Do Apostles still exist today?
A popular belief in the western church today that is the idea that certain or all spiritual gifts were specific to the ‘apostolic era’ and ceased after the early church period. This is called cessationism. This belief not only moulds scriptural interpretation but also reduces genuine miraculous encounters to theatrical or coincidental moments. The healing of the blind is brushed away as a profiteering myth, the speaking of prophecy is rebuked as a heretic con and the speaking of tongues is dismissed as a placebo effect. While this isn’t a commentary addressing cessationism, I thought it was important to contextualise the topic of modern-day Apostleship with this.
Many prominent, sophisticated theologians and preachers, believe in cessationism and modern-day Western academic theology is severely influenced. I too began to adopt this theology and was convinced that no one can be called an Apostle today. I decided to investigate the scriptures further when a friend of mine challenged an assumption my view was standing on. Here’s what I found...
What is an Apostle?
In order to know if Apostles still exist, we must first determine what they are.
The term Apostle comes from the Greek word ‘Apostolos’ meaning a delegate or messenger who is sent off.
When reading the NT it’s useful to contextualise how ancient Hebrews would have interpreted Apostolos within the Jewish bible. The Septuagint is the earliest surviving witness of how Greek-speaking Jews read the Hebrew bible. It was compiled between 3rd and 1st century BCE, meaning that by the time Jesus was born the entire OT was available in Greek. In Isaiah 6, after the Prophet 'saw the Lord high and lifted up’ and heard the Lord calling ‘whom shall I send’, Isaiah replies ‘Here I am! Send [apostello] me’. This is the type of imagery Apostolos likely had on the ancient Hebrew readers of the text. A person who was called, commissioned and sent out by God.
Looking at the ministry of the early church apostles like Peter and Paul provides even more clarity on the gifting. By looking at their ministries we are able to deduce that this gifting or office involved taking the testimony of Christ into unreached areas and establishing the church there. Paul would spend several years in one place, embedding himself within the culture, working a local job and growing the body of Christ there while Peter focused his apostolic ministry towards the Jews (Gal 2:8)
What was the significance of the 12?
“And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, who he named apostles” – Luke 6:13
The 12 Apostles were a unique group of disciples who were called into apostleship directly by Jesus himself during his early ministry. They followed Christ from the beginning of his ministry, were privy to the interpretation of his parables and received revelation of the kingdom of God from Christ himself.
This is a group that was pivotal in laying the foundations of the church as described in Ephesians 2:20 and Revelation 21:14. They had the authority to write and endorse scripture as well as establish church doctrine at a time when the Biblical canon was yet to be finalised.
It goes without saying, there is no one alive today who can claim membership of this group. No one today meets the criteria. When James was martyred, the first of the 12 (Acts 12:2), the group needed no replacement and when John, the last to die, passed, the group came to its end and the Biblical canon was closed.
The Main Argument
Given the fact that the Apostles were given the ability to produce signs and wonders in unprecedented ways, cessationists argue that, similar to Moses and Prophet Elijah before Israel, these 'sign gifts' were a way of affirming the Apostle's uniquely appointed ministry and because no one today is like these apostles, once John died, so did the Apostolic era and, consequentially, the need for certain 'sign gifts'.
While this may make sense at first glance, there are two major assumptions underlying this argument. 1) Paul was an exception to rule and 2) The spiritual gifts were only given to the Apostles.
The Twelve Plus Paul?
When cessationists refer to apostles, what they often really mean are the twelve apostles plus Paul.
But why was Paul an apostle? I mean think about it. God had obviously called him but he was nothing like the 12. He wasn’t with Jesus throughout his ministry, he only saw Christ after his ascension, his name is missing from the 12 foundations of the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:14) and worst of all, he even persecuted the church of God! I mean who is this guy?
You see, if cessationists are correct and the apostolic gifting is defined by meeting the same criteria as the 12, then there really are no more Apostles today. However, the problem cessationists face with this argument is that even Paul doesn’t fully qualify and yet he wrote more books in the NT than any of the twelve combined. The way cessationists wiggle around this problem is by making Paul the one exception to the rule.
