Many Christians believe that there are no apostles today. They give many different reasons for this belief. In this article we will examine some reasons for believing there are no apostles today. We will try to understand if these reasons are Biblical and rational.
Argument 1. There were only 12 apostles in the New Testament. There cannot be any more apostles beyond these original 12.
Answer: There were more than 12 apostles listed in the New Testament. Beyond the original 12, there was Matthias (Acts 1:25-26), Paul, Barnabas (Acts 14:14), James Jesus’ brother (Galatians 1:19), Apollos (1 Corinthians 4:6-13), Timothy, Silvanus (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2:6), and Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25 in Greek).
Argument 2. Apostles were primarily for the purpose of writing Scripture. Since the New Testament canon is now completed, there are no more apostles.
Answer: Most apostles in the New Testament did not write Scripture. Furthermore, not everyone who wrote Scripture was described as an apostle (for example Mark, Luke, and Jude). Just because the canon of Scripture is completed doesn’t mean that there are no more apostles, because being an apostle is not synonymous with writing Scripture.
Argument 3. Apostles were only for the establishment of the church. Now that the church has been established apostles are no longer necessary.
Answer: Apostles, like other ministry positions, are for the building up of the church. As long as the church needs to be built, apostles will be needed. The Bible says that apostles will equip the saints to do the work of the ministry so the body of Christ can be built “until” the church reaches the “the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13). This great goal will only be reached at the end of the age. Therefore apostles are necessary for the building of the church until the end of the age.
Argument 4. Paul says he was the last person to see the risen Lord (1 Corinthians 15:8). This means that no one since Paul can be an apostle.
Answer: Paul saw the risen Lord after the other apostles mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:7. But this doesn’t mean that no one after Paul saw the risen Lord. After Paul died, John saw the risen Lord in the visions of Revelation. Furthermore, Paul was not the last person to become an apostle, for Timothy was an apostle who came to the Lord after Paul did (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2:6-7).
Argument 5. A pre-requisite for apostles is to have seen the Lord (1 Corinthians 9:1). No one today has seen the resurrected Lord, therefore no one can be an apostle today.
Answer: Many people saw the resurrected Lord, including 500 people at once (1 Corinthians 15:6), but they are not automatically apostles. Furthermore, just because Paul says he saw the risen Lord doesn’t mean that seeing a vision of the resurrected Lord is a pre-requisite to being an apostle. Furthermore, many people (especially in countries closed to the gospel) see visions of the resurrected Christ today, by which they come to believe in Jesus.
Argument 6. Most Christians have not met anyone they could legitimately call an apostle, therefore there are no apostles.
Answer: Just because we haven’t experienced something does not mean it does not exist. The word of God must be the basis of our faith, not our experience or lack thereof.
Argument 7. Apostles must work miracles (2 Corinthians 12:2). There are no miracles today, so therefore there are no apostles today.
Answer: God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still working miracles today by the Holy Spirit. The Bible never says that miracles would cease, and many Christians can testify today to the miracle-working power of God. The claim that “there are no miracles today” is false, and it cannot be used to disprove the existence of apostles today.
Argument 8. The Bible warns us there will be false apostles (2 Corinthians 11:13; Revelation 2:2). Therefore anyone who claims to be an apostle today is false.
Answer: Just because there are false apostles does not mean that there are not true apostles. In fact, the presence of the false is often an indication that Satan is trying to counterfeit something true. In the New Testament there were false apostles as well as true apostles. We need to be able to discern the true from the false, and not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Bethel Cornerstone 