The ancient Apostles were common men, and that was part of their credential.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The apostles were moved, not so much by an intellectual apprehension, as by a spiritual illumination. They met men, and the need of those men whom they met cried aloud to them.
Christ had given the apostles a world-wide commission, embracing all the nations; but intellectually they did not understand what He meant. They found that out as they followed the impulse of the Spirit.
An Apostle is a missionary, bearing testimony of the reality and divinity of Jesus Christ in all the world.
We esteem, honor, and love the apostles more than the other saints, because they served God more faithfully and because they loved Him more perfectly.
One of the earliest resurrection scenes in the Bible is that of Thomas demanding evidence - he wanted to see, to touch, to prove. Those who question and probe and debate are heirs of the apostles just as much as the most fervent of believers.
Jesus did not always like the Apostles' way of acting, but by adapting himself to their temperament, praying for them to his father, giving them a holy example of conduct, he loved them, and that love changed them.
The Savior encouraged brotherhood. He was not a long-distance leader. He walked and worked with those whom he led. He was not afraid of close friendships. He spent many hours with his disciples, and his relationships with them were intimate.
Man must be associated with his fellows.
It was my study of the two Corinthian letters that first caused me to concentrate my attention more directly on the relation of the apostle Paul to the older apostles.
If you are apostles at all, you are apostles, not of men, nor by man. Your sufficiency is of God.