Are There Modern-Day Apostles? No
Are there modern-day apostles? The New Apostolic Reformation believes that the office of apostle was lost and in need of being restored. However, this is not true.
The New Testament apostles did not appoint successors
The office of apostle ceased because the New Testament apostles did not appoint successors for themselves.
The only place we see apostles choosing a replacement is Acts 1:12-26, when Peter stood up and proposed a replacement apostle for Judas. It is debatable whether this event was from the Lord since the one they chose is never heard from again.
Nonetheless, apparently there were only two among them who met the qualifications of having physically accompanied Peter and the other ten “beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us…” (Acts 1:21-22).
It is significant that only two were qualified despite over five hundred seeing the risen Jesus (1 Cor. 15:6).
The New Testament is not concerned about appointing apostles
The New Testament is simply not concerned with appointing apostles.
What we do find is much attention given to the selection and qualifications of elders/bishops (same office) and deacons (1 Tim 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9).
The reason for the shift from apostle to elder/bishops is that there was no more need for this office once the church had been established.
Writing from Rome in AD 60, Paul describes the church as “having been built (past tense) on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). He was most likely thinking of the Old Testament prophets and Twelve who were the initial bearers of the gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-8).
Whatever he meant, the office of apostle (and prophet) was not an office that Paul told his protégés Timothy and Titus to be concerned about (the epistles of 1 Timothy and Titus were written just after Ephesians in AD 63-66).
The office of apostle is not found in church history
Neither do we find the office of apostle in early church history.
The phrase “the apostles” is used over two hundred times throughout the writings of the Apostolic Fathers.1 Yet it always looks back to the apostles of the New Testament era. Nobody reading the early church fathers in their day would find this phrase confusing because the office of apostle did not exist anymore—“the apostles” always referred to the Twelve plus Paul.
It would appear that Timothy and Titus faithfully carried out the desires of their mentor, Paul, and established bishop/elders and deacons instead.
No support for the office of apostle today
In short, the claim that the office of apostle was lost in the early church and is in need of being restored has no biblical or historical basis.
__________
- Search conducted by querying “the apostles” in Logos Bible Software using Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, eds., The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), vii.