Apostle
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G652 names an apostle, envoy, delegate, or messenger. The New Testament applies it to the Twelve chosen and named by Jesus, to Paul as he defends his commission, to Barnabas alongside Paul, to church messengers in some passages, and uniquely to Jesus in Hebrews 3:1.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀπόστολος (G652) · Open the biblical lexicon
G652 names an apostle, envoy, delegate, or messenger. The New Testament applies it to the Twelve chosen and named by Jesus, to Paul as he defends his commission, to Barnabas alongside Paul, to church messengers in some passages, and uniquely to Jesus in Hebrews 3:1.
The BSB source-word alignment has 80 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include apostles (48), an apostle (14), apostles’ (5), apostle (3), . . . (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 10:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (28), 1 Corinthians (10), 2 Corinthians (6), Luke (6).
G652 names an apostle, envoy, delegate, or messenger. The New Testament applies it to the Twelve chosen and named by Jesus, to Paul as he defends his commission, to Barnabas alongside Paul, to church messengers in some passages, and uniquely to Jesus in Hebrews 3:1. Romans 16:7 is grammatically and interpretively debated, so the verse should not be made to settle whether Andronicus and Junia are counted among the apostles or are highly regarded by them.
The noun's sending background helps explain commissioned service, but it does not give every bearer identical authority or define a permanent church office by itself. Each passage must identify the sender, mission, audience, and scope before contemporary application.
The selected artifact attributes about 79 New Testament uses to G652. The noun can designate the Twelve, Paul and Barnabas, other commissioned messengers, and Jesus in Hebrews 3:1; the immediate context determines the role.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Matthew names the Twelve as apostles before recording Jesus' instructions for their particular mission, provision, opposition, and reception. The discourse supplies the scope of their authority.
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead—
Paul denies that his apostleship originates from or comes through a merely human source and names Jesus Christ and God the Father. His claim is autobiographical and argumentative, not a lexical rule that every use of G652 requires the same commissioning form.
Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
Paul pictures Gentile believers as members of God's household, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Christ as cornerstone. The metaphor establishes foundational importance but does not by itself resolve every later question about office or succession.
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
Hebrews directs its holy brothers and sisters to consider Jesus as the apostle and high priest of their confession, then compares His faithfulness with Moses. The paired titles belong to that argument.
When daylight came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles:
Jesus chooses twelve from the larger group of disciples and names them apostles. Luke distinguishes discipleship from this named group without making the verse a complete account of apostolic qualifications.
Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow countrymen and fellow prisoners. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
Paul honors Andronicus and Junia as fellow Jews, fellow prisoners, and earlier believers. The phrase translated 'outstanding among the apostles' can be read inclusively or as high regard from the apostles, so neither conclusion should be presented as uncontested.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. apostle
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 81 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
an apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read versean apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 7 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 79 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀπόστολος is built from this root:
Defines foundational leadership in the kingdom mission.Matthew 10:1–4
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G652 must be taught as a context-sensitive title rather than a credential readers can define from etymology alone. Matthew and Luke name the Twelve within Jesus' own choosing and mission. Galatians 1 records Paul's specific denial of a human source for his commission. Acts 14 calls Paul and Barnabas apostles, Philippians 2:25 can use the noun for a church's messenger, and Hebrews 3 applies it to Jesus within a comparison with Moses and a confession of His high priesthood.
Ephesians 2 gives apostles and prophets foundational importance, while Romans 16:7 remains debated. Contemporary mission may learn humility and accountability from sending language, but no present leader should claim the authority, scope, or immunity of a biblical apostle merely by adopting the label.
Gal.1.1
G652 belongs to the sending word family and can denote an apostle, envoy, delegate, or messenger. Word formation supports the idea of being sent, but the noun does not automatically transfer the sender's full authority or make every occurrence a technical church office. Syntax and narrative setting identify the commission.
Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other servants are sent with particular messages and tasks, providing a canonical pattern of commissioned service and accountable speech. These are thematic backgrounds rather than proof that every Old Testament envoy holds the New Testament title G652 or an identical office.