Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
APOSTIL, or APOSTILLE (possibly conne...
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: APO-ARN
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:APOSTIL, or APOSTILLE (possibly connected with See also:Lat. appositum, placed near) , a marginal See also:note made by a commentator . APOSTLE (ar6vroXos, one sent forth on a See also:mission, an See also:envoy, as in Is. xviii . 2; See also:Symmachus, arrocriXXety asroor6Xovs; See also:Aquila, pev,6eu-rIts) , a technical See also:term used in the New Testament and in See also:Christian literature generally for a See also:special envoy of Jesus See also:Christ . How far it had any similar use in Judaism in Christ's See also:day is uncertain; but in the 4th See also:century A.D., at any See also:rate, it denoted responsible envoys from the central Jewish authority, especially for the collection of religious funds . In its first and simplest Christian See also:form, the See also:idea is See also:present already in See also:Mark iii . 14 f., where from the See also:general circle of his disciples Jesus " made twelve (` whom he also named apostles,' See also:Luke vi . 13, but doubtful in Mark), that they should be with him, and that he might from See also:time to time send them forth (Iva airovrEXXp) to preach and to have authority to See also:cast out demons." Later on (vi . 6 ff.), in connexion with systematic See also:preaching among the villages of See also:Galilee, Jesus begins actually to " send forth " the twelve, two by two; and on their return from this mission (vi . 30) they are for the first time described as " apostles " or missionary envoys . See also:Matthew (x . I ff.) blends the calling of the twelve with their actual sending forth, while Luke (vi . 13) makes Jesus himself See also:call them " apostles " (for Luke's usage cf. xi .
49, prophets and apostles," where Matthew, See also:xxiii
.
34, has " prophets and See also:wise men and See also:scribes ")
.
But it is doubtful whether Jesus ever used the term for the Twelve, in relation to their temporary See also:missions, any more than for the "seventy others " whom he " sent forth " later (Luke x
.
I)
.
Even the See also:Fourth See also:Gospel never so describes them
.
It simply has " a servant is not greater than his See also:lord, neither an apostle (envoy) greater than he that sent him " (xiii
.
16); and applies the idea of " mission " alike to Jesus (cf
.
Heb. iii. r, " Jesus, the apostle
..
. of our profession ") and to his disciples, generally, as represented by the Twelve (xvii. i8, with 3, 6 ff.)
.
But while ideally all Christ's disciples were " sent'' with the See also:Father's Name in See also:charge, there were different degrees in which this
The readmission of such apostates to the See also:
i
.
In the Apostolic See also:age itself, " apostle " often denotes simply an " envoy," commissioned by Jesus Christ to be a See also:primary See also:witness and preacher of the Messianic See also:Kingdom
.
This wide sense was shown by See also:Lightfoot (in his commentary on See also:Galatians, 1865) to exist in the New Testament, e.g. in x See also:Cor. xii
.
28 f., Eph. iv
.
1x, Rom. xvi
.
7; and his view has since been emphasized' by the See also:discovery of the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (see DIDACxE), with its itinerant See also:order of " apostles," who, together with " prophets " (cf
.
Eph. ii
.
20, iii
.
5) and
teachers," constituted a charismatic and seemingly unordained See also:ministry of the Word, in some See also:part of the Church (in See also:Syria?) during the See also:early sub-apostolic age
.
See also:Paul is our earliest witness, as just cited; also in x Cor. xv
.
5 if., where he seems to quote the See also:language of Palestinian tradition, in saying that Christ "appeared to Cephas; then to the Twelve; then
.
