Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
ZNP,
The 12 are special but so are the Apostle Paul and all the little “a” apostles. If we only had the writings of the 12 for the NT there would be a pretty big difference from what we have today. God gave them as gifts to the Body for its building up.
1 Corinthians 1 “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;”
Clearly this debate started a very long time ago.
Drake
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We both agree that to resolve this issue we need to look at the NT. You have repeatedly used scripture to defend your position. Therefore we both agree that the fellowship of the Apostles is the boundary of the church.
So unless you are also claiming that there have been new revelations in scripture that are outside of the fellowship of the apostles, brought in by little a apostles, we are not disagreeing about anything.
I agree with the teaching that we still have the gift of apostles to this day, but I also agree with Igzy that you have to distinguish those from the first 12. I do not believe that scripture is still being written (except of course for the concept that the book of Acts is not finished). I also agree with Igzy that someone who is an apostle would not use such a gift as a way of boasting or exercising authority over others. There are some very troubling quotes of Witness Lee that come across as boasting and using his "position" as "the apostle" to exercise authority over others.
Finally, there is good reason why the "Jews require a sign". Their history is full of God doing signs and wonders as a testimony that it was God who was leading them. Joseph was brought to his position as the right hand man to Pharaoh due to God's signs and wonders. Moses led them out of slavery with signs and wonders. Joshua led them into the good land with signs and wonders. Therefore, if the same God is now leading them onward it makes sense He would testify of this with signs and wonders. Christ crucified is a sign and wonder, but it is also a stumbling block to the Jews. It is wisdom and power, but to the Greeks it "appears" to be foolish and weak. I think Paul's point is that this is similar to those who rejected Jesus because "can anything good come out of Nazareth". Superficially He was from Nazareth, had they only dug a little deeper and learned he was born in Bethlehem, his genealogy, the prophecies at his birth, and the other events.