The primary idea or ground-meaning which runs through all the secondary significations, and is distinctly recognizable in all their various applications, is as has already been remarked, that of “one sent forth,” referring either to persons or things, but more commonly to persons. These secondary meanings being all directly derived from the ground-stock, and not by a repetition of transformations in sense, it is hard to settle any order of precedence among them; which might be easily done if a distinct gradation could be traced, as in the definition of most words. I have chosen to follow what seems to be the historical order of application, as already traced, although several very high authorities give a different arrangement. I. _A messenger, herald, embassador_; a _person_ sent with a message. This is the use made of the term by Herodotus, above quoted, and being thus historically the earliest, as well as flowing naturally from the ground-meaning, may therefore justly hold the first place. And when other variable meanings had been lost in the revolutions of usage, this retained its place, being applied to many different persons whose offices included the idea of being sent abroad by commission from a higher power. Under this meaning is most justly included that peculiar Christian use of the word, which is the object of this investigation, and under this head therefore I rank all the New Testament usages of αποστολος. 1. It is used in the simple sense here given, with the first primary idea conveyed by the term. There is no Greek sentence extant which refers so forcibly to the ground-meaning as that in John’s gospel, xiii. 16; where the words in the common English translation are “_he that is sent_,” though in the original Greek the word is αποστολος, which might be more justly translated “messenger,” in order to make a difference in English corresponding to that in Greek, between αποστολος and πεμψας, (_pempsas_,) without giving the same word “_send_” for two different words in Greek. Still the common translation gives the true meaning of each word, though not so simply and gracefully just, as it might be if the difference of terms in the two members of the sentence was kept up in English. In this same general sense of “messenger,” or “any person sent,” it is used in 2 Corinthians viii. 23, (in common English translation “messenger,”) and in Philippians ii. 25, (common translation “messenger.”) 2. It is used to designate persons directly sent by God to men, and in this sense is frequently given to us in connection with “_prophet_,” as in Luke xi. 49; Ephesians iii. 5; Revelation xviii. 20. In this sense also it is applied to Jesus, in Hebrews iii. 1, 3. It is used as the title of several classes of persons, employed by Jesus in propagating the gospel. These are [1] the twelve chief disciples, commonly