Apostle

An apostle (Greek: ἀπόστολος, translit. apóstolos, lit. 'one who is sent away') is a messenger and ambassador. The purpose of such "sending away" is to convey messages, and thus "messenger" is a common alternative translation. The term may be used metaphorically in various contexts, but is mostly found used specifically for early associates of the founder of a religion, who were important in spreading his teachings. The word in this sense derives from New Testament Greek and was used for the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus, as well as a wider group of Early Christian figures including Paul. Some other religions use the term for comparable figures in their history. The adjective "apostolic" is claimed as a continuing characteristic by many Christian churches, and so used far more widely, as in the Apostolic See as the official name for the Roman Catholic Papacy.

The term "apostle" is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος (apóstolos), meaning "one who is sent away", from στέλλω ("stello", "send") + από (apo, "away from"). The literal meaning in English is therefore an "", from the Latin mitto ("send") and ex ("from").

The word "apostle" has two meanings, the broader meaning of a messenger and the narrow meaning of an early Christian apostle directly linked to Jesus. The more general meaning of the word is translated into Latin as 'missio', and from this word we get 'missionary.'

According to Walter Bauer's Greek-English Lexicon of the NT "…Judaism had an office known as apostle ()". The Friberg Greek Lexicon gives a broad definition as one who is sent on a mission, a commissioned representative of a congregation, a messenger for God, a person who has the special task of founding and establishing churches. The UBS Greek Dictionary also describes an apostle broadly as a messenger. The Louw-Nida Lexicon gives a very narrow definition of a special messenger, generally restricted to the immediate followers of Jesus, or extended to some others like Paul or other early Christians active in proclaiming the gospel.

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