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Journeys in God’s Word
Number 1
by Stephen Marine

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1 (KJV) 

The first word we will look at is the word “I”. This word refers to the author of the book.  We know that Paul is the author from Romans 1:1-7 (KJV). ¹  Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, ²  (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) ³  Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; ⁴  And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: ⁵  By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: ⁶  Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: ⁷  To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us consider first why we, as believers, should heed Paul’s instruction.  The simple answer is that it is part of the Bible called the Holy Scriptures. The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (KJV) ¹⁶  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷  That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Secondly, what right does Paul have to call himself an apostle?   Apostle (“one sent on a mission”) is one whom God has sent on an errand or with a message. An apostle is accountable to his Sender and carries the authority of his Sender. An apostleship is the office an apostle holds. Jesus Christ Himself has an “apostleship.” He wears “Apostle” as one of His descriptive titles in Hebrews 3:1 (KJV) Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.  He was sent to earth by the Heavenly Father with God’s authoritative message, which He faithfully delivered John 17:1-5 (KJV) ¹  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: ²  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. ³ And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. ⁴ I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. ⁵ And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

While Jesus was here on earth, He personally selected from His many followers twelve men and gave them an apostleship—special responsibility to receive and spread His message after He returned to heaven.  Matthew 10:1-6 (KJV) “¹ And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. ²  Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; ³ The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;   Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; ⁴  Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. ⁵ These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye. not: ⁶ But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  

Notice they were commanded to go to the cities of the Jews and not the cities of the Gentiles.  These chosen and sent ones were His apostles. During the time Jesus was on earth He was training them. He did not explain the criteria that He used to choose them.

One of the twelve was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus to His enemies. In agony of conscience, Judas hanged himself. Matthew 27:3-10(KJV) ³  Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. ⁵ And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. ⁶ And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. ⁷ And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.  ⁸ Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. ⁹ Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy (Jeremiah) the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; ¹⁰  And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.   Thus, when Jesus returned to heaven, He left behind only eleven apostles.

Some days later, the remaining apostles were in Jerusalem praying with Jesus’ mother, His brothers, and other believers. The group totaled about 120 (Acts 1:12–26). Simon Peter addressed the group and told them that Psalm 69:25 predicted Judas’ desertion and Psalm 109:8 predicted that the defector’s place among the apostles should be filled. The apostleship must fall to someone else. Psalm 69:22-28 (KJV) ²² Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. ²³ Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. ²⁴ Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
²⁵ Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.
²⁶ For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. ²⁷ Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. ²⁸ Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. Psalm 109:8 (KJV) ⁸ Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

Peter proposed choosing a new apostle and set the qualifications. Not everyone could be considered for an apostleship. First, candidates needed to have been with Jesus during the whole three years that Jesus was among them. That is, he needed to be an eyewitness of Jesus’ baptism when the Heavenly Father validated Jesus’ person and work. He needed to have heard Jesus’ life-changing teachings and been present to see His healings and other miracles. Second, he needed to have witnessed Jesus sacrifice Himself on the cross and to have seen Jesus walk, talk, and eat among the disciples again after His resurrection. These were the pivotal facts of Jesus’ life, the heart of the message they were to teach, and personal witnesses were required to verify the truth of the good news.

The prayer group in Jerusalem nominated two who met these qualifications for apostleship: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. Then the disciples asked God to guide them to know which one was to fill the post. Using a method of determining God’s will that was common at that time, they cast lots, thus giving God freedom to make His choice clear. The lot fell to Matthias, and he became the twelfth apostle.

Months later, Saul, one of the Pharisees, was trying to stamp out the new “cult” of Christianity by killing and jailing some of Jesus’ followers. While Saul was on one of his deadly errands to Damascus, the living Jesus personally appeared to him. This undeniable encounter with the resurrected Lord revolutionized Saul’s life. In a vision to another believer in Damascus, Jesus said that He had chosen Saul “as My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel” Acts 9:13-15(KJV)
¹³  Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
¹⁴  And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. ¹⁵  But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: Following his conversion, Paul spent some time in Arabia, where he was taught by Christ (Galatians 1:12–17). The other apostles recognized that Jesus Himself had appointed their former enemy to be one of them. As Saul went into Gentile territories, he changed his name to the Greek “Paul,” and Jesus, who gave Paul his apostleship, sent many messages through him to His churches and to unbelievers. It was this apostle, Paul, who wrote over half of the books of the New Testament. While Paul never claimed to be included among the original twelve, believers have recognized that Jesus appointed him as His special apostle to the Gentiles.

In two of his Epistles, Paul identifies the office of apostle as the first that Jesus appointed to serve His churches (1 Corinthians 12:27–30; Ephesians 4:11). Clearly, the work of apostleship was to lay the foundation of the Church in a sense secondary only to that of Christ Himself (Ephesians 2:19–20), thus requiring eyewitness authority behind their preaching. After the apostles laid the foundation, the Church could be built.

There are others in the early church referred to as “apostles” but only in the sense that they were appointed, authorized, and sent by churches on special errands. These individuals bore the title “apostle” in a limited sense and did not possess all the qualifications of apostleship that the original twelve and Paul did. Therefore, there are no apostles in this present age. Those who take the title of “Apostle” do so to elevate themselves to positions of authority and for vain glory.

Any man or woman claiming to be an apostle with new revelation from God is a false prophet should not be listened to. Paul tells the Church at Galatia in “Galatians 1:6-9 (KJV) ⁶  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: ⁷ Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.⁸ But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.⁹ As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. The word accursed means given over to destruction. It is obvious that in this day and time the believer must be spiritually discerning.