What made Paul an Apostle wasn’t him meeting the criteria of some exclusive checklist but simply the fact that God had called him to be one (Gal 1:1). What strengthens this argument is the fact that it doesn’t end with Paul either but also Barnabas, who was sent out for the same mission alongside Paul in Acts 13:2-3, James the half-brother of Jesus, Timothy and Silvanus were all named Apostles (1 Thess 2:6, Gal 1:19, Acts 14:14). 1 Cor 15:5-7 may also imply there was much more apostles the scriptures didn’t name.
What’s difficult for cessationists to explain is how to group the rest of these apostles in light of their presuppositions. It also doesn’t help that in scripture, we don’t find any language suggesting an Apostleship hierarchy. The twelve are either mentioned by name, called "the twelve" (1 Cor 15:5) or called "Apostles of Christ/the Lamb". It is clear that this was a distinct group but they still fell under the same umbrella term, Apostle. We see an example of this in Gal 1:18-19 where Paul has an opportunity to distinguish Peter by rank but instead groups him with the rest by saying that James the Lord’s brother is “another apostle” like Peter and the others in Jerusalem (Gal 1:18-19).
There is, therefore, insufficient evidence that the same criteria for someone being a member of the 12 was a general requirement for anyone to be named an apostle. This is a categorical mistake.
Gifts of the Apostles?
The reason why the exclusiveness of signs and wonders towards the 12 Apostles plus Paul is fundamental for the cessationist argument is because it confines these giftings as a barometer for the authenticity of one's apostleship. This allows them to argue that upon the completion of canon, the barometer had served its purpose and so we no longer need these gifts.
The reason this doesn’t hold is because the 12 Apostles plus Paul the exception weren’t the only people to perform signs and wonders. Stephen in Acts 6:8 ‘was doing great wonders and signs among the people’, Ananias in Acts 9 laid his hands on Paul for him to regain his sight, not only that but a whole segment of Paul’s first letter to Corinth (1 Cor 12-14) addresses the topic of spiritual gifts with the presumption that the average believer was experiencing them. Here he says we should ‘earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy’ (1 Cor 14:1).
If these gifts weren't exclusive to the apostles then their supposed singular purpose of authenticating apostles is false and we can then say the conclusion that they’re no longer needed and expired after John has no grounding. (Which is obvious as the gifts were also blatantly evangelistic and would edify the body of Christ).
There’s a reason they’re called ‘Gifts of the Spirit’ and not ‘Gifts of the Apostles’.
What scripture actually says
The basis for some sort of expiration date on the Apostolic gifting simply isn’t seen in scripture. In fact, there is not a single bible verse that tells us any spiritual gift has ceased, let alone most of them.
On the contrary, what we do see in Ephesians 4:11-13 is that Christ gifted the church ‘the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all atain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’.
If the body of Christ is yet to attain this divine unity and still needs equipping and building up, then clearly, this five-fold ministry is still in full operation.
What does the Apostolic gifting look like today?
Despite the term ‘Apostle’ not commonly being used in our English language today, the gifting truly is still present. I believe many believers historically have and currently are operating within this gifting and fulfilling the apostolic ministry with and largely without the title.
An interesting thought is that the word ‘missionary’ isn’t found in the Bible. The work of a missionary, however, is seen in scripture and is directly parallel to the type of work Barnabas and Paul were doing when they were sent off to Cyprus (Acts 13-14). You got me, my claim earlier wasn’t entirely true. The word missionary isn’t found in the Bible, but Greek translation of the Latin root of the word is. This word I’m referring to is Apostolos. Apostle.
I understand the concerns people have with a title like this today. When most people think Apostle they think Paul and fear that the position will be wrongly exalted, allowing for the abuse of authority. I get this. However, to respond to this threat by eliminating the office altogether isn’t protective, it's cowardice. In response to the threat of false apostles, prophets, or teachers, scripture doesn’t ban the terms and delete the office, it instead provides understanding to these giftings and measures of testing.
However we decide to label it, one thing that’s for certain is that Christ is still in the business of gifting his bride.
