The Signs of an Apostle

by Terry Wane Benton

The apostles of Jesus were eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus (Acts 1:13f). They had to have personally seen Jesus alive from the dead. Nobody today meets that criterion. But those Jesus chose to be sent out by Him as His personal eyewitnesses were also equipped by the Holy Spirit with miraculous power. Again, no one has these signs and power today. Paul had all the “signs” of an apostle (II Corinthians 12:13f). Not only could such eyewitnesses testify of what they saw, but could verify that God was confirming their testimony with miracles (Hebrews 2:1-4).

One “sign” of an apostle of Jesus was the power to lay their hands on others and impart Holy Spirit power to others. Peter and John displayed this “sign” in Samaria (Acts 8:13-19). Paul displayed this “sign” of an apostle in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-6). There are none who can and are doing this today! That is because the original eyewitness apostles were not for just first-century disciples, but would deliver “all truth” (John 16:13), the faith “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3-4). The original hand-selected-by-Jesus apostles are the ones we stand on for truth and judgment for all time. They left the complete testimony in the 27 books of the New Testament of Jesus Christ. We stand on that foundation (Ephesians 2:18ff).

All others who claim equal authority with those eyewitnesses are but false apostles with lying and deceptive spirits with no better-verifying credentials than Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8 ). If modern men cannot demonstrate (I Corinthians 2:2) the signs of an apostle, we have no obligation to respect anything they say (Galatians 1:6-10). Beware of false teachers!