A gift of the Spirit

The Gift of Apostleship

The equipping gifts of Ephesians 4 · Ephesians 4:11

The gift of apostleship is the calling to be a sent one, entrusted to lay foundations for the church and carry the gospel where it has not gone. Christ gave apostles, Paul says, to equip the saints and build up His body. It is the first of the equipping gifts of Ephesians 4, and its whole aim is the maturing of the church in Christ.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;Ephesians 4:11 (KJV)

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:Ephesians 4:12 (KJV)

What the gift is

In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, Paul says the ascended Christ gave gifts to His church, and the first he names is apostles. The word means a sent one, an envoy commissioned and authorized to represent the one who sends him. These gifts, Paul says, are given for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, so apostleship, like the rest, exists to equip and build up God's people.

Scripture uses the word in more than one sense. There are the Twelve, chosen by Jesus and witnesses of His resurrection, together with Paul, who hold a unique and unrepeatable place as the foundation of the church. And there are others called apostles in a broader sense, such as Barnabas and James the Lord's brother, sent ones who planted and strengthened churches. In every case an apostle is one sent by Christ for the sake of His church.

How it appears in the New Testament

Jesus chose twelve and named them apostles, and after His resurrection they became its witnesses to the world. Paul was called on the Damascus road to be an apostle to the Gentiles. The book of Acts is largely the story of apostles carrying the gospel from Jerusalem outward, planting churches, appointing elders, and laying the foundation on which the whole church still stands, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.

Paul describes the marks of this calling: not ease or honor but hardship, for he says God has set forth the apostles last, as men appointed to death, made a spectacle to the world, hungry, persecuted, and reviled, yet enduring all things for the gospel. The apostles gave the church its doctrine, its mission, and much of its Scripture, and then poured out their lives, most of them as martyrs, for the name of Christ.

How it builds up the body of Christ

The foundational apostles built up the church once for all, by their eyewitness testimony to Christ and the teaching now preserved in the New Testament. On that foundation the whole church is still framed together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In the broader sense, those with an apostolic calling still build up the body by carrying the gospel to new places, planting churches, and equipping believers, always laying the one foundation that is Christ.

This gift, like all the equipping gifts, is measured by its purpose: not to exalt the sent one but to mature the saints and knit the body together. True apostolic labor points away from itself to Christ and roots the church in the apostles' doctrine, never in a personality. Where a person claims apostleship to gather followers and wield power, the gift has been counterfeited; where it serves the church's foundation in Christ, it is a gift of grace.

How to recognize and use it

Whatever one's view of the office today, the pattern of this gift is plain: to be sent by Christ, to go where He is not yet named, to plant and strengthen churches, and to equip others, at real cost to oneself. Those who carry a pioneering, church planting, gospel spreading burden are walking in its spirit. If that is you, go in humility, build only on the foundation of Christ, and aim always at the maturing of the saints, not a following of your own.

And the whole church honors the apostles by holding fast their doctrine, for we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. To stay true to their teaching is to stay true to Christ.

Where Christians differ, held honestly. Because Ephesians names apostles among the gifts, Christians discuss whether the office continues today. Here sincere, Bible loving Christians genuinely differ, and it is worth saying so plainly. Cessationists hold that the more visibly miraculous gifts were tied to the foundational age of the apostles and to confirming the gospel before the New Testament was complete, and that they have therefore ceased, or greatly quieted, now that we have the finished Scripture. Continuationists hold that the Spirit never withdrew any gift, that the same God still gives as He wills, and that we should earnestly desire the gifts while testing everything by the Word. Godly, careful believers stand on both sides. The Living Bread takes no side in this. What every faithful reading agrees on is the purpose: the gifts are given by one Spirit to build up the church, never to exalt the person who carries them, never to rival or add to God's revealed Word, and never to be pursued apart from love.

How this gift points to Christ

The apostles exist entirely for Christ, sent by Him, testifying to Him, and laying no other foundation than Jesus Christ Himself, who is the chief corner stone. Their doctrine, preserved in the New Testament, is simply the truth of the Son of God handed on, and the church built on it grows up into Him. Every genuine apostolic labor points away from the sent one to the One who sent him, saying with Paul, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. The whole aim of the gift is that the saints be matured until they come unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, in whom the whole building is framed together.

The more excellent way

Whatever place the gift of Apostleship holds, Paul sets one thing above every gift. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, he says, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; and though I have all knowledge, and all faith, and have not charity, I am nothing. The gifts will one day pass away, but now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; and the greatest of these is charity.

So this gift, like all the rest, is given by one Spirit for the common good, to build up the one body of Christ, and it is nothing at all apart from love. The gifts are not for our standing but for our serving, and they all belong to Him whose body the church is. Use whatever you have been given to love one another, and to point every eye to Jesus, from whom every good gift comes and to whom every gift returns its praise.

The Giver calls you

Every gift of the Spirit comes from the risen Christ and points back to Him. The same Lord who pours out gifts on His church calls you by name to know Him, to be filled with His Spirit, and to take your place in His body. Read the Word, pray, and gather with the family of God on The Living Bread. Free, with no ads, for all people.

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Questions people ask

What is the gift of apostleship?

It is the calling to be a sent one, entrusted to lay foundations for the church and carry the gospel where it has not gone. Christ gave apostles to equip the saints and build up His body (Ephesians 4:11-12). Its whole aim is the maturing of the church in Christ.

Are there still apostles today?

Christians distinguish the foundational apostles, the Twelve and Paul, eyewitnesses of the risen Christ, whose place is unique and unrepeatable, from a broader sense of sent ones who plant and strengthen churches. Some hold the office has ceased; others use the word for church planting missionaries. All agree the foundation was laid once in Christ.

What did the apostles do for the church?

They witnessed to the risen Christ, carried the gospel outward, planted churches, appointed leaders, and gave the church much of its doctrine and Scripture. On their teaching the whole church still stands, with Christ as the chief corner stone.