleet to accomplish a mission or to go to war. Early use of the noun had a two fold sense of an intentional or express commission and being sent overseas.

-       In the ancient world an apostle was often a personal representative of the king, functioning with the king’s authority and provided with credentials to prove he was the king's envoy.

-       It was used of an admiral of a naval fleet – he was the sent one to command a fleet of ships.

-       It was also used for someone officially commissioned to a position or task such as an envoy. The English word "ambassador" is a good translation of apostolos because an ambassador is "an official envoy of high rank appointed by someone of higher rank and authority in the government to represent and transact its business at the seat of government of some other power."

Apostolic.

The term apostolic seems to have been used quite widely as well as the term apostle. It seems to have been used to describe something that had been specifically commissioned to accomplish a particular mission. An example of this would be:

The secular Greek writer Demosthenes gave a word picture to describe the function "apostolos" noting that it was often used to describe a cargo ship - which would be called  "apostolic" – i.e. sent out with a specific shipment to accomplish a mission. 

Josephus also uses it to describe envoys sent to Rome.

The word had the sense of an apostle being ‘one sent to represent the sender’. For example when Saul (Paul) was someone sent on behalf of the high priest in Acts 9:1-2 or Epaphroditus when Paul sends him back to the church at Philippi acknowledging him as being sent as a messenger (apostolos) to Paul to be a fellow worker.

In Summary, the word apostle in its earliest form was a nautical term used to describe naval fleets being commissioned or sent forth on behalf of a Ruler or a cargo ship being commissioned by a merchant to carry a cargo to a defined destination. It was then widely used, both in its verb and noun form, to describe someone or something that was commissioned and sent forth as an envoy or ambassador.

In the Gospels it is used of the twelve disciples that were personally commissioned by Jesus, commissioned as His vanguard to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  As we have seen with Epaphroditus, there were those who were recognised and sent by the church to serve with established apostles. In passages like Ephesians chapter 4:11-13 and 1Corinthians 12 we also see that Paul recognised that the gift of the apostle was essential for the establishing and development of the church. He suggests that these were gifts given to the church. Therefore, there were those who had received the call by the Godhead to be apostles, been recognised as having that call by a community of Jesus followers whether that be a church or a band of apostles etc, and released with the commission of Christ to that work.

So, our definition of an apostle is:

‘someone who is sent (commissioned) with the authority of the sender(s) to bring a message, perform tasks and act on the behalf of the sender. They are an ambassador or emissary that acts on behalf and for the interests of the sender.’

In conclusion, it seems that what we need to grapple with for this next era is, where can we find or who are those called to this ministry, how do we recognise them and release them, what do we release them to do, and what sort of framework would be the best way for them to function and be most effective?

My aim in this series of blogs is to start to help us facilitate that grappling, and to begin to answer a few of these questions.