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According to the Bible's New Testament, the Apostles were the primary disciples of Jesus, the central figure in Christianity. During the life and ministry of Jesus in the first century AD, the apostles were his closest followers and became the primary teachers of the gospel message of Jesus. The word "disciple" is sometimes used interchangeably with "apostle" for instance the Gospel of John makes no distinction between the two terms. In modern usage, prominent missionaries are identified as apostles a practice which stems from the Latin equivalent of apostle, ', the source of the English word "missionary". While Christian tradition often refers to the apostles as being twelve in number, different gospel writers give different names for the same individual, and apostles mentioned in one gospel are not mentioned in another. The commissioning of the Twelve Apostles during the ministry of Jesus is recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. After his resurrection, Jesus sent eleven of them (minus Judas Iscariot, who by then had died) by the Great Commission to spread his teachings to all nations—an event referred to as the "Dispersion of the Apostles". There is also an Eastern Christian tradition derived from the Gospel of Luke of there being as many as Seventy Apostles during the time of Jesus' ministry. Prominent figures in early Christianity were often called apostles even though their ministry or mission came after the life of Jesus. The period of Early Christianity during the lifetimes of the apostles is called the Apostolic Age.〔 During the first century, the apostles established churches throughout the territories of the Roman Empire and according to tradition through the Middle East, Africa, India, and modern-day Ukraine. The apostle Paul, a Jew named Saul of Tarsus, is considered "the apostle of the Gentiles", for his missions to spread the gospel message after his conversion. Although not one of the apostles commissioned during the life of Jesus, Paul claimed a special commission from the resurrected Jesus. In his writings, the epistles to Christian churches established throughout the Levant. Paul did not restrict the term "apostle" to the Twelve, and often refers to his mentor Barnabas as an apostle.〔"Apostle." Cross, F. L., ed. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 0-19-280290-9〕 The restricted usage appears in Revelation.〔Revelation 21:14.〕 By the second century AD, association with the apostles was esteemed as an evidence of authority and such churches are known as Apostolic Sees. Paul's epistles were accepted as scripture, and two of the four gospels were associated with apostles, as were other New Testament works. Various Christian texts, such as the Didache and the Apostolic Constitutions, were attributed to the apostles. Bishops traced their lines of succession back to individual apostles, who were said to have dispersed from Jerusalem and established churches across great territories. Christian bishops have traditionally claimed authority deriving, by apostolic succession, from the Twelve.〔 Early Church Fathers who came to be associated with apostles, such as Pope Clement I with Peter the Apostle, are referred to as Apostolic Fathers. The Apostles' Creed, popular in the West, was said to have been composed by the apostles themselves. The Twelve Apostles are also called the Twelve Disciples. Several Christian and local traditions honour major missionaries as apostles—for example, Saint Patrick (AD 373–463) as "Apostle of Ireland" or Saint Boniface (680–755) as "Apostle to the Germans".〔 ==Background== The word "apostle" comes from the Greek word (''apóstolos''), formed from the prefix (''apó-'', "from") and root (''stéllō'', "I send", "I depart") and originally meaning "messenger, envoy". It has, however, a stronger sense than the word messenger, and is closer to a "delegate".〔(Coppieters, Honoré. "Apostles." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 9 Aug. 2014 )〕 The ''Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament'' argues that its Christian use translated a Jewish position known in Hebrew as the ''sheliach'' (). This ecclesiastical meaning of the word was later translated into Latin as ', the source of the English "missionary". In the New Testament, the names of the majority of the apostles are Hebrew names, although some had Greek names.〔As was not uncommon for Jews at the time, some of them had two names, one Hebrew/Aramaic and the other Greek. Hence the lists of Jesus' twelve apostles contains 14 names not 12; the 4 Greek names are Andrew, Philip, Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus. Reference: John P. Meier's ''A Marginal Jew''.〕 Even Paul, the "apostle of the Gentiles", who said that Jesus revealed himself to him only after his ascension and appointed him to his mission,〔 〕 was a Jew by birth and proud of it, although after his conversion he adopted the Roman cognomen Paulus, rendered in English as Paul, as his name. Paul claimed with much insistency this title and its rights,〔 and made his case to the Corinthian Church that he was an apostle by the evidence of God's power working through him. states that Jesus initially sent out these twelve in pairs (cf. , ) to towns in Galilee. The text states that their initial instructions were to heal the sick and drive out demons.〔 They are also instructed to "take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse, but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics", and that if any town rejects them they ought to shake the dust off their feet as they leave, a gesture which some scholars think was meant as a contemptuous threat (Miller 26). Their carrying of just a staff (Matthew and Luke say not even a staff) is sometimes given as the reason for the use by Christian bishops of a staff of office, in those denominations that believe they maintain an apostolic succession. Later in the Gospel narratives the twelve apostles are described as having been commissioned to preach the Gospel to "all the nations,"〔 〕 regardless of whether Jew or Gentile.〔cf. also , , , .〕 Paul emphasized the important role of the apostles in the church of God when he said that the household of God is "built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone". Each of the four listings of apostles in the New Testament (, , , and ) indicate that all the apostles were men. While the names vary in the four lists, the male identity is uniform. Classicist Evelyn Stagg and theologian Frank Stagg argue that this is strong evidence against Jesus viewing women and men as equals. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Apostle (Christian)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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