Taking church traditions as superior to scholarly interpretations of Bible words like prophet and apostle is what casues denominations, divisions of believers over mostly traditions. It's a vicious circle of troubles.
The Bible doesn't limit apostleship to only those who knew Jesus in the flesh and wrote scripture. Judas was an apostle, who wrote no scripture that we know of, and broke with fellowship with Jesus. In fact all the 12 abandoned Jesus, which can't be said of all who set out to follow Jesus these days. How many of the 16 apostles listed in the Bible actually contributed logos for us to read? Luke wrote two of the N.T. books. Was he an apostle? How about Mark? Apostle? I think that should help disqualify one traditional requirement of an apostle.
The Greek 'apostolols' is descriptive of, among Greeks, a delegate, ambassador, messenger of. The word was not invented by the Greeks for Christin use pertaining to Jesus. The Greek language was adopted by those who recorded the scriptures in Greek.
There are many messengers/ambassadors of the gospel commissioned by the Holy Spirit today, some temporary, some for decades. I agree a "missionary" can be equated with "apostle", as many missionaries have been sent around the world, establishing churches like Paul, Barnabus, Timothy, Mark. Who can number them?
As long as there is some tribe in this world needing to hear about Jesus, there is need for an apostle to go and lead them to Christ, then help them grow as a church congregation.
No prophets today? Two are coming to speak to the world, written of in Revelation 11:3-12 (KJV)
[SUP]3 [/SUP] And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
[SUP]4 [/SUP] These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
[SUP]5 [/SUP] And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
[SUP]6 [/SUP] These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
[SUP]7 [/SUP] And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
[SUP]8 [/SUP] And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
[SUP]9 [/SUP] And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
[SUP]10 [/SUP] And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
[SUP]11 [/SUP] And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
[SUP]12 [/SUP] And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
It isn't told what they prophesy or testify about. Could it include the immediate future for their hearers?
The disciples of John that Paul found, in Acts 19. They spoke with tongues and prophesied. All we know about their knowledge was they were not familiar concerning the Holy Spirit, that they carried on John the Baptist's ministry those 16 years after John. Did they tell the future? Or did they simply forth-tell spiritual insight freshly given by the Spirit? Perhaps Paul didn't learn anything new from that, but for those men that experience served as confirmation of that baptism Paul offered.
Acts 11:27-30 (KJV)
[SUP]27 [/SUP] And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
[SUP]28 [/SUP] And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
[SUP]29 [/SUP] Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
[SUP]30 [/SUP] Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
What scripture makes the ministry of prophet invalid? Where else did the Word predict that drought? Is it impossible for a modern prophet, even a Christian that doesn't yet God will use him or her as a prophet, could be used to warn other Christians of something dire to prepare for? Might our modern disbelief of that office being valid be based on disbelief of other gifts and Bible teachings that we've been taught to reject?
So there are two cases of prophetic utterances, among people not elsewhere recorded as close followers of Jesus. We know that all disciples but the 12 abandoned Jesus upon hearing him utter that about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, so those departed disciples were disqualified for another modern requirement of "apostle", not to mention "prophet", as those who had to be with Jesus from John the baptist days until the resurrection. Well, one list says John to the cross.
