Apostles:
Apostle literally means ‘sent one.’ This title refers to one
who is called and sent forth by God to accomplish a particular mission or
purpose, and the one sent is anointed to represent the sender in name, power,
and authority. In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus chose twelve Apostles, and
one (Judas) betrayed the Lord. The church attempted to choose a replacement
(Matthias). However, there is little comparison between being chosen and sent
by the church and being chosen and sent by God. While the church
chose Matthias, God instead chose Saul, renaming him Paul and making him an
Apostle. Thus, properly a Christian Apostle is one sent by God, not just one
sent by whomever. The New Testament Apostles were recognized as the leaders of
the Church after Christ’s ascension. Because God still chooses and sends forth
people to accomplish His purposes, there are Apostles even today. However,
unlike the original Apostles who were inspired by God to write the New
Testament, Apostles sent by God today are not empowered to write new scripture.
Some people today misuse the term “revelation” to mean an empowering to write
new scripture. However, it should be noted that the term is not technically
restricted to that meaning, and it may be used in proper ways without signaling
a false belief that people can add to the Holy Scriptures today. Scholars use
the terms ‘inspired’ and ‘inspiration’ to refer to the process by which God
empowered the original Apostles to write the New Testament. Even so, one can
clearly see that the term has broader applications, and God can certainly still
inspire people today to do various things. However, we believe that, while God
does still inspire people today to do and say many different things, He does not
choose to inspire the writing of new scriptures universally applicable to all
future peoples in all cultures, which is true only of the Bible. We believe the
canon of Scriptures called The Holy Bible is complete and lacking nothing needed
for a man's salvation.