The fact that the apostles made mistakes only demonstrates that they were not superhuman—that they were truly no different than any other believer. The real issue is that they had a different spiritual gift than others. But first an examination of some of the heroes of the faith named in Hebrews 11 will establish that those who are used by God do not, as it were, walk on water at all times. Abraham, Moses and David, these men were used by God in wonderful ways, and yet Scripture records some of their errors that hindered their advancement in the spiritual life.
Abraham, the father of faith was told by the Lord that he would beget an heir and his seed would be as innumerable as the stars in the heavens. The Scriptures state that “Then he believed in the Lord, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”[1] After this declaration, Abraham became impatient waiting for Sarah to conceive. So at an advanced age, he decided to take command of the situation and have a child with Sarah’s maid, Hagar (Genesis 16). Regardless of his lack of faith in the Lord to fulfill His promise, Abraham was still used by God—he and Sarah had a son (Isaac, Genesis 21:2) and from him the nation of Israel would come forth.
Moses, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt, disobeyed God by striking the rock to obtain water instead of speaking to it as he was instructed (Numbers 20). His penalty was that he would not step into the Promised Land given to Israel (Deuteronomy 1:37) and yet God still utilized him to bring Israel to their Promised Land.
David, the greatest king of Israel, who God said was “a man after my own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, killed in battle with the hopes to cover up his sin (2 Samuel 11). David was divinely disciplined with the hostilities set against him from within his own household which was generated by the rebellion and death of his son Absalom (2 Samuel 14-18).
There is a difference in how God communicated with those who ministered to His people. During the lives of Abraham and Moses, each had direct communication with the Lord, while during David’s life, he had prophets (Samuel, Nathan) providing him with Divine communication. On the contrary, during the onset of the Church Age, He spoke directly to some (Paul in Acts 9); in dreams (Peter in Acts 10); in visions (John in Revelation 1). After Acts 9, there is no recorded instance of direct communication to any of the apostles. Any communication came by way of inspired writings (2 Timothy 3:16). And also to be noted, the apostles did not have a prophet as David and the other Kings of Israel, who had prophets that communicated the Lord’s warnings or instructions of how they were to rule His people and to correct them when they erred.
Therefore, it is essential to objectively consider how the apostles in the book of Acts carried out their responsibilities. It should be noted that in Luke’s writing of the book of Acts, he does not identify any of the apostles’ activities as error or miscalculations. This is because he did not have the office of prophet that would necessitate him to inform them of wrongdoing or error; he merely recounted the events pertaining to the early Church. Luke records them without declaring their error because it simply was not his appointed function. And as shall be seen, Paul records one example of an apostles’ error.
To begin with, Jesus instructed them in the Great Commission to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). The apostles failure to understand the extent intended is evidenced by the fact that they remained in Jerusalem a year after the giving of the Great Commission, and then only after the martyrdom of Stephen which led to the great persecution against the church in Jerusalem that scattered them “throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.”[2]
The point of contention focuses on the word ‘nations.’ By definition or usage this cannot refer exclusively to Jewish people. The Greek word used is éthnos (ἔθνος) and means a race, a nation; in the plural the nations; and as a distinction from Israel, Gentiles.[3] The translators for the New American Standard Bible translated this word the majority of the time (93 times) as ‘Gentiles’.[4]
The Greek scholar, Spiros Zodhiates writes:
In the Jewish sense, tá éthnē the nations, means the Gentile nations or the Gentiles in general as spoken of all who are not Israelites and implying idolatry and ignorance of the true God, i.e., the heathen, pagan nations…In the New Testament, éthnos generally designates a non–Jewish nation, but it is also used of the Jewish nation when referred to officially (Luke 7:5; 23:2; John 11:48f; 18:35).[5]
Nowhere in Scripture is Israel referred to in the plural as the nations. So when the apostles heard this Great Commission and the words ‘all the nations’, they had to have known its significance. There could be no mistaking: this was not the continuation, as some scholars believe, of the previous commission (Matthew 10:5ff) when our Lord stated “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles [ἔθνος], and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The Great Commission countermanded those instructions set forth in Matthew 10 and was the basis of God’s institution of the new Age of Grace.
A.T. Robertson concurs, that they were to go “Not just the Jews scattered among the Gentiles, but the Gentiles themselves in every land. And not by making Jews of them, though this point is not made plain here. It will take time for the disciples to grow into this Magna Charta of the missionary propaganda.”[6]
Which brings us to Acts 11 where Peter relates to “the apostles and brethren that were in Judea” regarding his ministering to the Gentile, Cornelius in Caesarea. He reveals how the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius “and all those who were listening to the message.”[7] He then concludes:
“Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” (Acts 11:17)
This statement alone demonstrates that Peter did not understand the full implications of the Great Commission.
Also to be noted is the apostles’ response to Peter’s account:
When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:18)
The implication seems to be that this was the first time they had heard that the Gentiles also were offered the gift of eternal life. And yet this was not the case for the fact is it was detailed in the Great Commission by our Lord, Himself.
Consider another example of an error in judgement committed by the apostle Peter. It is not found in the book of Acts, but recounted by Paul in his epistle to the Galatians (2:11ff). Paul cites Peter’s duplicity concerning his association with Gentiles in Antioch; that while “prior to the coming of certain men from James” Peter had no problem eating with the Gentiles and after these ‘certain men’ had arrived, Peter would “withdraw and hold himself aloof.” This attitude of aloofness was directed towards those Gentiles who he had associated with previously. The reason Peter reacted this way was because he feared the Judaizes who still held to the legalism of Judaism regarding relations with Gentiles. Paul further states that Peter’s hypocrisy influenced other Jews and even Barnabas.
This is not atypical of Peter—this character flaw is evidenced in the Gospels. J.B. Lightfoot explains:
But in fact St. Peter’s character, as it is drawn in the Gospels, explains every difficulty. It is at least no surprise, that he who at one moment declared himself ready to lay down his life[8] for his Lord’s sake and even drew his sword[9] in defense of his Master, and the next betrayed[10] Him with a thrice repeated denial, should have acted in this case, as we infer he acted from the combined accounts of St. Luke and St. Paul. There is the same impulsive courage followed by the same shrinking timidity.[11]
Summary
The intent of this study is not to denigrate the early apostles or to belittle their divinely appointed office. But instead its objective is to demonstrate that they were not superhuman, without the capacity for failure or error. Regarding this, they were no different than any other believer: they were saved for all eternity, the Holy Spirit indwelled within them, they each had a spiritual gift and each possessed an old sin nature. Their spiritual gift was ‘apostle’, and this gift entailed an authority over the early church. But it did not include infallibility. The only time a believer can be assured that they are under the complete control of the Holy Spirit is when they obey the command to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and stand free from unconfessed sin (1 John 1:9).
It can be concluded from the Scripture passages cited that concerning the Great Commission, the apostles either misunderstood the scope of the Great Commission—that the Gospel of Salvation extended to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews—or the fact that they were so entrenched in Jewish Pharisaical traditions that they were hesitant to fulfill the entire objective of the directives which the Lord imparted to them.
[1] Genesis 15:4-6
[2] Acts 8:1
[3] Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries: updated edition. Anaheim, CA: Foundation Publications, Inc.
[4] Ibid, Thomas. The remainder of the time it was translated as follows: nation (30), nations (37), pagans (1), people (2).
[5] Ibid, Zodhiates, G1484.
[6] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Mt 28:19). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.
[7] Acts 10:44
[8] Luke 22:33
[9] John 18:10
[10] Luke 22:54-62
[11] Lightfoot, J.B. (1999). St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, pp. 128-129