[YP0534]

At least a couple of places in the New Testament seem to indicate that the apostles must be grounded and rooted and built together with an assembly.

There's an instance of \apostolos\ in 2 Cor. 8:23 that Witness Lee (and apparently most of Christianity based upon the translations!) glosses over since it doesn't fit the top-down hierarchical concept.

2Cr 8:16 And thanks to God, who is putting the same diligence for you in the heart of Titus,
2Cr 8:17 because indeed the exhortation he accepted, and being more diligent, of his own accord he went forth unto you,
2Cr 8:18 and we sent with him the brother, whose praise in the good news [is] through all the assemblies,
2Cr 8:19 and not only so, but who was also appointed by vote by the assemblies, our fellow-traveller, with this favour that is ministered by us, unto the glory of the same Lord, and your willing mind;
2Cr 8:20 avoiding this, lest any one may blame us in this abundance that is ministered by us,
2Cr 8:21 providing right things, not only before the Lord, but also before men;
2Cr 8:22 and we sent with them our brother, whom we proved in many things many times being diligent, and now much more diligent, by the great confidence that is toward you,
2Cr 8:23 whether -- about Titus -- my partner and towards you fellow-worker, whether -- our brethren, apostles of assemblies -- glory of Christ;
2Cr 8:24 the shewing therefore of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf, to them shew ye, even in the face of the assemblies.

Because it doesn't fit the concept of what is an "apostle," the majority of the translations do not use the word "apostle" here. But at the very least, the text suggests that Paul himself holds the concept and teaches that the assemblies are in some way a source of "apostleship."

The thing that's probably the most telling, however, is that Saul and Barnabas were "sent" by the Holy Spirit *and* the assembly at Antioch.

Act 13:1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was [there], prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Act 13:2 And as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
Act 13:3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Act 13:4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

This explains why it is that the only ones who did NOT leave Jerusalem under Saul's persecution WERE the apostles there.

Act 8:1 And Saul was consenting to his being killed. And on that day there arose a great persecution against the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and all were scattered into the countries of Judaea and Samaria except the apostles.

In fact, the scriptural picture, rather plainly, is that "apostles" are the foundation for the building of the local assembly, the living stones that make the house not made by hands for our Living God.

Eph 2:19 So then ye are no longer strangers and foreigners, but ye are fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God,
Eph 2:20 being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone,
Eph 2:21 in whom all [the] building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord;
Eph 2:22 in whom *ye* also are built together for a habitation of God in [the] Spirit.

Lee was very proud of recognizing that the wall of the Holy City has the foundations with the names of the Twelve, but I don't think he actually recognized that the implication there, just as it was with Peter's revelation in Matthew 16, is that these men became the basic building materials for the manifestation of God in the local assembly.

Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

There's a lot of speculation both in Lee's ministry and most of the writings I've seen from the rest of Christianity that "apostle" is a position of rank and importance and hierarchy. But Paul clearly considered that he was a slave and under a death sentence as a consequence of this thing called "apostleship." Such language from Paul is usually treated as some form of false humility. After all, the Twelve have their names written on the foundations of the wall! (Poor Paul got left out!) But, lest we forget, Revelation is a book of signs, and, it might just be possible that there isn't going to be a tall pile of stones with honorary graffiti at the base but instead this is supposed to clue us in on the fact that all the believers are built together and that the Twelve were the first ones the Lord built that way.

Therefore, the REASON that some apostles could originate in the assemblies and have the same apostleship as the Twelve?

Because the key to being an "apostle" is SEEING God.

1Cr 9:1 Am I not free? am I not an apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are not *ye* my work in [the] Lord?

If you study the circumstance at Act 13 carefully, it's all right there. Because there is a genuine revelation of the Lord manifested in the assembly at Antioch, there are some who are designated as the "apostles" in the assembly. Why? They have seen God. And, when it is to His liking, He will speak through the assembly to send them forth as need be.

We know that Saul had a particular revelation of Christ on the road to Damascus but, although the enemy always seeks to distract us, we must not fail to recognize the importance of the reality of the manifestation of Christ in the assembly! According to the Bible, the revelation of Christ in the assembly is even MORE real than what Saul saw, although we all long for the vision to see what he saw. That kind of miraculous seeing is not connected to God's goal. In effect, Paul was Moses all over again and he spoke with the burning bush. And although we all long to know the Lord in the flesh as if we were one of the Twelve with Him in Judea, this also is not what God wants. God wants to be seen in His holy temple, the one not made with hands.

The apostles in Jerusalem were certainly not "sent" on "missionary journeys" as Paul was (although, admittedly, they were sent briefly by the Lord in the Gospels). When the tough times came to Jerusalem, though, the "sent ones" didn't go anywhere. They stayed. Because in fact, the point is not that they are sent traveling about the countryside, nor that they are sent to some kind of mystical pie in the sky "Universal Church." No. They are sent, as gifts, in the local assembly, by the Lord, to the saints, for their equipping, unto the spontaneous organic building of the Body through the functioning of every small potato member. And those same ones who have really seen God in the assembly may also be sent forth by the assembly, in coordination with their living Head, to the benefit of another assembly in another place.