The term "Apostolic" -- How old is it?
 

How long has the term "Apostolic" been used to describe the Oneness and Acts 2:38 message? Since the beginning?

I ask this because, as it appears from my area, many churches didn't start using the term until the late 1990s and early 2000s. Many elders in some of these churches still refer to themselves or the doctrine as "Holiness" or simply "Pentecostal", and they rarely (if ever) use the term "Apostolic".

The grandmother of my home church (who passed some 20+ years ago) never called herself anything but "Holiness", or so the stories go. The church my mother used to go to (and the one I attended with her regularly) used the terms "Holiness" and "Pentecostal" interchangeably.

So, is the term "Apostolic" (the way we use it anyway) relatively modern?

Re: The term "Apostolic" -- How old is it?
 

The term Apostolic was used by the early church fathers such as Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 AD) and others.

Irenaeus wrote "Against Heresies"

Re: The term "Apostolic" -- How old is it?
 

Word History and Origins

Origin of apostolic

First recorded in 1540–50; from Late Latin apostolicus, from Greek apostolikós, from apóstol(os) apostle + -ikos -ic

See: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/apostolic

Re: The term "Apostolic" -- How old is it?
 

Good question.

Here is a hint for the early 1900s.

Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aposto...n_Christ_Jesus

The Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus (AAFCJ) is a Oneness Pentecostal denomination in the United States. It was founded in 1925 and incorporated in California on March 15, 1930, and is currently headquartered in Fontana, California. ... Juan Navarro, a participant of that revival, baptized Francisco Llorente in 1912, who later was elected the first Bishop President of the Apostolic Assembly when it formed in 1925

Re: The term "Apostolic" -- How old is it?
 

I am 73 years old, and the church of my youth was named Apostolic Faith Tabernacle.

Re: The term "Apostolic" -- How old is it?
 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Apostolic

Re: The term "Apostolic" -- How old is it?
 

:thumbsup