. . to See also: 6 if., cf . Luke See also:xxiv . 33), including not only the Twelve and the Lord's brethren (i . 13 f.), but also some at least of the Seventy . Of this wider circle of witnesses, taken from among See also:personal disciples during Jesus's earthly ministry, we get a further glimpse in the See also:election of one from their number to fill Judas's See also:place among the Twelve (i . 21 ff.), as the primary See also:official witnesses of See also:Messiah and his resurrection . Many of the 120 then present (Acts i . 15), and not only the two set forward for final choice, must have been personal disciples, who by the See also:recent commission had been made " apostles." Among such we may perhaps name Judas Barsabbas and See also:Silas (Acts xv . 22, cf . i . 23), if not also See also:Barnabas (1 Cor. ix . 6) and Andronicus and Junia (Rom. xvi . 7) . So far, then, we gather that the See also:original Palestinian type of apostleship meant simply (a) personal mission from the risen Christ (cf. i Cor. ix . 1), following on (b) some preliminary inter-course with Jesus in his earthly ministry . It was pre-See also:eminence in the latter qualification that gave the Twelve their special status among apostles (Acts i . 26, ii . 14, vi . 2; in Acts generally they are simply " the apostles ") . Conversely, it was Paul's lack in this respect which See also:lay at the See also:root of his difficulties as an apostle . It is possible, though not certain, that even those Judaizing missionaries at See also:Corinth whom Paul styles " false-apostles " or, ironically, " the superlative apostles " (2 Cor. xi . 5, 13; xii. ii), rested part of their claim to superiority over Paul on (b), possibly even as having done service to Christ when on See also:earth (2 Cor. xi . 18, 23) . There is no sign in 2 Cor. that they laid claim to (a) . If this be so, they were " Christ's apostles " only indirectly, " through men " (as some had alleged touching Paul, cf . Gal. i . I), i.e. as sent forth on mission See also:work by certain See also:Jerusalem leaders with letters of introduction (2 Cor. iii . 1; E.ivon Dobschiitz, Probleme der apost . Zeitalters, p . 106) . 2 . The Twelve.—When Jesus selected an inner circle of disciples for continuous training by personal intercourse, his choice of " twelve " had See also:direct reference to the tribes of See also:Israel (Matt. xix . 28; Luke xxii . 30) . This gave them a symbolic or representative See also:character as a closed See also:body (cf . Rev. xxi . 14), marking them off as the primary religious authority (cf . Acts ii . 42, " the apostles' teaching ") among the " disciples " or " brethren," when these began to assume the form of a community or church . The relationship which other " apostles " had enjoyed with the See also:Master had been uncertain; they had been his recognized intimates, and that as a body . Naturally, then, they took the See also:lead, collectively—in form at least, though really the initiative lay with one or two of their own number, See also:Peter in particular . The See also:process of See also:practical differentiation from their See also:fellow-apostles was furthered by the concentration of the Twelve, or at least of its most marked representatives, in Jerusalem, for a considerable See also:period (Acts viii, i, cf. xii. x ff.; an early tradition specifies twelve years) . Other apostles soon went forth 1 By See also:analogy, that is; for the wider sense of " apostle" in the Apostolic age need not be identical with a sub-apostolic use of the term (see below, 4 fin.).on their mission to " the cities of Israel " (cf . Acts ix . 31)., and so exercised but little See also:influence on the central policy of the Church . Hence their shadowy existence in the New Testament, though the actual wording of Matt. x . 5-42, read in the See also:light of the Didach, may help us to conceive their work in its See also:main features . 3 .
" See also:Pillar " Apostles.—But . in fact differentiation between apostles existed among the Twelve also
.
There were " pillars," like Peter and See also: 9, cf. i . 19); and further, that " the Lord's brethren " seem to have ranked above " apostles " generally, being named between them and Peter in r Cor. ix . 5 . That is, they too were apostles with the addition of a certain personal distinction . 4 . Paul, the " Apostle of the Gentiles."—So far apostles are only of the Palestinian type, taken from among actual hearers of the Messiah and with a mission primarily to See also:Jews—apostles "of, the See also:circumcision" (Gal. ii . 7-9) . Now, however, emerges a new apostleship, that to the Gentiles; and with the See also:change of mission goes also some change in the type of missionary or apostle . Of this type Paul was the first, and he remained its primary, and in some senses its only, example . Though he could claim, on occasion, to satisfy the old test of having seen the risen Lord (i Cor. ix . 1, cf. xv . 8), he himself laid stress not on this,. but on the See also:revelation within his own soul of Jesus as See also:God's Son, and of the Gospel latent therein (Gal. i . 16) . This was his divine call as " apostle of the Gentiles " (Rom. xi . 13); here lay both his qualification and his See also:credentials, once the fruits of the divine inworking were See also:manifest in the success of his missionary work (Gal. ii . 8 f.; x Cor. xi. x f.; 2 Cor. iii . 2 f., xii . 12) . But this new criterion of apostleship was capable of wider application, one dispensing altogether with See also:vision of the risen Lord—which could not even in Paul's See also:case be proved so fully as in the case of the original apostles—but appealing to the " signs of an apostle " (I Cor. ix . 2; 2 See also:COI. xii . 12), the tokens of spiritual See also:gift visible in work done, and particularly in the planting of the Gospel in fresh See also:fields (2 Cor. x . 14-18) . It may be in this wide charismatic sense that Paul uses the term in , Cor. xii . 28 f., Eph. ii . 20, iii . 5, iv . 11, and especially in Rom. xvi . 7, " men of mark among the apostles" (cf . 2 Cor . Xi . 13, "pseudo-apostles " masquerading as " apostles of Christ," and perhaps r Thess. ii . 6, of himself and Silas) . That he used it in senses differing with the context is proved by x Cor. xv . 9, where he styles himself the Ieast of apostles," although in other connexions he; claims the very highest See also:rank, co-See also:ordinate even with the Twelve as a body (Gal. ii . 7 ff.), in virtue of his distinctive Gospel . This point of view was not widely shared even in circles appreciative of his actual work . 
