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NASB | 1 Corinthians 12:27 ¶ Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 12:27 ¶ Now you [collectively] are Christ's body, and individually [you are] members of it [each with his own special purpose and function]. |
Subject: Prerequisite-infallibility? |
Bible Note: 2nd post CHARIS Why did not the New Testament apostles appoint successors for themselves? And how is it that God's purpose in establishing the church could be so completely frustrated (Matthew 16:18; Jude 3)? (3) The point of Ephesians 4:11-13 is that "the building up of the body of Christ" (vs. 12) will continue "until" the church is matured (vs. 13). The first-century apostles and prophets have fully "equipped" (vs. 12a) the church with the revelations given in the New Testament, combined with the Old Testament, so that all of the information the church needs to do its tasks is contained in Scripture (II Timothy 3:16-17). The Epistle of Jude also bears witness to the first-century Christian conviction that the days of the apostles and of gospel revelations were foundational and not ongoing. Jude speaks of "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). The expression "once for all" clearly indicates that the "delivery" of the faith is complete, so that we should not look for a new revelation. Indeed, the new teachings of certain persons (Jude 4) are condemned for this very reason. The way to avoid the trap of heresy, says Jude, is to "remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 17). When Jude was writing, the apostles were either a phenomenon of the past, or were fast becoming so. The apostle Peter also made it clear that he thought the apostolic period was ending in his day. II Peter appears to have been written by Peter as he awaited martyrdom. In this epistle, he does not urge his readers to look to the next apostle or apostles for leadership, but rather to remember the apostolic message after he is gone (II Peter 1:12-15). Like Jude, Peter warns of false teachers who will take advantage of the lack of apostolic presence, and "secretly introduce destructive heresies" (2:1). The solution, says Peter, is to "remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles" (3:2). They are to seek diligently to follow the teachings of the apostles, particularly Paul, despite the fact that he is often misinterpreted by "the untaught and unstable" (3:14-16). Therefore, Peter did not look for the continuation of apostolic authority, but rather for the church to follow what the departing apostles had taught. Like Jude, he does not say, "Listen to the apostles living today" (as the Mormons and other groups with apostles say), but instead urges us, "Remember what the apostles said." That the apostleship was confined to the first-century church does not necessarily mean that only the Twelve and Paul were apostles. Barnabas (Acts 14:14) was certainly an apostle, as was Silas (I Thessalonians 2:6; cf. 1:1); Andronicus and Junia may also have been apostles (Romans 16:7). That Timothy is not included as an apostle in I Thessalonians 2:6 is implied by 3:1-2, where "we" means Paul and Silas distinct from Timothy. We know that Timothy was not an apostolic eyewitness of the risen Jesus, because he was led to Christ by Paul (I Timothy 1:12; 18; II Timothy 1:2; 2:1-2). There is no reason to doubt that Barnabas, Silas, Andronicus, and Junia may not all have been among the over 500 witnesses to the resurrection of Christ (I Corinthians 15:6), and thus "apostles" in the strict sense. Finally, the word "apostle" appears to be used in the sense of a church's missionary in Philippians 2:25 (of Epaphroditus, whom Paul calls "your apostle") and II Corinthians 8:23 ("apostles of the churches"). If so, these men have neither ecclesiastical authority nor revelational gifts; they are simply missionaries. This is not the sense in which "apostle" is used by those claiming to have restored the apostleship to the church. We conclude, then, that the apostleship ended with the death of the apostles appointed by Christ Himself in the first century. With them died the authority to speak definitively for God. We should therefore reject the claims of any religious organization or teacher who claims that the office of apostle has been restored to the church. Love in CHRIST JESUS your brother RC.Scroll |