Jesus wasnāt one of the twelve no more than Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, and Silvanus were, but the latter four are called apostles in the NT. Or havenāt you read?
"Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confessionā (Heb.3:1).
The word āapostleā means āone sent as a messengerā. With regard to the twelve apostles, it means they were chosen by Jesus and sent into the world in his name to bear the Gospel message to all nations (Mt.28:18-20).Jesus is called an apostle to signify that he was sent from the Father to preach the good news and set captives free, as prophesied by Isaiah. āFor God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.ā (Jn.3:17).
Now this brings us back to 1 Corinthians 15:7: āAfter that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles.ā You contend that the word applies to all of Christās disciples. Now if this were true, then all of his disciples would have been commissioned to go out into the whole world as ministers of his word. But we read in Matthew 28 that Jesus had specifically appointed the Eleven for this task just before he ascended into heaven. And, of course, James the Less / Younger / Just was included. We read in Ephesians 4:11: āAnd he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors,ā (DRB). So not all of Christās disciples have been appointed to be āapostlesā, but only some, according to their particular calling. The word āapostlesā does not apply to each and every disciple. What Paul means by āall the apostlesā is 'all eleven of them, including James after our Lord appeared only to him as he had only to Peter. When Jesus appeared to the common disciples, it wasnāt on an individual basis. He appeared to about 500 of them at once when they were probably gathered together. And these disciples are called ābrethrenā which distinguishes them from the āapostles.ā
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