I CORINTHIANS 12:28

 Q:  “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets...” Does that mean that the church today should appoint apostles?

There are three possible interpretations here:

The first one uses the word “apostles” to refer to The Twelve and Judas' replacement Matthias (and possibly Paul). This is the usage of the word throughout the Synoptic Gospels and the first part of Acts. If so, then “first” may be an indication of either importance or chronology such as in the parallel passage Ephesians 2:19-20: “...the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.” According to this understanding, this office does not apply to the church today.

However, the same Greek word, apostolos, is applied in the Epistles and in the second half of Acts to Paul (Romans 1:1, 11:13; I Cor. 15:9, etc.), Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25), Andronicus (Romans 16:7) and Junia (Romans 16:7). The last one is especially interesting since it is a woman's name. Thus, “apostle” may have a broader definition referring to some designated church office which could conceivably be valid for today's church.

Lastly, Paul may have been using the word according to the original meaning of the word – “messenger, or one sent forth.” This last possibility is the understanding of apostolos in John 13:16 and II Corinthians 8:23 and explains how the author of Hebrews could even call Jesus an apostle (Hebrews 3:1). Whether or not God sends only particular people out as a messengers (or apostles) today is not clear.