Apostles of Jesus Christ

At this time of year, we are remembering and reflecting on Christ's resurrection from the dead, and we think of the Apostles who were witnesses of that resurrection.

Not all those who saw the risen Christ were Apostles. For example, Mary Magdalene who was the first to encounter the Lord after his resurrection, or the 500 brothers mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15.

An "Apostle of Jesus Christ" was someone personally chosen by Christ to be an Apostle (Acts 1), and who had seen the risen Christ first-hand (1 Corinthians 9:1-3).

There are at least four categories of people who can be described as "Apostles of Jesus Christ".

1) First there were Simon Peter and the rest of the Twelves minus Judas, who was replaced by Matthias (see Acts 1)

2) Then there were the brothers of the Lord, which definitely included James and most likely also Jude (1 Corinthians 15:7; 9:5)

3) Besides these, there were also "other Apostles" who were not one of the Twelve (see Galatians 1:19 and 1 Corinthians 15:7). These would have likewise been commissioned by Christ and would have seen the risen Lord: Barnabas (Acts 14:14), possibly Silas and maybe a few other besides. Perhaps these were from the Seventy sent out by Christ in Luke 10; the Eastern Orthodox tradition considers all of these to have been Apostles. There is some ambiguity over Paul's use of "Apostles" in Romans 16:7 to refer to Andronicus and Junias.

4) Finally, there was Paul, the "last of the Apostles", one "untimely born". Paul was exceptional as he had only seen Christ after the Ascension.

Incidentally, Paul also uses the phrase "Apostles of the churches" to describe Timothy and Titus (2 Cor. 8:23) and Epaphroditus (Php 2:25), however this would seem to be something less than the title of "Apostle of Jesus Christ."

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