What is an Apostle?
Wellspring Church’s Claims of Restored Apostolic Authority
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Apostles Are Sent by Christ: The New Testament describes apostles as people commissioned to proclaim the gospel, bear witness to Jesus Christ, and build up His Church.
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The Latter Rain Restoration of Apostles: The Latter Rain movement emphasized the restoration of apostles and prophets, with some branches treating apostleship as a governing office carrying special authority.
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The Teaching of the Apostles: Norman James claimed to be an apostle, raising the question of whether his distinctive teachings reflect the gospel and the teachings proclaimed by the New Testament apostles.
Introduction
The word apostle occupies an important place in the New Testament. Jesus chose twelve apostles, Paul played a central role in the establishment of the early Church, and the apostles' teaching became foundational to Christianity.
Throughout church history, Christians have recognized the unique significance of the apostles. But what exactly was an apostle? What were apostles sent to do, what authority did they possess, and what does their example teach us about spiritual leadership?
These questions are especially relevant to churches influenced by the Latter Rain movement, which emerged in 1948 and emphasized the restoration of apostles, prophets, spiritual gifts, and New Testament church order.
Wellspring Church inherited this restorationist emphasis through its historical connection to Bethesda Missionary Temple. Its founder, Norman James, identified himself as an apostle and taught within a theological framework that placed considerable importance on apostolic ministry and spiritual authority.
Although Wellspring Church has since undergone significant leadership changes and is now governed by a board of elders, the question of apostleship remains relevant. Norman James's ministry shaped the church's theological identity, and his recognition as an apostle has historically contributed to the authority attributed to his teachings.
A church may move beyond the leadership of a particular apostle while continuing to regard his teachings as part of an authoritative apostolic foundation. This raises an important question: Does recognizing someone as an apostle give his interpretations of Scripture special authority, even after his personal leadership has ended?
What Does the Word Apostle Mean?
The English word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos, meaning someone who is sent, a messenger, or a commissioned representative.
The word itself emphasizes a person who has been sent on behalf of another. The authority of that person depends upon who commissioned him and the purpose for which he was sent.
In Hebrews 3:1, Jesus Himself is called the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Christ was sent by the Father to accomplish the work of redemption.
Jesus, in turn, commissioned His disciples.
In Mark 3:14, Jesus appointed the Twelve so that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach.
Later, following His resurrection, Jesus instructed His followers to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them to observe His commandments (Matthew 28:18–20).
The apostles were therefore not simply men who occupied prominent religious positions. They were commissioned by Jesus Christ for a particular mission.
Their identity as apostles was inseparable from the One who sent them and the message they were entrusted to proclaim.
The Original Apostles Were Witnesses of Jesus Christ
Not every person described as an apostle in the New Testament necessarily possessed the same commission or authority as the original Twelve and Paul.
The New Testament places particular emphasis on the apostles' relationship to Jesus and their witness to His resurrection.
When the disciples sought a replacement for Judas Iscariot, Peter explained that the person chosen must have accompanied Jesus' ministry and become a witness to His resurrection (Acts 1:21–22).
These qualifications demonstrate the unique historical role of the Twelve.
They were witnesses of Jesus' earthly ministry, His death, and His resurrection. Their testimony established the historical foundation of the Christian faith.
The Apostle Paul was not one of the original Twelve. Nevertheless, he understood his apostleship as a commission received directly from the risen Christ.
In Galatians 1:1, Paul identified himself as an apostle appointed not by human authority, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father.
He also appealed to his encounter with the risen Lord when defending his apostleship (1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8–10).
Paul's apostleship was therefore grounded in a particular encounter and commission from Christ, rather than recognition by an existing religious institution.
The New Testament also uses the word apostle in a broader sense. Barnabas is described as an apostle alongside Paul in Acts 14:14, while Epaphroditus is called a messenger of the Philippian church in Philippians 2:25, using the same Greek word.
These examples demonstrate that the term can describe different kinds of commissioned messengers.
Apostleship and the Latter Rain Movement
The Latter Rain movement emerged in 1948 with a strong emphasis on the restoration of New Testament spiritual gifts, ministries, and church order.
