Paul as an Apostle

Paul’s view on the role of the apostles, and on his own role as an apostle, develops in different letters. Early on, he calls himself—as well as some coworkers—“apostle.” Later, he restricts the term for himself and the twelve disciples. According to Paul, he belongs to the group of apostles because of his meeting with, and commission by, the risen Lord.

There is no uniform Pauline idea on apostles, or on his individual role as one. His letters reveal developments in his views. In 1 Thessalonians—probably the earliest letter—Paul does not refer to himself as an apostle in his greetings. The same is true of 2 Thess. Paul places himself together with Silvanus and Timothy and he predominantly uses the first person plural, portraying all three as authors and cosenders. At one time he refers to them as “apostles of Christ” (1 Thess 2:6). However, he may have been criticized for this—in later letters, he speaks of his cosenders simply as “brothers.”

In Galatians, which was probably written after 1 Thess, Paul again presents himself together with a group. This time the others are anonymous, referred to as “the brothers here,” while he calls himself an apostle already in the prescript (Gal 1:1–2). In the Letters to the Corinthians, he names the cosenders, but refers to them as brothers while calling himself apostle (2 Cor 1:1)—or “called” to be an apostle (1 Cor 1:1), similar to Jesus’ disciples. In Romans, Paul presents himself as the only sender (in contrast to all other undisputed Pauline Letters). Furthermore, he says that he is called to be an apostle (Rom 1:1), expands on his apostleship (Rom 1:5), and refers to himself as an “apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom 11:13). During his ministry, Paul thus reinterprets the role of the apostles, as well as his own role as an apostle. Paul also uses the term apostle when listing church offices and gifts (e.g., 1 Cor 12:27–31; Eph 4:11).

Paul is clear about his own status as apostle, however, even when this is disputed (e.g., 1 Cor 9:1–18). In the Letters to the Corinthians, Paul rejects the notion that an apostle is simply one who had known Jesus during His earthly ministry. He asserts that he had met the risen Lord and worked harder than the original apostles in his missionary work. He ironically calls his adversaries “super-apostles,” or more directly, “false apostles” (e.g., 2 Cor 11:5, 13). On the other hand, Paul deferentially calls himself “the least of the apostles” when he compares himself with Jesus’ disciples (1 Cor 15:9–10). At the same time, he seems to set limits to the extent of the apostles: “He appeared to me last of all” (1 Cor 15:8). Thus, while he refers to himself as the least one, he still belongs to a very exclusive group; he met the risen Lord and was commissioned by Him to go to the Gentiles (e.g., 1 Cor 9:1; Gal 1:11–17).