Apostles

Ephesians 1:1-2 The title Paul takes to himself, as belonging to him—Paul, an apostle of Y’Shua Christ, he never asserted membership in the Twelve (I Cor. 15:11), the original apostles taught by the Messiah Himself to the work, but rather stood on an independent basis. The Twelve did not recognize Paul as one of the Apostles for the requirement was you needed to know personally the Messiah and had sat at His feet (studying). All Scripture must be back up; Paul is the only one claiming the title of apostle to himself (taking his word for such), like John is the only one that claims ‘he is the most loved.’
The apostles were prime officers in the Way movement, being extraordinary ministers for having lived with the Master (eating, drinking and studying with Him) appointed for a time only. They were furnished by their Messiah with extraordinary gifts and the immediate assistance of the Spirit, that they might be fitted for preaching and spreading the gospel, starting new places of worship and for governing the movement in its infant state. They were commissioned to go into all the nations and make disciples (the word disciples means ‘students’ that also sat at their feet to learn all that the Master taught them. So the primary duties of the apostles were preaching, teaching, and administration the new places of worship for a time being. Rising up disciples from within the group to take over so he may head on to start another place, but will always be checking back with them to see how they are doing. Has the church been following their examples and putting the five fold in place?
The original twelve are most often called disciples in the gospels, for their primary function during the Messiah’s ministry was to be with Him and learn of Him. But they are also called apostles because Y’Shua imparted to them His authority to preach and to cast out demons (Mark 3:14-15; 6:30).
Paul looked on his apostleship as a demonstration of divine grace and as a call to sacrificial labor rather than an occasion for glorying in the office (I Cor. 15:10). The original twelve rejected him, so he went to minister to the Gentiles. The Jews understood what he was saying but the church has misunderstood many of his teachings for they have not understand the times and settings, many of his converts were from cults.
Paul went about making others apostles but the references in I Cor. 9:5 and 15:7 do not necessarily go beyond the Twelve. Warrant is lacking for making "apostle" the equivalent of "missionary." In the practice of the modern church, prominent pioneer missionaries are often called apostles, but this is only an accommodation of language. In the apostolic age one who held this rank was more than a preacher (II Tim. 1:11). All disciples were supposed to be preachers, but not all were apostles (I Cor. 12:29). Curiously, at one point in the church's life all were busy preaching except the apostles (Acts 8:4). Paul would not have needed to defend his apostleship with such vehemence if he were only defending his right to proclaim the gospel. Alongside the distinctive and more technical use of the word is the occasional employment of it in the sense of messenger (Phil. 2:25; II Cor. 8:23).
Today people are becoming self made apostles, looking for a title rather than a service.
It was characteristic of the apostles and necessary:
1. That they should have seen the L-rd, and been able to testify of Him and of His resurrection from personal knowledge (John 15:27; Acts 1:21, 22; 1 Cor. 9:1; Acts 22:14, 15).
2. They must have been immediately called to that office by the Messiah (Luke 6:13; Gal. 1:1).
3. It was essential that they should be infallibly inspired, and thus secured against all error and mistake in their public teaching, whether by word or by writing (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Thess. 2:13).
4. Another qualification was the power of working miracles (Mark 16:20; Acts 2:43; 1 Cor. 12:8-11). In 2 Cor. 8:23 and Phil. 2:25 the word "messenger" is the rendering of the same Greek word, elsewhere rendered "apostle."
Where Each OF The Twelve Apostles Preached, And Where He Met His End.
1. Peter preached the Gospel in Pontus, and Galatia, and Cappadocia, and Betania, and Italy, and Asia, and was afterwards crucified by Nero in Rome with his head downward, as he had himself desired to suffer in that manner.
2. Andrew preached to the Scythians and Thracians, and was crucified, suspended on an olive tree, at Patrae, a town of Achaia; and there too he was buried.
3. John, again, in Asia, was banished by Domitian the king to the isle of Patmos, in which also he wrote his Gospel and saw the apocalyptic vision; and in Trajan s time he fell asleep at Ephesus, where his remains were sought for, but could not be found.
4. James, his brother, when preaching in Judea, was cut off with the sword by Herod the tetrarch, and was buried there.
5. Philip preached in Phrygia, and was crucified in Hierapolis with his head downward in the time of Domitian, and was buried there.
6. Bartholomew, again, preached to the Indians, to whom he also gave the Gospel according to Matthew, and was crucified with his head downward, and was buried in Allanum, [1976] a town of the great Armenia. [1977]
7. And Matthew wrote the Gospel in the Hebrew tongue, [1978] and published it at Jerusalem, and fell asleep at Hierees, a town of Parthia.
8. And Thomas preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Margians, [1979] and was thrust through in the four members of his body with a pine spears [1980] at Calamene, [1981] the city of India, anti was buried there.
9. And James the son of Alphaeus, when preaching in Jerusalem. was stoned to death by the Jews, and was buried there beside the temple.
10. Jude, who is also called Lebbaeus, preached. to the people of Edessa, [1982] and to all Mesopotamia, and fell asleep at Berytus, and was buried there.
11. Simon the Zealot, [1983] the son of Clopas, who is also called Jude, became bishop of Jerusalem after James the Just, and fell asleep and was buried there at the age of 120 years.
12. And Matthias, who was one of the seventy, was numbered along with the eleven apostles, and preached in Jerusalem, and fell asleep and was buried there.