To most he seemed but a fruitful worker within lines determined by " the twelve apostles of the See also:Lamb " as a body (Rev. xxi . 14) . So we read of " the plant (Church) which the twelve apostles of the Beloved shall plant " (See also:Ascension of See also:Isaiah, iv . 3); " those who preached the Gospel to us (especially Gentiles) . unto whom He gave authority over the Gospel, being twelve for a witness to the tribes " (See also:Barn. viii . 3, cf. v . 9); and the going forth of the 198 Twelve, after twelve years, beyond See also:Palestine " into the See also:world," to give it a See also:chance to hear (Preaching of Peter, in Clem . Alex . Strom. vi . 5 . 43; 6 . 48) . Later on, however, his own claim told on the Church's mind, when his epistles were read in church as a collection styled simply " the Apostle." As the primary See also:medium of the See also:Gentile Gospel (Gal. i . 16, cf. i . 8, ii . 2) Paul had no peers as an " apostle of the Gentiles " (Rom. xi . 13, cf. xv . 15-20, and seer Cor. xv . 8, " last of all to me "), unless it were Barnabas who shares with him the See also:title " apostle " in Acts xiv . 4, 14—possibly with reference to the special " work " on which they had recently been " sent forth by the Spirit " (xiii . 2, 4) . Yet such as shared the spiritual gift (charisma) of missionary See also:power in sufficient degree, were in fact apostles of Christ in the Spirit (1 Cor. xii . 28, II) . Such a secondary type of apostolate—answering to " apostolic missionaries " of later times (cf. the use of iepasr&rroXos in this sense by the Orthodox Eastern Church to-day)—would help to See also:account for the apostolic claims of the missionaries censured in Rev. ii . 2, as also for the " apostles " of the second See also:generation implied in the See also:Didache .
In the sub-apostolic age, however, the class of " missionaries " enjoying a charisma such as was conceived to convey apostolic commission through the Spirit, soon became distinguished from " apostles " (cf
.
See also:Hermas, Sim. ix
.
15
.
4, " the apostles and teachers of the See also:message of the Son of God," so 25
.
2; in 17
.
I the apostles are reckoned as twelve), as the title became more and more confined by usage to the original apostles, particularly the Twelve as a body (e.g
.
Ascension of Isaiah and the Preaching of Peter), or to them and Paul (e.g. in See also:Clement and See also:Ignatius), and as reverence for these latter See also:grew in connexion with their See also:story in the Gospels and in Acts.' Thus See also:Eusebius describes as " evangelists " (cf
.
See also:
Yet the wider sense of " apostle " did not at once See also:die out even in the third and fourth generations
.
It lingered on as applied to the Seventy2—by See also:Irenaeus, See also:Tertullian, Clement and Origenand even to Clement of See also:Rome, by Clem
.
Alex
.
(? as a " fellow-worker " of Paul, Phil. iv
.
