Mike Focht 5/15/2026
There is quite a bit of debate about this spiritual gift. Maybe more than any of the other spiritual gifts save tongues or miracles. There are those who say that there are no more apostles—no modern or continuing gift of apostleship. There was the twelve and Paul and that was it. No one can meet the requirements given to replace Judas as laid out in Acts 1:21-22 and no one has the present authority to write Scripture.
I understand these concerns. I also understand the abuses those who say these things are working to protect us from. I just don’t see any biblical authority to say those concerns negate the spiritual gift of apostleship. There is not a single verse in all of Scripture that clearly states that the spiritual gift of apostleship is no longer granted to the Church of Jesus Christ. All the gifts of the Spirit, as mentioned through the Scripture, are still available for God’s people.
Paul stated this truth very clearly. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). The spiritual gifts Paul mentioned, including apostleship, as well as the others referenced in other Scriptures are all given by Jesus Christ Himself to His Church until the full maturity of the church is established in Christ Himself. All spiritual gifts are given to God’s people for all the church age.
It is also important to notice that the way Scriptures speak about apostles doesn’t guard apostleship the same way modern commentators tend to speak about it. Let me give a few reasons why I believe the gift of apostleship is still given to the church today (but not the weird abusive versions of false apostles which are also still around!).
First, the Scriptures clearly take for granted that the gift is continuing for the church. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles (1 Cor. 12:29)? Paul is clearly asking rhetorical questions. If we say the gift of apostleship is over then the gift of teaching must be over too.
Second, Paul’s warning to the Corinthians about false apostles (2 Cor. 11:13) and Jesus’ commendation to the Ephesian church for rejecting false apostles (Rev. 2:2), directly assumes an apostolic continuance. Why not reject all apostles if the only legitimate apostles were the original twelve? Why would those warnings be written for the church of all ages if it only applied to the days of the original twelve?
Third, the Bible clearly states that other men were apostles beyond the original twelve and Paul. There is no qualifying of the gift for fears of abuse despite the reality of false apostles and apostolic abuses in the days of the early church! The other apostles mentioned in Scripture are men who clearly didn’t fulfill the qualifications laid down in Acts 1:21-22 but are still named apostles: James (1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19); Barnabas (Acts 14:14); Apollos (1 Cor. 4:6-9); Timothy and Silas (1 Thess. 1:1+2:6); and possibly Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25).
Fourth, people fear that modern apostles would have to possess the authority to add to Scripture. That is a false assumption. The Scriptures were not all written by apostles. Luke, Mark, Jude, and possibly the writer of Hebrews were not apostles. Maybe they had prophetic gifts, but they were clearly not apostles. Also, all the original apostles didn’t write Scripture. In fact, most didn’t.
Fifth, a continuation of apostolic gifting doesn’t mean that the original twelve were not unique. It is an abuse to claim “apostolic succession” in the sense that modern apostles are the same as the original twelve. The divine principles of diversity in spiritual gifts as stated in Rom. 12:6 and 1 Cor. 12:4-6 are still true of the apostolic gifts as well.
Only the original twelve and Paul helped to lay the foundation of the Church and were directly commissioned by Christ to do so. Only they were eyewitnesses and live recipients of Jesus life and teachings. Only the twelve were apostles appointed before Pentecost. Only the original twelve were promised thrones (Mt. 19:28) and have their names in the heavenly foundation stones of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:14). The original twelve and Paul were unique as apostles not just because they were apostles.
In this manner, some differentiate between the “office” and the “gift” as in Acts 1:20+25. Judas’ office was filled and the eleven in Acts 1:26 are again the twelve in Acts 6:2. All this to say that it remains clear that Jesus Christ Himself sent out the original twelve—plus Paul as a unique addition—to lay the foundation of the Church (Eph. 2:20 + 3:5). No other apostle could ever claim that place which was obvious to the first and second generation of apostles. We don’t have to toss the modern gift out to keep the original twelve unique. The Scriptures do not, so we must not.
What does all this mean for the gift of apostleship today? Modern apostles, “sent ones” or “messengers,” are those who continue to build on the original foundation of Jesus Christ. They don’t add anything to it. It is already laid. They simply continue the work that Christ began through the power of His Spirit. G. Campbell Morgan, in his book The Ministry of the Word writes: “In the simplest sense of the word then, an Apostle is one who is rigorously set apart, in order to go on an embassy on behalf of the One who separates him.”
The Holy Spirit still gifts some with an apostolic gift of ministry when God knows a man is needed to be His messenger to build or rebuild on the foundation the original apostles laid. I believe men like Augustine, Luther, Count Zinzendorf, Whitefield, Wesley, William Carey, and Chuck Smith are examples of men with apostolic gifts. They were men who were sent to revive the message of God’s truth, gospel, and the sufficiency of His Word in His Church. We don’t get many of them because we don’t need many of them. But when God has to send a specific type of messenger to His Church, He still gives an apostolic gift for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.