APOSTOLICITY 101

Don, an apostle—[special messenger appointed and commissioned and sent out] not from [any body of] men nor by or through any man, but by and through Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and God the Father, Who raised Him from among the dead—

You probably recognize this as the first verse in Paul’s epistle to the believers in the territory of Galatia. I have used my name to make a point.  Our sending out in 1968 was affirmed and confirmed by the local congregation, and by the laying on of the hands of elders (as Paul and Barnabas were sent from Antioch).  We also know what Paul understood:

When He, Who had chosen and set me apart [even] before I was born and had called me by His grace (His undeserved favor and blessing), saw fit and was pleased to reveal (unveil, disclose) His Son within me so that I might proclaim Him,