K
IMO, the word apostle is used in two ways in the NT:
1) The 11 plus Paul, plus Matthias.
2) any missionary.
I believe that Junia is an example of the second usage.
There is NOTHING in Scripture to indicate that Deacon was a preaching or governing role.
1) The 11 plus Paul, plus Matthias.
2) any missionary.
I believe that Junia is an example of the second usage.
There is NOTHING in Scripture to indicate that Deacon was a preaching or governing role.
Once again that is just a way to down play the fact that Junia was a female apostle, and all early manuscripts from the 1st century have her listed as a female apostle. It was not tell Origen in the late 2nd to early 3rd century that the change of her name to the masculine was done.
Papyrus P46 even has her name changed to Julia.
[h=3]"Apostle" in the New Testament[edit][/h]The term "apostle" connotes the highest level of leadership and authority in the early church.[SUP][1 Cor. 12:28][/SUP] [SUP][Eph. 2:20,3:5][/SUP] Initially, only the original disciples (meaning "students", "learners") of Jesus were called "apostles" (meaning "those sent forth with a mission).[SUP][13][/SUP] After Jesus' resurrection, the designation was given to missionaries involved in establishing churches and who saw the resurrected Christ before his ascension. This included more than "five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time" and then Paul himself.[SUP][1 Cor. 15:6][/SUP] After that, the appellation of apostle was extended to Christian disciples who had never seen Christ but who were pioneer missionaries, such as Apollos,[SUP][1 Cor. 4:6-9][/SUP] Epaphroditus,[SUP][Phil. 2:25][/SUP] Sylvanus and Timothy.[SUP][1 Thes. 1:1, cf. 2:6][/SUP] The description of "apostles" as one of the three higher spiritual gifts that Christians should desire[SUP][1 Cor. 12:28, cf. 31][/SUP] is evidence of continued accessibility to this ministry for qualified persons. They could aspire to become apostles, prophets, or teachers. Bilezikian writes that the term "apostle" was still used in this broad sense in the post-apostolic writing of the Didache.
The original meaning of a Deacon is one who is ordained as a minister, but this definition has been changed over time to adapt it to fit the theology of the churches now days who take away from the true word of God....