[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Ohio

If I had to define an apostle, I would look for a life-long, life-changing, pioneering work, marked by suffering and hardship, and blessed by the Head with both signs and much fruit. There would be clear evidence that the Lord had actually sent and commissioned that apostle.

Originally Posted by Igzy

Who says apostles have to be recognized as apostles, anyway? They just carry out their commission to the Lord. All those who benefited from them need say is "Who was that masked man?" as they ride off into the sunset.
If someone is an apostle then people going to get help from him/her, and no cheerleading them as an apostle is going to add anything to that, though it might detract.
I'm talking about today's reality, not some ideal of the way it should be.

Originally Posted by OBW

So there may be apostles now. But from what I can see, apostles of the kind who started the spread of the gospel in Acts are no more.
Do you need an apostle like Paul now? Do we need to see God's awesome power demonstrated to believe in him? I think the answer to both is "no." We believe. We know. A miracle will get us too caught up in miracles — like the Corinthians. Much better to take the faith that we have and live the life that Jesus commanded. Prove that God is by the fact that we now live righteously. That we deal with justice and not with greed and covetousness. Having an apostle will not cause any of that to be better. It will distract us to things that do not change our lives. To things that look good in meetings. We will need an apostle to tell us to get our act together. To throw out the open fornicator. To quit having a three-ring circus in our meetings. Corinth was the epitome of thinking about the status of teachers/evangelists/apostles. And of a kind of hierarchy of gifts of the Spirit, with the pinnacle being the miraculous.

Lots of good posts!
I just quoted a few excerpts that caught my attention.

I think if we start with some of the "lowest common denominators" we can proceed to attempt to answer the question of whether their are apostles today.

We know that those whom the Lord Jesus directly appointed were apostles.
The apostle Paul confirmed this, and claimed that he was the last of such apostles - "and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also" (1 Corinthians 15:8)
These original apostles received the gospel and ministry DIRECTLY from the Lord Jesus. (In Paul's case he received directly from the resurrected Christ, but directly from Christ nonetheless)

So I think we can all agree that there are no more apostles that were appointed directly by the Lord Jesus Christ. There are no more apostles who carry with them THIS degree of apostolic function and authority.

If three are such apostles then I would have to see that they are functioning as the early apostles and command that degree of authority, and furthermore they must be doing so in the wider Body of Christ and NOT just within the bounds of some sect or organization.

So now I have probably blown my cover. I do not think that anyone is functioning AS THE EARLY APOSTLES today. Does this mean there are no apostles today? Let's discuss it.