1Each of the twelve chief disciples of Jesus Christ.

The twelve Apostles were Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (the Less), Judas (or Thaddaeus), Simon, and Judas Iscariot. After the suicide of Judas Iscariot his place was taken by Matthias

1. 1.1 Any important early Christian teacher, especially St. Paul.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • In the apostolic era many women are mentioned as apostles, leaders of house churches, prophets, deacons, and so on.
   • We reject and condemn these errors and all others that contradict and contravene the above doctrine as being contrary to the pure Word of God, the writings of the holy prophets and apostles, and our Christian Creed and Confession.
   • Outside the Basilica in the piazza, gazing up at those enormous bronze statues of the apostles Peter and Paul, I could not help wondering how two simple men would feel about being cast in the mould of the institutional church.
   • I mean, God had taken me a murderer, and I feel that he's made me into a minister, just like he's done to the apostle Paul.
   • This story takes place in Jerusalem, while another story in the Apocrypha - set in Rome - tells of two jailers converted by Peter and Paul who release both apostles from prison.
   • And so, because these early apostles were open to the Spirit, Christianity came to Europe.
   • Then there was the missionary apostle represented by Paul.
   • He had to come and defend his teaching as an apostle of Jesus Christ among those churches.
   • According to tradition, in the first century the apostle Thomas evangelized the region on his way to India.
   • He would not have allowed women like Priscilla, Paul the apostle's business partner, to be called as a deacon.
   • The apostle Paul, facing the same situation, tore his robes with horror.
   • Always in the background, Barnabas enabled Paul to meet the apostles when they were too afraid to open any doors for Paul.
   • In his view, the Hebrew prophets Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the early apostles, Paul, and John, were seers - persons who saw the fullness of God's appearance.
   • So the apostle unveils Christ as Lord and unlocks the truth of Scripture, and lives a credible godly life in his ministry.
   • She, too, felt multiple calls; indeed, she felt all calls at once: ‘I feel the vocation of the warrior, the priest, the apostle, the doctor, the martyr,’ she wrote.
   • The danger of false apostles and Paul's legitimate apostolic authority are the initial concerns expressed in his Epistle to the Galatians.
   • In this spiritual and apostolic journey, St. Paul, an apostle of Gentiles, is the model for our lives.
   • Our next study takes us to visions of Christ by the apostle Paul in which he received a severe rebuke from the heavenly Lord.
   • The apostles and teachers of the church are entrusted with these tasks, and so to them Catholics should look first for guidance about how they are to live their lives.
   • In addition it carried with it the notion of Christian, papal, power, with Rome being understood as the city of the apostles Peter and Paul.
   • We're still feeling the fallout from the last time we got all excited about an archaeological link to the early apostles.
   • The apostles (‘sent ones’ / missionaries) were people who cared.
   • Significantly, the apostle Paul mentions how the ‘god of this age’ has exerted himself to blind the minds of unbelievers.
   • Meanwhile, the apostle Paul says, unambiguously, that we're justified by faith apart from words, because the whole argument of his thrust is that Christ's death on the cross looks after all of our sins.
   • Those who represent the Pentecostal movement say that missionaries function as apostles.
   • Paul, the apostle, says we are ‘new creatures’ once we have taken that step of faith..
   • There were many apostles before Paul and he declares that he is the last and the least.

   Synonyms

   disciple

   missionary, evangelist, evangelical, proselytizer, spreader of the faith, spreader of the word, preacher, teacher
2. 1.2 The first successful Christian missionary in a country or to a people.
   Kiril and Metodije, the apostles of the Slavs

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In the apostolic era many women are mentioned as apostles, leaders of house churches, prophets, deacons, and so on.
   • The apostles and teachers of the church are entrusted with these tasks, and so to them Catholics should look first for guidance about how they are to live their lives.
   • Then there was the missionary apostle represented by Paul.
   • So the apostle unveils Christ as Lord and unlocks the truth of Scripture, and lives a credible godly life in his ministry.
   • We're still feeling the fallout from the last time we got all excited about an archaeological link to the early apostles.
   • He had to come and defend his teaching as an apostle of Jesus Christ among those churches.
   • According to tradition, in the first century the apostle Thomas evangelized the region on his way to India.
   • The apostles (‘sent ones’ / missionaries) were people who cared.
   • She, too, felt multiple calls; indeed, she felt all calls at once: ‘I feel the vocation of the warrior, the priest, the apostle, the doctor, the martyr,’ she wrote.
   • We reject and condemn these errors and all others that contradict and contravene the above doctrine as being contrary to the pure Word of God, the writings of the holy prophets and apostles, and our Christian Creed and Confession.
   • Those who represent the Pentecostal movement say that missionaries function as apostles.
   • And so, because these early apostles were open to the Spirit, Christianity came to Europe.

   Synonyms

   disciple

   missionary, evangelist, evangelical, proselytizer, spreader of the faith, spreader of the word, preacher, teacher
3. 1.3 A vigorous and pioneering advocate or supporter of a particular policy, idea, or cause.
   Leo Buscaglia, leading apostle of love and okayness

   Example sentencesExamples

   • We Americans are apostles of the Fast World, the prophets of the free market and high priest of high tech.
   • The yuppie apostles of the ‘new economy’ will also be humbled by a plunging stock market.
   • Worldwide, however, the paradox of his life and works persists as even the most stringent apostles of musical progress champion his music for its harmonic invention.
   • In order to rise to power, the shrewd chieftain of the Fascists did not hesitate to play the role of the apostle of free enterprise, advocating the immediate dismantling of all forms of wartime planning of economic activities.
   • That is the point of his often quoted dictum: ‘The men of culture are the true apostles of equality.’
   • While the idea of human improvement may be implicit in notions of renaissance, he was anything but an apostle of the idea of progress.
   • Greek and Latin signified far more than our modern apostles of ‘relevance’ will allow.
   • Again, totalitarianism has an almost irresistible allure - it moves people - by reason of the emotional and essentially religious spirit which its leading apostles have infused into it.
   • It is not fashionable these days, in a world in which the apostles of the free market hold sway, to cite Karl Marx, who has long since been demonized in the cathedrals of capitalism.
   • Even the apostles of the free market believe that our impact on nature has increased dramatically in the twentieth century (they just think it does not matter).
   • He said the incident should be an eye opener to the apostles of democracy.
   • Some readers think he's a demonic force for mediocrity, others believe he's an apostle of decent design for the masses.
   • In an age of cinema that favours familiarity, remake and rehash, this director remains one of the few remaining apostles of the pioneer spirit.
   • The apostles of the New Economy declared the irrelevance of everything invented before the Internet, and of any skills other than their own.
   • We no longer have to take the apostles of the new economy the least bit seriously.
   • It suggests that the apostles of understanding are caught between two places.
   • He was an saintly apostle of peace, love and unity and a great poet.
   • You were an apostle of peace and an advocate of humanity and human dignity.
   • One was an apostle of selfless love; the other presided over the Me Decade.

   Synonyms

   advocate, apologist, proponent, exponent, promoter, propagandist, spokesperson, spokesman, spokeswoman, supporter, upholder, champion
4. 1.4 One of the twelve administrative officers of the Mormon church.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • That was when I met the grandson of M. Lyman, one of the original apostles of the Mormon church, an original pioneer in the Mormon crossing of the plains.
   • In that time twelve apostles were appointed, Smith became first president, received his revelation about plural marriages, and was killed in prison.
   • However, certainly one of his newest lieutenants, former Mormon apostle and unpredictable disciple, William Smith, did try to seize the temple.