Were the Apostles Placed First in the Ecclesia?

The Greek word “apostle” means “delegate.” The word occurs 80 times in the New Testament and is primarily known as the designation for the apostles of Jesus Christ. Jesus called His 12 disciples “apostles” (Luke 6:13). Later, the circle of apostles is considerably expanded with another 72 men whom Jesus sent out (Luke 10:1). That gives a total of 84 apostles (= 7×12). Perhaps Paul had that wider circle in mind in 1 Corinthians 15, when he wrote about “the twelve,” but also about “all the apostles”:

and that He was seen by Cephas, thereupon by the twelve (…) Thereupon He was seen by James, thereafter by all the apostles…

—1 Corinthians 15:5–7—

Barnabas and Silas

Evidently Barnabas, Paul’s coworker, also belonged to that larger circle of apostles. That is quite possible, for he lived in Jerusalem (Acts 4:36,37), and in any case, together with Paul, he too is called an apostle (Acts 14:14; 14:4). The same also applies to Paul’s other coworker Silas — or Silvanus — who likewise came from Jerusalem (Acts 15:22) and is reckoned by Paul as an apostle (compare 1 Thessalonians 2:6 and 1 Thessalonians 1:1).

Seen Jesus Our Lord

“All the apostles,” in any case, were directly delegated by the roused Christ. That delegation also characterizes a true apostle of Christ.

Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

—1 Corinthians 9:1—

Paul too meets that criterion. After all, Jesus his Lord appeared to him, even though it was as the last one and in an utterly unique way.

Thereupon He was seen by James, thereafter by all the apostles. Yet, last of all, even as if a premature birth, He was seen by me also. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not competent to be called an apostle, because I persecute the ecclesia of God.

—1 Corinthians 15:7–9—

With shame Paul calls himself an apostle, because he persecuted the ecclesia of God. Viewed from that past, he can do nothing other than call himself “the least of the apostles.” Yet nevertheless, truly an apostle. Elsewhere he speaks of false apostles, who therefore wrongly present themselves as apostles of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13), and Paul exposes them.

Delegated by Whom?

On a few occasions we read of “delegates of ecclesias” (2 Corinthians 8:23) or of Epaphroditus as a delegate of the Philippians to help Paul (Philippians 2:25). That is a delegation of another order, not a delegation from Christ. But when the Gospels (Luke 24:10), Acts (1:2; 6:6), or the letters (Galatians 1:19; Jude 1:17) speak of “the apostles,” it always concerns those apostles who were personally and directly delegated by the roused Christ.

God Placed Apostles First in the Ecclesia

Christ is the Head of the ecclesia, the Body of Christ (Colossians 1:18), for with Him, “the Firstborn from among the dead,” the Body begins. But subsequently, apostles were added to it first. Paul writes to the Corinthians:

Now you are the body of Christ, and members of a part, whom also God, indeed, placed in the ecclesia, first, apostles…

—1 Corinthians 12:27,28—

It is therefore the apostles who laid the foundation. That foundation is, of course, Christ, “for other foundation can no one lay” (1 Corinthians 3:11). When Paul therefore compares the ecclesia in the Ephesian letter to a spiritual structure, he writes:

Consequently, then, you are (…) being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the capstone of the corner being Christ Jesus Himself…

—Ephesians 2:19,20—

Apostles Before Paul

As far as the foundation of this spiritual structure is concerned, Paul includes all “who were apostles before me” (Galatians 1:17). To Paul was entrusted “the administration of the grace of God” for the nations (Ephesians 3:2), and through him “the secret” was unveiled (Ephesians 3:3) to the other apostles…

…as it was now revealed to His holy apostles...

—Ephesians 3:5—

The apostles play a primary role when it comes to the upbuilding of the ecclesia, the Body of Christ:

And the same One gives these, indeed, as apostles, yet these as prophets, yet these as evangelists, yet these as pastors and teachers, toward the adjusting of the saints for the work of dispensing, for the upbuilding of the body of Christ…

—Ephesians 4:11,12—

The conclusion must be that to and through Paul, indeed, “the secret of the Evangel” (Ephesians 6:19; Romans 16:25; Colossians 4:3) and the truth of “the ecclesia, the Body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:17; Ephesians 1:22,23; Colossians 1:18) were made known. But Paul never excludes the other apostles from this. On the contrary, he names them first when it comes to their place and function in the ecclesia, the Body of Christ.

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