Probably A Person With An Apostolic Point Of View
So who is called to “teach” this apostolic teaching today? Self proclaimed apostles who use to be bishops, or prophets who now claimed a “higher calling”, or senior pastors of huge megachurches or networks of independent churches? I am leery of titles in the hierarchal structure in today’s church. I cringed when on web site there was Apostle Dr. So-in-so and his wife Prophetess Dr. So-in-so. At the top of their hierarchal local church structure they both boasted higher educational degrees and titles to validate their superiority among their peers. They appeared to be super Christians.
The five fold is for every believer to believe in the supernatural invading and dissecting their natural world. It is not for super Christians seeking labels and positions. Even the disciples fought among themselves at who would sit on Jesus left and right in the kingdom, totally missing the whole kingdom of god principles Jesus was teaching them. When the Holy Spirit came, and they allowed the Holy Spirit to be their teacher, they began to understand and live these principals as apostles, becoming the foundation of the Church. This foundational teaching is called the “apostles’ teaching.”
An apostle sees “the big picture”, loves to put things in order, and loves to “release” people and their giftings to further the kingdom of god. His teaching must reflect the big picture, a message that is universal to “the whole body” not just for sects within the body like is in Christianity today. His teaching must reflect the divine order set forth by Jesus in all its simplicity, his mission in life recorded in the Old and New Testaments, his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and ruling at the right hand of the Father. His teachings must also reflect a goal of “equipping the saints for works of service” but then “releasing them in their gifting” to further the kingdom.
I personally do not believe an apostle has to be a paid clergy. An “apostle” is not a profession with a hierarchal job description. It is not a person with the most “seniority” in a local or regional body of believers. It is a person, a common believer in Jesus Christ, who has the point of view of seeing the whole Church, the body of Christ, and a passion to release people already in that body to further the kingdom of god and set things in order for the return of Jesus Christ to a bride that is without spot or wrinkle. The five fold are “spot” and “wrinkle” removers under the watchful eye of the apostle who “sees over” what the Holy Spirit is doing and follows that leading.
So who is called to “teach” this apostolic teaching today? Like the gospel, the answer is simple: the apostle! An apostle sees the universality of the Church, the power and influence of the Church working out its salvation corporately, being the Bride, preparing itself for its Groom, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, while “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit is doing individually in the passions of the evangelist, pastor/shepherd, teacher, and prophet to bring corporate unity through the Holy Spirit and the Cross of Jesus Christ.
If there is ever a day the Church needs apostles, it is today, for only through them and their teaching will we no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ. Eph. 4:14-15