What is the gift of an apostle?

The men who were given the gift to be apostles had authority to speak and teach truths which became the great doctrines of the church. These doctrines are the foundation of the church and are now embodied in the New Testament Scriptures.

A qualification of an apostle was to be a witness of the risen Christ. This was true of the twelve as recorded in Acts 1:13-23 and also of the apostle Paul as recorded in 1 Corinthians 9:1 and 15:7,8.

From 2 Corinthians 12:12 we find that an apostle had signs to validate his apostleship. These signs consisted of wonders, mighty deeds and miracles. In this way God bore witness to their apostleship (Hebrews 2:3,4).

If one word could be used to describe this gift, it might well be authority (2 Corinthians 10:8). Men who teach and preach today, do not biblically have the same authority that we see in the apostles. If a man is a faithful teacher or preacher today he will not hold out himself as an authority for the truth he preaches. He will instead call attention to the truth in the Bible and hold out the Bible as the authority for doctrine.

Since the gift of apostles was for the foundation of the church and the foundation has been laid (Ephesians 2:20), this gift does not exist in primary form today. In a day when some have claimed to be apostles, it is interesting to notice that in the early church the local assembly in Ephesus was commended for trying those who said they were apostles but instead were liars (Revelation 2:2).