Apostle & SuperApostle

[Iffy]

Hallo,
I wonder if anyone can enlighten me on what apostles & superapostles are. A friend of mine shared with me that he has been asked to exercise his gift of apostleship. It's a 'new' gift for him. What is this?

I have also heard of super apostles when browsing in the Apologetics Index website. (do a search and this site will easily come up)

Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[Andrew]

Apostle simply means "sent of God". The office of the apostle, is one of the gifts of God to the Church. Four others are evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets etc. These are ministry/office gifts from God. It's usu called the "five-fold ministries", and it is believed by some that a church shld have all this "offices" in place to be complete and effective. Apostle is just one of them, albeit at the top of the list.

I have never heard of Super Apostle. There's no such thing in the Bible.

There is now a movement called the Apostolic movt. It basically seeks to re-establish the five-fold ministries in the church (apostles, prophets, pastor, evangelist, teachers). The organisation identifies thru the guidance of the Holy Spirit and trains Christians to be in these offices, and ordains them. Perhaps your friend is familiar with this movt.

 

[TruelightUK]

My understanding of the term 'super-apostle' comes from Paul's references to various 'competitors' of his in the 1st century church in 2 Corinthians 11 - it is rendered such in some modern translations. Basically, Paul is being sarcastic, based on the self-promoting attitudes of some preachers - elsewhere he talks about sectarianism in the church, with some boasting that they follow Paul, some Apollos and so forth - 'my apostle is better than your apostle'!. But Paul insists that there is no cause for rivalry and boasting; all true apostles do the work of Christ who commissions and anoints them, and to whom they are to lead folk; they are their to build His Church, not promote their own careers and following. Anything else is little less than a 'personality cult' - a very dangerous and divisive force.

In modern day terms, the title 'super-apostle' could be applied in a similar way to the self-promoting leaders of various movements and streams within charismatic Christianity, who seem to vie with one another for 'position' in the Kingdom - each claiming to be 'better' or 'more anointed' than the next, 'proving' their apostleship by the abundance of their revelations, the magnitude of their miracles, or the number of their converts (or even, in some cases, the size of their bank balance!). In actual fact, according to Christ's teaching such behaviour totally refutes their claim - for the first is to be last, and he who would be 'greatest' should be servant of all.

We do well to remember that the role of the apostle, like any other ministry gift, is first and foremost a position of service to the Body of Christ, and not the source of power, influence and 'charisma' (in the Hollywood sense). The ministry is not to be viewed as a means of gain - financial, social or psychological - and those who stray down that path stand to lose everything.

Anthony

 

[I'm awake]

Your right truelight, this apostle movement is peachers trying to get more power or a higher status or influence, No one should be called an apostle its not a title. Matt 23 deals with this kind of preacher.

 

[TruelightUK]

I don't have a problem with calling someone who exercies an apostolic minstry and apostle - any more than calling a pastor a 'pastor', an evangelist an 'evangelist' and so forth! (So long as in so doing we are not putting them on a pedestal and making them into some kind of spiritual super-hero!) It seems only right that we recognise the gifting God has given to someone. Tho' I do take your point - it should be "Mr So-and-So, who is an apostle", not "Apostle So-and-So ". And for the individual to promote their own claim to the title, or use it to assert their superiority to other 'lesser' ministries is clearly wrong.

Anthony

PS I never offered a definition of the term, in answer to the first part of the original question. Basically I understand the apostolic ministry as being a person specifically sent by God to open up a new area of ministry or phase in the spread of the Kingdom, and establish a lasting foundation upon which others may build. Thus a missionary such as Hudson Taylor - who pioneered the spread of the Gospel to a particular nation or continent - could be seen as an apostle. Similarly, a reformer or revivalist such as Luther or Wesley might perhaps be seen as apostolic, in re-establishing an area of Truth to the Chruch and establishing a new move of God.