Paul takes the term Apostle in his letterhead, and so marks out the ground for the battle that is to be fought through the rest of the letter. His message, his gospel has been upended by one or two people, with links back to Jerusalem and with persuasive tongues. In the process, aspersions have been cast on the legitimacy of Paul himself. Consequently, Paul has to set out his stall, make plain his credentials, so that all can see and make up their own minds.
“I wasn’t appointed by a human committee” says Paul. “My authority is not derived from the decision of men. You might have heard that Barnabas and I were sent out from Antioch by the church there, but my authority does not rest on the commission of the Church at Antioch.”
Similarly, Paul claims that his authority was not passed on from some person. He isn’t reliant upon the so-called ‘apostolic succession’ from Peter. He and Barnabas might have had hands of blessing laid upon them as they were sent out from Antioch. He might have had hands laid on him by Ananias in Damascus, but that is not where his authority comes from.
Paul states here that his authority come through Jesus and the Father. This claim makes his apostleship equal to that of the ‘twelve’. A theme that he returns to later in the letter.
Only in Galatians does Paul attribute his Apostolic status to “God the Father”. Such is Paul’s claim to authority! Such is the status of his role on the mission field. “Readers of my letter”, Paul says, “make no mistake, this is written by someone who carries the message, the gospel, of God himself”.
Only in Galatians does Paul mention the resurrection with his apostolic status. Almost as if he is proclaiming, with his introduction, that God has introduced a step change, a dislocation of the course of time, a situation that changes everything, by the death and resurrection of Jesus. And that ‘everything’ includes the ‘law’. By proclaiming resurrection, Paul is proclaiming that death itself is mortally wounded. We are bound by the law until death, but if death itself dies, what hold can the law have upon us?
It is worth making a couple of further points. Firstly, the term ‘apostle’ is not used by New Testament letter writers as a Title. It is not an alternate to our Mr, Mrs, Sir or Captain. Rather it is used as a role description. Paul, an apostle rather than The Apostle Paul.
Secondly, the term apostle appears very rarely in Greek writing in the 1000+ years from the 5th century BC through to the 7th century AD. Where it does appear, it tends to be used in an impersonal way – eg as a reference to a naval expedition or even the boat used to transport such an expedition.
There is however, a Hebrew parallel word – Saliah. Saliah can mean envoy or messenger and has the concept of delegated authority. Jewish sources like the saying ‘A man’s Saliah is as the man himself’. It does need to be said though, that a Saliah was only able to act for a very specific time-bound task. It was never used to denote a life-long calling.
So, for the most part, it is probably not appropriate to use any of the Ephesians 4:11 terms as titles of office – Prophet Nike, Evangelist Luci or even Treasurer John or Organiser Vitalia. So perhaps you should think twice before you call anyone Pastor in the future.