Apostleship

Apostleship is not a title the church hands out. An apostle is a “sent one,” someone commissioned by another to speak and act with the full authority of the one who sent him. In the New Testament, the apostles were personally called and commissioned by the risen Christ himself, which is why their teaching carries his own authority rather than human opinion.

Why did Paul insist his apostleship came from Christ, not men?

Paul insists on this point precisely because his apostleship was challenged. He opens Galatians by describing himself as an apostle “not from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead” (Galatians 1:1). The gospel he preached did not come to him from human teachers either: “I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12).

What authority does apostleship carry?

Because Paul’s commission came from Christ and not from any human council, no human authority could overturn his gospel, and to reject it was to reject the one who sent him. Apostleship therefore grounds the church’s message in Christ’s own authority rather than in the shifting opinions of men. The articles below trace this theme through several key passages.