Among its distinctive emphases was the belief that God was restoring apostles and prophets to the Church.
This emphasis drew upon passages such as 1 Corinthians 12:28, where Paul writes that God appointed "first apostles, second prophets, third teachers," and Ephesians 4:11, which identifies apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers among the ministries Christ gave to His Church.
Within some branches of the Latter Rain movement, apostleship came to be understood as a governing office carrying special authority, with apostles occupying a prominent position in the spiritual order.
Yet while these passages recognize an order and distinction among ministries, they do not explicitly establish a hierarchy of personal spiritual rank in which apostles exercise dominion over believers or possess unquestionable authority over doctrine. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul emphasizes the interdependence of the members of Christ's body, while Ephesians 4 describes the purpose of ministry as equipping believers and building up the Church.
The New Testament recognizes the unique authority of the apostles, but it does not present apostleship as a position of personal supremacy over the faith of other Christians.
Bethesda Missionary Temple became an influential center of Latter Rain teaching, and Wellspring Church later inherited this restorationist tradition through its founder, Norman James.
Norman James identified himself as an apostle. But what did that mean? Did his role consist primarily of proclaiming Christ, establishing a congregation, and strengthening believers? Or did his claimed office also confer special authority upon his theological interpretations and direction of church members?
These questions are particularly significant because Wellspring taught a distinctive system of requirements for entrance into the new covenant, which can be traced directly to the earlier teachings of Patricia Beall Gruits and James Lee Beall at Bethesda Missionary Temple.
Recognizing Norman James as an apostle does not establish that his doctrines were taught by the original apostles or are supported by the New Testament.
Jesus Rejected Leadership Based on Personal Greatness
The disciples themselves struggled with questions of authority, recognition, and position.
In Matthew 20:20–28, the mother of James and John approached Jesus with a request that her sons receive places of honor in His kingdom.
The other disciples became indignant.
Jesus responded by contrasting the exercise of authority among earthly rulers with the kind of leadership He expected from His followers. "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you." (Matthew 20:25–26)
He continued by teaching that whoever would be great among them must become a servant.
Jesus did not deny that leadership and authority would exist among His followers. Rather, He redefined how greatness and authority were to be understood.
In His kingdom, spiritual leadership was not to become a means of elevating oneself above others.
The example was Christ Himself, who came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).
This teaching provides an essential standard for understanding apostleship.
The authority of an apostle cannot be separated from the servant leadership that Jesus required of His disciples.
What Authority Did the Apostles Possess?
The New Testament plainly teaches that the apostles possessed genuine authority.
The earliest believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching (Acts 2:42). The apostles instructed churches, corrected false teaching, addressed disputes, and established patterns of Christian life.
Paul could speak firmly when confronting serious doctrinal and moral problems within the churches.
In 2 Corinthians 10:8, he acknowledged the authority the Lord had given him, while explaining that its purpose was to build up believers rather than tear them down.
This was not merely the authority of a persuasive teacher. The original apostles held a unique commission in establishing the Church and bearing authoritative witness to Christ.
Ephesians 2:20 describes the Church as built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
But the existence of apostolic authority does not mean that authority was unlimited or exercised independently of Christ.
Paul described the nature of his relationship with believers in particularly striking terms:
"Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy." (2 Corinthians 1:24)
Paul recognized his responsibility to teach, correct, and strengthen the Church. Yet he explicitly distinguished this responsibility from exercising dominion over the faith of other Christians.
The apostles possessed authority to proclaim and defend the gospel entrusted to them. They did not possess independent authority to replace Christ as the object of believers' faith.
Were the Apostles Beyond Correction?
The New Testament does not present the apostles as personally infallible or incapable of error.
In Galatians 2:11–14, Paul recounts confronting Peter publicly because Peter's conduct had become inconsistent with the truth of the gospel.
Peter was one of the original Twelve. He had been personally commissioned by Jesus and was a prominent leader in the early Church.
Nevertheless, his standing as an apostle did not place his conduct beyond correction.
