Is the singular word for 'apostle' only used with a definite article in Heb.3:1?

Question

Is Hebrews 3:1 the only instance in Scripture where the word 'apostle' (in the singular) is used with a definite article, eg "τὸν ἀπόστολον"?

I was trying to see if there is any Biblical support for using "apostle" as a title (not that I can see), which is when I made the observation that Paul (or any other apostle) never refers to himself as "the apostle", but only "an apostle", or one of "the apostles" (plural). The only time when "the apostle" is used in Scripture seems to be Hebrews 3:1 when it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession (Heb.3:1 [ESV])

Basically I wanted to check that logic with others who are more competent with the Greek, or have studied the question before.

Answer 1

The important grammatical fact here is English is not Greek; further, the Greek article does not function the same way as the English article. For example, here are just a very few of the many rules governing the use of the article is each language:

Situation	Greek	English
Proper Name	usually required	Never used
Title in singular	not required	Usually required
First occurrence of an important noun	Not required	Sometimes required
Subsequent occurrence of same important Noun	Required	usually required
Title of Singular entity ("Monadic")	Required	Not required

All this, again, shows that the two languages are different. The table above is only a summary of the many other rules associated with the article. It also shows that while 'apostle" is a title, in the singular, it does not need an article but would attract one if it referred to a monadic entity such as the one and only Jesus Christ.

Since Heb 3:1 is the only place in the NT that refers to Jesus with the title "apostle" it is hardly surprising that it is the only place that attracts an article because it is the only place where "apostle" is monadic.