G649: Apostello: To send forth with a commission

<h4>Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: </h4>

<h4>A. apostéllō and pémpō in Secular Greek.</h4>

<p>1. apostéllō is a strengthening compound of stéllō and is common in Greek for “to send forth,” differing from pémpō, which stresses the fact of sending, by its relating of sender and sent and its consequent implication of a commission, especially in Hellenistic Greek.

It thus carries the further thought of authorization, e.g., in the case of official envoys, but also divinely sent teachers. It is used in the latter sense by the Cynics and Stoics, by Irenaeus (with reference to Menander), and by Philo.</p>

<h4>B. apostéllō and pémpō in the LXX (OT) with Judaism.</h4>

<p>    apostéllō occurs over 700 times in the LXX, mostly for the root šlḥ; pémpō only some 26 times, six with no Hebrew original, apostéllō/šlḥ are mostly used where there is commissioning with a message or task. Alone they denote the sending of a special messenger with emphasis on the sender (cf. <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Isa+6%3A8">Isa. 6:8</a>), so that the messenger is a kind of plenipotentiary. The message and the one sent are of interest only as they embody the sender, no matter who the sender or the sent may be. Even those who are sent realize that the stress is on the sender (cf. <a href="http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Ge+24%3A1">Gen. 24:1ff</a>.).</p>

<h4>C. apostéllō and pémpō in the NT.</h4>

<p>    apostéllō occurs some 135 times in the NT, mostly in the Gospels and Acts. pémpō occurs some 80 times, 33 in John, five in Revelation, 22 in Luke/Acts, only four in Matthew, and one in Mark. Apart from the special use of pémpō in John, the Lucan material predominates; it prefers apostéllō, yet like Josephus can use pémpō as a synonym and has less sense of the specific nature of apostéllō. The religious character of the NT material explains the general predominance of apostéllō, and in the NT as a whole pémpō seems to be used when the stress is on the sending, apostéllō when it is on the commission, and especially (in the Synoptists) when it is God who sends.

    In John, Jesus uses apostéllō to denote his full authority, i.e., to ground his mission in God as the One who is responsible for his words and works. But he uses pémpō, e.g., in the phrase “the Father sent me,” so as to state God’s participation in his work by the act of sending. There is a slight parallel here to Cynic usage but with the distinction that the Cynics stress responsibility to God alone, whereas the point in John is the unity of will and action between Jesus and the Father. The terms as such do not shape Johannine Christology, for they are not basically or essentially theological terms. They are given their specific meaning in John by the context. The mission of Jesus acquires its significance and force from the fact that he is the Son, not from its description in terms of apostéllō.

    In the NT apostéllō certainly begins to be a theological word for “sending forth to serve God with God’s own authority,” but only in context and not with any radical departure from its normal sense.

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Abridged in One Volume.</p>