Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
1. Apostles of the first century type cannot exist today because those established the faith and faith is already established.
2. Apostles can exist today (missionaries, church planters, major visionaries), but not of the rank of the first century.
3. We need to be careful when we designate someone an "apostle" and not by title association endow them with the same authority of the first century apostles, that is, give them some grey area to further establish the faith (read "redefine) and/or command too much authority in controlling churches, as this is the error of Lee and the LRC.
Does that make sense? Thoughts? Where am I going wrong?
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Good points. Let me add what little I know.
1. It seems to me that apostles like the "Twelve plus Paul"
(for convenience say "13") cannot exist today because only these ones were with the Lord on earth, specifically chosen by Him, trained by Him, commissioned by Him, and became eyewitnesses of His death and resurrection.
2. Whether they were of the "13" or not, did not determine whether they would write scripture or not. The Spirit was not bound by the "13" as to who would write scripture. Matthew, John, Peter, and Paul were of the "13," but Mark, Luke, James, and Jude were not of the "13." So one half of the N.T. writers were not of the "13."
3. It seems to me that the Spirit ended the canon of the N.T. with John's Revelation, not because he was the last surviving of the "13," but because it was the eternal plan of God.
4. Besides the "13," the Bible lists other apostles such as Timothy, Titus, Barnabas, and Silas. No one is saying that these ones match the "13" in stature or calling. Also, the Bible never indicates that these ones should
not be considered as apostles.
5. The Bible never says that there are
no more apostles, rather that "He gives gifts to man," and He continues to "give gifts to man." I believe that church history is filled with the accounts of these many "gifts."
6. Today the Head still gives "gifts to men ... some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some shepherds and teachers." What identifies them is their calling and their mission, not their ability to write scripture. Actually, the apostleship and the writing of scripture seem no where dependent on one another, as non-apostles wrote some scripture, and some of the "13" wrote nothing of scripture.
7. The only ones in the N.T. who could boldly claim their apostleship were the "13." None of the 1st century apostles like Timothy, Titus, Barnabas, or Silas claimed their apostleship. It was recorded as such, yet they were not "titled" as such. I believe the same should be true today. When someone calls him- (
or her-) self an "apostle," probably he (
or she) is not, yet many others are indeed apostles, given as gifts to men by the Head.
Thoughts? Objections? Improvements? Complaints? Heresies?