Apostle

A title that indicates someone is a commissioned messenger or ambassador. It is a Greek word that can mean “one who is sent out.” Jesus, sent by God the Father, is an apostle. Jesus’ 12 disciples that he specifically commissioned and sent out were also known as apostles. In that sense, though every apostle was a disciple, not every disciple was an apostle.

Luke 6:13-16

¹³ And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

The Creed we confess each Sunday

As time went on, however, it became necessary to explain what Christians believed in more detail. The full implications of declaring that “Jesus is Lord” needed to be teased out. What did Christians believe about God? About Jesus? About the Holy Spirit? By the fourth century the Apostles’ Creed as we know it had assumed a more or less fixed form; what variations did exist were slight, and these were finally eliminated in the seventh century. The Apostle’s creed is a splendid summary of the apostolic teaching concerning the gospel, even though it was not actually written by the apostles.
– Alister McGrath, “I Believe” Exploring the Apostles’ Creed (1997)                                                                                                                            

Reflection and Prayer

Though you may not be called an “apostle,” you’ve also been called and sent in specific ways to deliver the Good News to your own community. How can you explain the gospel in your own words to that community?