Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ

by David Francis Bacon

This brief allusion to these early authorities will be sufficient, without a prolonged investigation, to show that the meaning of “send” was not, historically, the first signification. But a still more rational ground for this opinion is found in the natural order of transition in sense, which would be followed in the later applications of the word. It is perfectly easy to see how, from this primary meaning of “fix,” or “equip,” when applied to a person, in reference to an expedition or any distant object, would insensibly originate the meaning of “send;” since, in most cases, to equip or fix out an expedition or a messenger, is to commission and send one. In this way, all the secondary meanings flow naturally from this common theme, but if the order should be inverted in respect to any one of them, the beautiful harmony of derivation would be lost at once. There is no other of the meanings of στελλω which can be thus taken as the natural source of all the rest, and shown to originate them in its various secondary applications. The meanings of “array,” “dress,” “adorn,” “take in,” &c., are all deducible from the original idea conveyed by στελλω, and are, like “send,” equally incapable of taking the rank of the primary meaning.

In tracing the minute and distant etymology of this word, it is worth noticing that the first element in στελλω is the sound st, which is at once recognized by oriental scholars as identical with the Sanscrit and Persian root st, bearing in those and in many combinations in the various languages of their stock, the idea of “fixity.” This idea is prominent in the primary meaning of στελλω given by Passow, who, in his Greek lexicon, (almost the only classical one that properly classifies and deduces the meanings of words,) gives the German word stellen as the original ground-meaning of the term before us. This is best expressed in English by “fix,” in all its vagueness of meaning, from which, in the progress of use, are deduced the various secondary senses in which στελλω is used, which here follow in order:

1. Equip, Fit out, Arrange, Prepare. In this sense it is applied to armaments, both to hosts and to individuals, and thus in reference to warlike preparations expresses nearly the idea of “Arm.” This is, it seems to me, the meaning of the word in the verse of Homer already alluded to. The passage is in the Iliad xii. 325, where Sarpedon is addressing Glaucus, and says, “If we could hope, my friend, after escaping this contest, to shun forever old age and death, I would neither myself fight among the foremost, nor prepare you for the glorious strife.” (Or as Heyne more freely renders it, hortarer, “urge,” or “incite.”) The inappropriateness of the meaning “send,” given in this place by Clark, (mitterem) and one of the scholiasts, (πεμποιμι) consists in the fact, that the hero speaking was himself to accompany or rather lead his friend into the deadly struggle, and of course could not be properly said to send him, if he went with him or before him. It was the partial consideration of this circumstance, no doubt, which led the same scholiast to offer as an additional probable meaning, that of “prepare,” “make ready,” (παρασκευαζοιμι,) as though he had some misgiving about the propriety of his first translation. For a full account of these renderings, see Heyne in loc. and Stephens’s Thesaurus sub voc. In the latter also, under the second paragraph of Στελλω, are given numerous other passages illustrating this usage, in passive and middle as well as active forms, both from Homer and later writers. In Passow’s Griechisch Wörterbuch, other useful references are given sub voc.; and in Damm is found the best account of its uses in Homer.

2. In the applications of the word in this first meaning, the idea of equipment or preparation was always immediately followed by that of future action, for the very notion of equipment or preparation implies some departure or undertaking immediately subsequent. In the transitive sense, when the subject of the verb is the instrument of preparing another person for the distant purpose, there immediately arises the signification of “send,” constituting the second branch of definition, which has been so unfortunately mistaken for the root, by all the common lexicographers. In the reflexive sense, when the subject prepares himself for the expected action, in the same manner originates, at once, the meaning “go,” which is found, therefore, the prominent secondary sense of the middle voice, and also of the active, when, as is frequent in Greek verbs, that voice assumes a reflexive force. The origin of these two definitions, apparently so incongruous with the rest and with each other, is thus made consistent and clear; and the identity of origin here shown, justifies the arrangement of them both together in this manner.

