My own thoughts are that the Twelve deserved special consideration due to the fact Jesus specifically called them as the beginning ministry in Israel and extending outwards. They were specially trained and lived with Jesus so that what they reported Jesus said was accurate and reliable.
It is the same courtesy a court would give an eyewitness to a crime. There may be other witnesses, but there are "special witnesses," who have a bit more clout with the court.
This is what the Twelve were, representing Jesus' original grouping. But he certainly sent out more than just these twelve! He sent out 70 others, as well, although I don't know that we can call them "apostles."
But the term "apostle" does have a more generic, though important, application. That office remained very high, whoever had it applied to them.
And so, men, like James, the brother of Jesus, Paul, Barnabas, and others were given that dignity, due to their close association with Jesus' original plan of extending the Gospel out into the world. They were specially chosen because of their special proximity to apostolic teaching and to Jesus himself, whether personally or by revelation.
I think it's terrible to read into the "lottery" system, used to replace Judas, a false methodology that was not accepted by God. In fact, the very apostles who we are giving respect to were the very ones who accepted Matthias as one of their own!
It is terrible to try to claim Paul was the real replacement for Judas among the Twelve when nobody in the Scriptures ever said that! It is equally terrible to deny Barnabas a place among the apostles. In fact there are a number of candidates for "apostle" in the NT, and we should just accept Scripture as it is, rather than try to read malfeasance into the process.
It is the same courtesy a court would give an eyewitness to a crime. There may be other witnesses, but there are "special witnesses," who have a bit more clout with the court.
This is what the Twelve were, representing Jesus' original grouping. But he certainly sent out more than just these twelve! He sent out 70 others, as well, although I don't know that we can call them "apostles."
But the term "apostle" does have a more generic, though important, application. That office remained very high, whoever had it applied to them.
And so, men, like James, the brother of Jesus, Paul, Barnabas, and others were given that dignity, due to their close association with Jesus' original plan of extending the Gospel out into the world. They were specially chosen because of their special proximity to apostolic teaching and to Jesus himself, whether personally or by revelation.
I think it's terrible to read into the "lottery" system, used to replace Judas, a false methodology that was not accepted by God. In fact, the very apostles who we are giving respect to were the very ones who accepted Matthias as one of their own!
It is terrible to try to claim Paul was the real replacement for Judas among the Twelve when nobody in the Scriptures ever said that! It is equally terrible to deny Barnabas a place among the apostles. In fact there are a number of candidates for "apostle" in the NT, and we should just accept Scripture as it is, rather than try to read malfeasance into the process.