Junia (New Testament person)
According to professor and pastor [[Gilbert Bilezikian]], the term "apostle" connotes the highest level of leadership and authority in the early church. Initially, only the original disciples (meaning "students", "learners") of Jesus were called "apostles" (meaning "those sent forth with a mission). After Jesus' resurrection, the designation was given to missionaries involved in establishing churches and who saw the resurrected Christ before his [[Ascension of Jesus|ascension]]. This included more than "five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time" and then Paul himself. After that, the appellation of apostle was extended to Christian disciples who had never seen Christ but who were pioneer missionaries, such as Apollos, Epaphroditus, Sylvanus and Timothy. The description of "apostles" as one of the three higher spiritual gifts that Christians should desire is evidence of continued accessibility to this ministry for qualified persons. They could aspire to become apostles, prophets, or teachers. Bilezikian writes that the term "apostle" was still used in this broad sense in the post-apostolic writing of the [[Didache]].
Ahmadiyya–Jewish relations
Ahmadis believe Jesus Christ was the true Jewish messiah who had been prophesied by the earlier prophets. He came to guide Jews in the period of misguidance. Jews differ from this belief and they do not believe Jesus as their messiah. Contrary to the Jewish (as well as Christian) belief that Jesus died on the cross, Ahmadi Muslims believe that he was indeed put on the cross but survived crucifixion to die a natural death after having left Judea for the east to complete his mission to the remaining Israelite tribes residing beyond it.