Are Present Day Apostles False Teachers? One designation that is used more and more in the church today is the term, apostle. I ve noticed in the past ten years or so a dramatic increase in labels like apostle, prophet, bishop and even archbishop. For our purposes, I d like for us to hone in on this one title, apostle and here is why. As I read scripture, God has a vested interest in making sure leaders clearly understand this mysterious ministry. Our confusion about it, in my view, has severely hindered the work God desires to do on earth through his church. I am not sure we ll address this topic fully in one session, but let's see where this goes. The Greek word for apostle is Apostolos, which means, sent one or messenger. In this case, the sender is God and, the one sent is appointed to accomplish a specific purpose or mission. Down through the centuries, scholars have established many of their beliefs about apostles on the single premise that Jesus selected only twelve. As a result of this belief, each observation and conclusion about apostolic ministry is limited by a worldview that is unsupportable, which we will see in a moment. Consequently, apostolic ministry has been completely eliminated from our present church leadership worldview. We don t talk about or include apostles or prophets in our structure, planning or teaching. They have been banished to exist solely in the first century. Scripture tells us that Jesus did indeed appoint twelve apostles, among whom was Judas. In any discussion of apostles, it is important we do not ignore him. Obviously, we know of Judas ultimate failure but must remember that Jesus appointed him to be an apostle, after excluding many others. After the resurrection, Matthias is appointed to become one the original twelve. Later, when James was murdered by Herod, the remaining apostles never used the same method or any method to replace him.
God called Saul of Tarsus to function as an apostle without the consent of the other apostles. He makes clear in his letter to the Galatians that God appointed him, not men. Around that time, another James emerges as an apostle who takes the reigns of leadership over all the other apostles. Many scholars believe this James was a half-brother of Jesus. His identity is not certain, but his significance among the other apostles in Jerusalem is unmistakable. Scripture refers to Barnabas as an apostle in Acts 14:14. If you are counting, this brings the total number of people identified as apostles to sixteen. In our day, we tend to fixate on the original twelve. The church has made them so unique they are nearly untouchable and therefore unapproachable. We frankly cannot relate to them because we tend to elevate them to super men status. The original twelve apostles ARE unique in the sight of God. No one today can replicate the privilege of living with Jesus day in and day out for three years. These men were profoundly blessed. Without them, we likely would never know anything about Jesus. Today s church accepts the testimony of the twelve, but largely rejects the validity of present-day apostolic ministry. Of those who do, most neither understand what apostolic ministry is or the proper way to foster this gift in their midst. The pivotal scripture in the New Testament about apostolic ministry is Ephesians 4:11-13. Speaking about Christ s ascension, Paul says, And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ s fullness. In these short verses, Christ reveals his purpose and plan for all church leadership. These verses tell us that Jesus poured out five specific ministry gifts to equip or train the church and bring her to full maturity. These five gifts are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
All five are to be fully expressed, meaning they are to fully function as originally intended. All five are to operate properly in that each has a specific and designed purpose and finally, all five are to be integrated with the others. No one gift is exclusive but designed to complement and support the other gifts. Through the centuries, several theories developed surrounding God s purpose for apostles. One of the more popular concepts scholars put forward is that God created apostles to finish writing the Bible. Once the canon of scripture was completed, the last remaining apostle (John) died, leaving the church with no further need for apostles. This idea seems reasonable, even convenient but unsupportable. Only four of the original twelve apostles took pen in hand to write scripture: Matthew, Peter, John, and Jude. Mark, Luke, Paul, and James were not originals. In addition, scripture never suggests that the purpose of apostles is to write scripture, yet we have accepted this view for centuries without investigating whether these things were so, to use the language of the Bereans. If apostles existed solely to write scripture, shouldn t we add Mark, Luke, James, and Jude to their ranks? Paradoxically, this would increase the number of New Testament apostles to twenty and also brings to mind another question: Why were the writings of Thomas rejected as scripture, since he was among the original twelve? The more we investigate this belief, the more it seems to fall apart. Another myth about apostles is that only people who saw Jesus physically are qualified to be apostles. We base this belief on one statement by Paul, which was non-doctrinal. Many of the first-century apostles were eyewitnesses. They saw, touched, and ministered alongside Jesus, verifying to us that He was not a fictional character but historical. The privilege of knowing Christ in the flesh belongs exclusively to some of the early apostles. However, to judge that no one can be an apostle unless they physically saw Jesus is short-sighted. What does seeing Jesus in the flesh have to do with the ministry of an apostle? Was it the sole responsibility of apostles to describe Jesus hair color, the contour of his
face and convey his height and weight? Evidently not, because we still don t know those things. Now that their eye witness has been established, are we to understand that apostle s sole purpose was to point at Jesus and say, Yeah, that s him.? Since scripture teaches that we walk by faith and not by sight, why is physically seeing Jesus in the flesh a prerequisite for any ministry? Not one of the twelve apostles taught that seeing Jesus physically qualified or disqualified them from apostolic ministry. Peter alone recalls historic moments, not to prove his apostleship, but to testify that Christ as not a ghost but a real man in space and time. We have no evidence that Barnabas ever physically saw Jesus. We know that he was converted to the faith after Jesus was resurrected, and claimed Cyprus as his hometown. However, Paul raises no concern over whether Barnabas saw Jesus or had a personal revelation of the Lord like he did. Luke converted under Paul s ministry. Was he an apostle because he wrote scripture or disqualified because he didn t shake Jesus s hand? You cannot have it both ways. Here is the pivotal issue with regards to apostles in the New Testament. The five ministry gifts revealed in Ephesians 4:11 were given to the church AFTER His resurrection by the ascended Christ displaying His triumph over death and hell. The twelve, however, were selected and named apostles prior to the resurrection. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers highlighted in Ephesians 4:11 are given to the church after Jesus rose from the dead. Your calling to pastor materialized after the resurrection. The gifts of apostle and prophet are post-resurrection gifts. Let that sink in a moment. Apostles and prophets weren t back-dated as some suggest. These few verses are crystal clear: The church will not come to maturity without the integrated operation of five ministries: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. There is no other way to read Ephesians 4:11-13 and arrive at a different conclusion.