Even more striking is Paul's warning in Galatians 1:8.
Paul declared that even if he himself, or an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel contrary to the one already proclaimed, that message must be rejected.
Paul was not encouraging believers to treat apostolic teaching lightly. He was emphasizing that the gospel was not subject to alteration, even by someone claiming extraordinary spiritual authority.
This establishes an important principle.
The truth of the gospel does not depend upon the personal status of the person proclaiming it.
In Acts 17:11, the Bereans were commended because they received Paul's message eagerly while examining the Scriptures to determine whether his teaching was true.
The New Testament therefore presents both a high regard for genuine apostolic teaching and a responsibility to examine religious claims carefully.
Recognizing spiritual authority does not eliminate the Christian's responsibility for biblical discernment.
Does the New Testament Teach That Apostles Continue Today?
Christians have different understandings of whether the office of apostle continues in the Church.
Some Protestant traditions regard the foundational apostolic office as unique to those personally commissioned by the risen Christ. Others believe apostolic ministry continues through missionary work, church planting, and the establishment of congregations.
Still others, including certain Pentecostal and restorationist movements, believe Christ continues to appoint apostles as a distinct ministry within His Church.
Ephesians 4:11–13 is central to this discussion, describing apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers given by Christ to equip believers and build up His body.
Christians disagree about whether these ministries continue in the same form today. But the passage identifies their purpose as the equipping and maturing of believers in Christ.
Even if one accepts that apostolic ministry continues today, that belief does not by itself establish that a modern apostle possesses the same foundational doctrinal authority as the Twelve and Paul.
Believing that apostles continue today is not the same as believing they have the authority to establish doctrines that Christians must accept in order to be born again and enter the Kingdom of God.
When Apostolic Authority Becomes Spiritual Dependence
There is an important difference between respecting a spiritual leader and becoming dependent upon that leader's authority for one's standing before God.
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul addressed divisions that had developed among believers who identified themselves with prominent Christian leaders. Some claimed allegiance to Paul, others to Apollos, and others to Cephas, or Peter.
Paul rejected this way of thinking. He explained that these ministers were servants through whom the Corinthians had come to believe, while God Himself gave the growth (1 Corinthians 3:5–7).
The significance of Christian ministry must never obscure the central place of Christ. The purpose of spiritual leadership is to build up believers in Him, not to create a community whose spiritual identity depends upon allegiance to a particular minister.
A problem arises when a minister's claimed authority becomes the primary reason his interpretation of Scripture must be accepted. The reasoning can become circular: a leader's teachings establish his apostolic authority, and his claimed apostolic authority is then used to place those teachings beyond question.
In such a system, questioning an interpretation may be treated as questioning God's authority rather than as an effort to understand Scripture faithfully.
The New Testament does not teach that recognizing someone as an apostle relieves Christians of their responsibility to examine doctrine, or that faithfulness to Christ requires allegiance to a particular human ministry.
Summary
The New Testament presents apostles as people commissioned by Jesus Christ to proclaim His gospel, bear witness to His resurrection, and build up His Church.
The original apostles possessed genuine spiritual authority and held a unique foundational role in the Church. Yet Jesus taught that leadership among His followers was to be characterized by humility and service rather than personal greatness or dominion over others.
The Latter Rain movement emphasized the restoration of apostles and prophets, and some branches came to regard apostleship as a governing office carrying special spiritual authority. The New Testament, however, does not present apostleship as a position of personal supremacy over the faith of other Christians.
Norman James identified himself as an apostle, and his teachings became foundational to Wellspring Church's theological identity. But recognition of his claimed apostolic office does not, by itself, establish that his distinctive doctrines reflect the teachings of the original apostles.
The authority of a Christian leader does not establish the truth of his teachings. Every doctrine must be examined against Scripture, regardless of the office or spiritual authority claimed by the person who teaches it.
Ultimately, the question is not simply whether Norman James was an apostle, but whether his ministry and teachings faithfully reflected Jesus Christ and the gospel proclaimed by the New Testament apostles.