Apostles

zeek · 09-14-2011, 07:47 AM

The original premise of this thread is that the Bible is today's apostle. Sola scriptura (Latin ablative, "by scripture alone") is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness [Wikipedia]. One problem with that idea is that how the Bible is interpreted is as important as what the Bible says. To understand the problem, imagine that no one knows how to read. It wouldn't matter how inspired the Bible is if no one can read and understand it. Of course most people do know how to read. But reading also requires understanding. The words of the Bible are ambiguous enough to permit many interpreations. How do we know which if any are correct? If every individual makes his or her own interpretation, we are hardly in an analogous situation to that of churches under the authority of a living apostle.

The other side of the authority issue is the theory of apostolic succession. The Roman Catholic doctrine on this is the most familiar, with the Orthodox Church next. However, as I imagine most of you are aware, theories of apostolic succession abound in the denominations. Witness Lee seems to have claimed that the Lord's recovery apostolic succession was resumed beginning with Count Zinzendorf. Witness Lee did not name a successor so I take it was intention to confer apostolic authority to the "Blended Brothers." If I'm right about this, that would mean that apostolic authority is what is "blended" among them. What do you think?

09-14-2011, 07:47 AM	#11
zeek Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Florida Posts: 4,223	Re: Apostles The original premise of this thread is that the Bible is today's apostle. *Sola scriptura* (Latin ablative, "by scripture alone") is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness [Wikipedia]. One problem with that idea is that how the Bible is interpreted is as important as what the Bible says. To understand the problem, imagine that no one knows how to read. It wouldn't matter how inspired the Bible is if no one can read and understand it. Of course most people do know how to read. But reading also requires understanding. The words of the Bible are ambiguous enough to permit many interpreations. How do we know which if any are correct? If every individual makes his or her own interpretation, we are hardly in an analogous situation to that of churches under the authority of a living apostle. The other side of the authority issue is the theory of apostolic succession. The Roman Catholic doctrine on this is the most familiar, with the Orthodox Church next. However, as I imagine most of you are aware, theories of apostolic succession abound in the denominations. Witness Lee seems to have claimed that the Lord's recovery apostolic succession was resumed beginning with Count Zinzendorf. Witness Lee did not name a successor so I take it was intention to confer apostolic authority to the "Blended Brothers." If I'm right about this, that would mean that apostolic authority is what is "blended" among them. What do you think?