Unfortunately, the church at large remains confused about apostles and their role in the church. A few years ago, I heard a church elder introduce his pastor who served in ministry for over twenty-five years as a real apostle. In other words, by faithful service in pastoral ministry, his pastor graduated to super-pastor status and was therefore given the honorary title of apostle. Is there any doubt we are confused? How did he reach the conclusion that his pastor was now an apostle? Years of faithful service? So, apostle is yet another title we confer upon those worthy of honor and respect? Is that what scripture teaches? Should we promote denominational leaders or senior pastors by conferring an apostle designation similar to the way we appoint CEO s of secular corporations? Is the ministry of apostle a title one achieves through years of dedication? Let s remove the mystery in the moments we have left. The apostle is not a title; it is not a reward for meritorious service or a position of supreme power. The apostle is a function in the body of Christ; nothing more and nothing less. In truth, each of the five gifts identified in Ephesians 4:11 are functions, not designations for business cards. These gifts describe the work a person does in the church, not an award for faithful service. We cannot rightly divide the word of truth, as Paul told Timothy because we cling so tightly to unsupported and outdated ideas. Usually, when anyone is bold enough to bring up the subject of apostles, most church leaders immediately jump to a discussion about false apostles. In fact, scripture records two instances in which believers are warned about false apostles. Ironically, however, that raises another question. If true apostles were limited to the twelve, (or sixteen or twenty depending on your vantage point) why did Paul and John need to warn us about false apostles at all? Think about this. Wouldn t it be relatively easy to identify a false apostle during the first century? All you needed to do was ask them their name. If anyone had a different name than one of the twelve - bingo! That apostle
was false. No need for warnings, prayer or even counsel. Just check the person s driver s license or chariot license relatively speaking! Scriptural warnings by their very nature challenge believers to discern the validity of a ministry by the fruit it bears. Fruit is changed lives. Fruit is new believers. Fruit is followers who demonstrate the character of the Spirit. Fruit is the gauge the Bible uses to identify true apostles, not name badges. That is why believers received warnings about false apostles and other ministers. The key way to discern their validity was (and remains) fruit. How do we differentiate between a true and false teacher today? Ultimately, we examine his or her teaching, observing whether they model what they preach. How do we recognize the difference between a true and false pastor? We listen to their teaching to see if it squares with scripture and observe whether they practice what they preach. False apostles, prophets, and evangelists are detected the same way. It is not legitimate to disqualify a person s calling or ministry based on our limited understanding of scripture. The only valid standard for disqualifying any ministry is the absence of fruit or perhaps a lifestyle that is contrary to the person and character of Christ. Getting back to Ephesians 4:11, Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are gifts from Jesus to equip the saints for the work of ministry. These five ministries play the central role to ensure that each member fulfills his or her purpose in the church. When church members function in their gifts and callings, the church grows into the mature body that Christ will one day receive as His bride. Until these five ministries function as God intends, the church will never fully mature. That is not my opinion, but what Paul is plainly teaching here. The interaction and unrestricted functioning of these five principal ministries is God s game plan to bring the church to full adulthood. We need all five of these gifted ministries interrelating so that the church moves towards maturity. Because the church has delegitimized and ignored apostolic ministry, pastors have become the central ministry in the church, followed by administrators, Sunday school teachers, and an occasional evangelist.
Our churches hire pastors to teach, preach, provide vision, care for the sick, organize budgets, chair committees, meet with community leaders, win new members to Christ, disciple new converts, entertain missionaries, counsel the hurting, correct, rebuke, conduct marriage counseling, feed the poor, develop youth ministry, coordinate children s ministry, develop new leaders, preside over board meetings, provide guidance and a host of other functions. Is it any wonder that fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each and every month? As there is no biblical evidence that apostolic ministry ever ceased, what do we do now? What would a pastor do for example, if a church member came to them after a stirring Sunday sermon and said; I have been praying about this for some time and believe God is calling me to apostolic ministry? In today s church, we would recommend a few sessions with Dr. Knutz. What if that same member told us they believed God was calling them to become a pastor? I suspect that most of us would react positively, encouraged that one of our congregants demonstrated such commitment and vision. Depending on the circumstances, we might recommend further reading, a favorite course of study, referrals to higher institutes of learning or perhaps an interview with the board to consider a part-time position in the church. Why are our reactions between these two scenarios so completely different? We cannot continue on the same track we are on in this generation and expect to bring the church to the full maturity Christ mandates in Ephesians 4:11. Until we gain a biblically balanced view of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers it is unlikely we ll fully realize the potential of the church in our world. If you haven t done so, please do me an enormous favor and leave a rating or review on itunes. More than anything, this substantially helps to get the word out about this podcast. There are a ton of resources available at ministerstoolbox.com or my blog at freshteaching.org. I am also developing courses that I will talk about when the time is right to help you in day to day ministry.
As always, I end each show with a quote especially for you. This one is from Harold Warner who said: The true character of ministry is a servant s heart.