3); while the See also:adjective " apostolic " was applied to men like See also:Polycarp (in his contemporary Acts of Martyrdom) and the Phrygian, See also: Eccl. p . 84) given to apostles, See also:save as representing the brethren in their collective See also:action . Even the " resolutions " (51 yµara) of the Jerusalem conference were not set forth by the apostles present simply in their own name, nor as ipso facto binding on the See also:conscience of the Antiochene Church . They expressed " a claim to deference rather than a right to be obeyed " (Hort, op. cit . 81-85) . Such was the See also:kind of authority attaching to apostles, whether collectively or individually . It was not a fixed notion, but varied in quantity and quality with The tendency is already visible in the See also:Lucan writings . An analogous process is seen in the use of " See also:disciple," applicable in the apostolic age to Christians at large, but in the course of the sub-apostolic age restricted to personal " disciples of the Lord " or to martyrs (See also:Papias in Eus. iii . 39, cf . Ignatius, Ad Eph. i . 2) . 2 In the Edessene See also:legend of See also:Abgar, in Eus. i .
12, we read that " Judas, who is also See also: A.D . I20-140)—is a subject by itself (see See also:BIBLE) . This change of conception helped to further the notion of a certain See also:devolution of apostolic See also:powers to successors constituted by See also:act of ordination . The earliest idea of an See also:apostolical succession meant simply the re-emergence in others of the apostolic spirit of missionary See also:enthusiasm . " The first rank in the succession of the apostles " consisted of men eminent as disciples of theirs, and so fitted to continue their labours (Euseb. iii . 37); and even under See also:Commodus (A.D . 180-193) there were " evangelists of the word " possessed of " inspired zeal to emulate apostles " (v. so) . Such were perhaps the " apostles " of the Didache . Of the notion of apostolic succession in ministerial See also:grace conferred by ordination, there is little or no trace before Irenaeus . The famous passage in Clement of Rome (xliv . 2) refers simply to the succession of one set of men to another in an See also:office of apostolic institution . The grace that makes Polycarp " an apostolic and prophetic teacher " (Mart . Polyc . 16) is See also:peculiar to him personally . But Irenaeus holds, apparently on a priori grounds, that " elders " who stand in orderly succession to the apostolic founders of the true tradition in the churches, have, " along with the succession of oversight," also an " assured gift of (insight into) truth " by the Father's See also:good See also:pleasure (" cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Patris acceperunt "), in contrast to heretics who wilfully stand outside this approved See also:line of transmission (adv . Haer. iv . 26 . 2) . So far, indeed, the succession is not limited to the monarchical episcopate as distinct from the presbyteral order to which it belonged (cf . "presbyterii ordo, principalis consessio" in the same context, and see iii . 14 . 2), though the bishops of apostolic churches, as capable of being traced individually (iii . 3 . 1), are specially appealed to as witnesses (cf. iv . 33 . 8, v . 19 . 2)—as earlier by See also:Hegesippus (Euseb. iv . 22) . Nor is there mention of sacerdotal grace attaching to the succession in apostolic truth.3 But once the idea of supernatural grace going along with office as such (of which we have already a trace in the Ignatian See also:bishop, though without the notion of actual apostolic succession) arose in connexion with successio ab apostolis, the full development of the See also:doctrine was but a matter of time.4 2 The above is substantially the view taken by J . B . Lightfoot in his See also:essay on " The Christian Ministry " (See also:Comm. on See also:Philippians, 6th ed., pp . 239, 252 f.), and by T . M . See also:Lindsay, The Church and the Ministry (11902), pp . 224-228, 278 if . Even C . See also:Gore, The Church and the Ministry (1889), pp . 119 if., while inferring a sacerdotal See also:element in Irenaeus's conception of the episcopate, says: " But it is mainly as preserving the See also:catholic traditions that Irenaeus regards the apostolic succession " (p . 120) . 4 See Lightfoot's essay for See also:Cyprian's contribution, as also for that of the Clementines, which See also:fix on the twofold position of James at Jerusalem, as apostle and bishop, as bearing on apostolic succession in the episcopate . Dogmengeschichte (3rd ed.), i . 153 ff.; E . See also:Haupt, Zum Verstdndnis d . Apostolats in NT . (See also:Halle, 1896) ; and. especially H . Monnier, La Notion de l'apostolat, See also:des origines a Irenee (See also:Paris, 1903) . The later legends and their See also:sources are examined by T . Schermann, Prophetenund Apostellegenden (See also:Leipzig, 1907) . (J . V . |
|
|
[back] APOSTASY (aaoafiavis, in classical Greek a defectio... |
[next] APOSTLE SPOONS |
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.