PAUL THE PIONEER?

Was Paul a pioneer?  We often think of pioneers here in America as those who moved into uninhabited places and settled there to start new farms or ranches and communities.  They could be those who landed on the east coast, and using hand tools, they built houses and tilled the land.  They also hunted and fished until they could establish livestock herds or flocks.  They could also be those who moved away from those early settlements in covered wagons to repeat what the earlier pioneers had done.

Well, Paul never wore a tricorn hat, or travelled in a covered wagon, built a log cabin, or grew crops, but he was a pioneer.

Pioneers open up new territory.  That's what Paul did for the Gospel.  But we don't call him a pioneer, and maybe we should.  Then, we might also gain a better understanding of what an apostle is in the New Testament.

Before Alexander expanded the Greek empire to the east, the Greeks had already established a commercial and cultural empire of sorts acound the Mediterranean Sea by sending out groups of people to start colonies on the islands and shores.  These groups would have a leader called an apostle.

So, apostles in the Body of Christ are pioneers.  Their job is to take the Good News of Jesus to areas where it hasn't gone before.  They are not only to proclaim the Gospel, but to make converts into disciples.  Then, when the local assemblies of disciples has grown in both size and maturity, he appoints elders and moves on to pioneer another area.

In Hebrews, Jesus is called the Apostle of our confession (3:1).  Could the Father have sent apostles before Jesus?

Abraham is a possibility.  So is Moses, and Joshua.  I'll leave it up to you to study out.

I believe apostles are needed today. Maybe not to open up new geographic areas, but demographic areas.

I don't see many apostles in action today.  Those who strut around calling themselves apostles probably aren't apostles after all.  The real apostles will be operating in areas unknown to the larger Body of Christ.