The tracing out of the other meanings of this word from the ground-meaning, would be abundantly interesting to many; but all that can be here allowed, is the discussion of precedence between the first two, here given. Those who desire to pursue the research, have most able guides in the great German lexicographers, whose materials have been useful in illustrating what is here given. For abundant references illustrating these various meanings, see H. Stephens’s Thesaurus, Scapula’s, Damm’s, Schneider’s, Passow’s, Donnegan’s, Porti’s, and Jones’s Lexicons.

The simple verb στελλω, thus superabundantly illustrated, among its numerous combinations with other words, is compounded with the preposition απο, (apo,) making the verb Αποστελλω, (apostello.) This preposition having the force of “away,” “from,” when united with a verb, generally adds to it the idea of motion off from some object. Thus αποστελλω acquires by this addition the sense of “away,” which however only gives precision and force to the meaning “send,” which belongs to the simple verb. By prefixing this preposition, the verb is always confined to the definition “send,” and the compound never bears any other of the definitions of στελλω but this. The simple verb without the prefix expresses the idea of “send” only in certain peculiar relations with other words, while the compound, limited and aided by the preposition, always implies action directed “away from” the agent to a distance, and thus conveys the primary idea of “send,” so invariably, that it is used in no passage in which this word will not express its meaning. From this compound verb thus defined, is directly formed the substantive which is the true object and end of this protracted research.

Αποστολος, (Apostolos) is derived from the preceding verb by changing the penult vowel Ε into Ο, and displacing the termination of the verb by that of the noun. The change of the penult vowel is described in the grammars as caused by its being derived from the perfect middle, which has this peculiarity in its penult. The noun preserves in all its uses the uniform sense of the verb from which it is derived, and in every instance maintains the primary idea of “a person or thing sent.” It was often used adjectively with a termination varying according to the gender of the substantive to which it referred. In this way it seems to have been used by Herodotus, who gives it the termination corresponding to the neuter, when the substantive to which it refers is in that gender. (See Porti Dictionarium Ionicum Græco Latinum.) Herodotus is the earliest author in whom I am able to discover the word, for Homer never uses the word at all, nor does any author, as far as I know, previous to the father of history. Though always preserving the primary idea of the word, he varies its meaning considerably, according as he applies it to a person or a thing. With the neuter termination αποστολον, (apostoloN,) referring to the substantive πλοιον, (ploion,) it means a “vessel sent” from place to place. In Plato, (Epistle 7,) it occurs in this connection with the substantive πλοιον expressed, which in Herodotus is only implied. For an exposition of this use of the term, see H. Stephens’s Thesaurus, (sub voc. αποστολος.) With the masculine termination, Herodotus, applying it to persons, uses it first in the sense of “messenger,” “embassador,” or “herald,” in Clio, 21, where relating that Halyattes, king of Lydia, sent a herald (κηρυξ,) to treat for a truce with the Milesians, he mentions his arrival under this synonymous term. “So the messenger (αποστολος, apostolos,) came to Miletus.” (Ὁ μεν δη αποστολος ες την Μιλητον ἦν.) In Terpsichore, 38, he uses the same term. “Aristagoras the Milesian went to Lacedæmon by ship, as embassador (or delegate) from the assembly of Ionic tyrants,” (Αποστολος εγινετο.) These two passages are the earliest Greek in which I can find this word, and it is worth noticing here, that the word in the masculine form was distinctly applied to persons, in the sense given as the primary one in the text of this book. But, still maintaining in its uses the general idea of “sent,” it was not confined, in the ever-changing usage of the flexible Greeks, to individual persons alone. In reference to its expression of the idea of “distant destination,” it was applied by later writers to naval expeditions, and in the speeches of Demosthenes, who frequently uses the word, it is entirely confined to the meaning of a “warlike expedition, fitted out and sent by sea to a distant contest.” (References to numerous passages in Demosthenes, where this term is used, may be found in Stephens’s Thesaurus, on the word.) From the fleet itself, the term was finally transferred to the naval commander sent out with it, so that in this connection it became equivalent to the modern title of “Admiral.”

