Corpus-Paul

[Jeff Peterson <peterson AT mail.ics.edu>]

At 6:26 PM -0400 4/14/99, Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D. wrote:
>Acts 14:4 does not explicitly say that Paul and Barnabas are "apostles." 
>It says that some people sided with "the Jews" and some with "the
>Apostles," but it does not say that "the Apostles" are P&B.  Since it
>concerns a debate about the Christian Gospel v. Jewish Torah, it makes
>equally good sense to read this as a discussion of which "side" one takes
>in the Jesus question.  P&B certainly belong on the side with "the
>apostles," but this does not mean that Luke is equating them with or
>including them in the group.
>
>If you think Luke saw Paul as an apostle, why is it that the "call
>narratives" in Acts 9, 22, & 26 never use this terminology?

It may be helpful here to recall that in first-century usage APOSTOLOS
isn't the Sunday School word that "apostle" is for us, but a term
designating an emissary; the dignity of the office varying with the dignity
of the person from whom one received one's commission; so Paul will speak
of APOSTOLOI EKKLHSIWN (2 Cor 8:23) but of himself as an APOSTOLOS XRISTOU
IHSOU (passim). Reference to Barnabas and Paul as APOSTOLOI in Acts 14 (if
textually well grounded, on which  I don't comment here) need imply nothing
more than a resumption of the narrative from Acts 13:1-3, where Barnabas
and Saul are appointed for mission by the Holy Spirit through the other
prophets and teachers of the Antiochene church.

Jeff

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Jeffrey Peterson
Institute for Christian Studies
Austin, Texas, USA
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