Besides these political and military uses of the word, it also acquired in the later Greek a technical meaning as a legal term, and in the law-writers of the Byzantine school, it is equivalent to “letters of appeal” from the decision of a lower tribunal to a higher one. But this, as well as the two previous meanings, must be considered as mere technical and temporary usages, while the original sense of “messenger,” “herald,” “embassador,” remained in constant force long after the word had received the peculiar application which is the great object of this long investigation. Yet various as are these meanings, it should be noticed that all those which refer to persons, have this one common idea, that of “one sent to a distance to execute the commands of a higher power.” This sense is likewise preserved in that sacred meaning, which the previous inquiry has now somewhat prepared the reader as well as the writer to appreciate in its true force.

The earliest passage in the sacred records of Christianity, in which the word apostle is used, is the second verse of the tenth chapter of Matthew, where the distinct nomination of the twelve chief disciples is first mentioned. They are here called apostles, and as the term is used in connection with their being sent out on their first mission, it seems plain that the application of the name had a direct reference to this primary signification. The word, indeed, which Jesus uses in the sixteenth verse, (when he says ‘Behold! I SEND you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,’) is αποστελλω, (apostello), and when in the fifth verse, Matthew, after enumerating and naming the apostles, says “These twelve Jesus sent forth,” the past tense of the same verb is used, (απεστειλεν, apesteilen.) Mark also, in his third chapter, relating the appointment and commissioning of the twelve, uses this verb, in verse 14. “And he appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might SEND them forth to preach,” (αποστελλη, apostellé.) Luke merely mentions the name apostle, in giving the list of the twelve, in chapter 6, verse 13; and in chapter 9, verse 2, gives the verb in the same way as Matthew. The term certainly is of rare occurrence in all the gospels; those persons who are thus designated being commonly mentioned under the general title of disciple or learner, (μαθητης,) and when it is necessary to separate them from the rest of Christ’s followers, they are designated from their number “the twelve.” John never uses it in this sense, nor does Mark in giving the list, though he does in vi. 30, and the only occasion on which it is applied to the twelve by Matthew, is that of their being sent forth on their brief experimental mission through the land of Israel, to announce the approach of the Messiah’s reign. The simple reason, for this remarkable exclusion of the term from common use in the gospel story, is that only on that one occasion just mentioned, did they assume the character of apostles, or persons sent forth by a superior. This circumstance shows a beautiful justness and accuracy in the use of words by the gospel writers, who in this matter, at least, seem to have fully apprehended the true etymological force of the noble language in which they wrote. The twelve, during the whole life of Jesus, were never sent forth to proclaim their Lord’s coming, except once; but until the Ascension, they were simple learners, or disciples, (μαθηται, mathetai,) and not apostles or messengers, who had so completely learned the will of God as to be qualified to teach it to others. But immediately after the final departure of Jesus, the sacred narrative gives them the title of apostles with much uniformity, because they had now, by their ascending Lord, been solemnly commissioned in his last words, and sent forth as messengers and embassadors to “all nations.” A common reader of the New Testament must notice that, in the Acts of the Apostles, this title is the most usual one given to the chosen twelve, though even there, an occasional use is made of the collective term taken from the idea of their number. It deserves notice, however, that Luke, the author of the Acts, even in his gospel, uses this name more frequently than any other of the evangelists; and his individual preference for this word may, perhaps, have had some influence in producing its very frequent use in the second part of his narrative, though the whole number of times when it is used in his gospel is only six, whereas in Acts it occurs twenty-seven times. So that on the whole it would seem clear, that the change from the common use of the term “DISCIPLE,” in the gospels, to that of “APOSTLE,” in the history of their acts after the ascension, was made in reference to the corresponding change in the character and duties of the persons thus named.

The lexicography of the word αποστολος, (apostolos,) I arrange as follows, after a full comparison and investigation of all the standard authorities.