F4F | Apostles 101

Fighting for the Faith

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:15

Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Rosebrough. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

00:20

This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. So, we needed an episode.

00:29

Let me put it this way. When I look across the catalog of episodes that we've done here at Fighting for the

00:35

Faith, and it's an extensive catalog, because not only is it the YouTube channel, it previously was a five -day -a -week podcast that I used to do.

00:45

And so, across the catalog of things like this, I've noticed that I've needed, and I need it.

00:51

It's like a tool, like a hammer. It's like a hammer or a wrench. I need an episode in my catalog that deals specifically with the correct teaching regarding apostles.

01:01

So, this episode is Apostles 101. So, the idea here is that in untwisting the false teaching regarding apostles within the

01:12

New Apostolic Reformation, before I do any debunking work, I need a standalone episode that actually deals with how do we understand apostles?

01:20

Have you noticed when you read your Bible, it says that Barnabas is an apostle? Hmm. What do we make of the

01:27

Apostle Paul? Isn't the Apostle Paul a different kind of apostle than the 12? Hmm.

01:33

And so, there's a lot of, well, bad teaching out there. So, this episode is simply dedicated to doing

01:41

Bible study. We're going to actually kind of work this all out. So, let me do this. I'm going to whirl up the desktop.

01:49

And unfortunately, you can't see this whole photograph. So, let me show you what that photograph is.

01:54

I just recently took this in another episode of Whorefrost in Minnesota. And that's the whole photograph right there.

02:02

That's the whole composition. Love it. By the way, some of you have been asking, will you be making any of your photos available for sale anytime in the near future?

02:10

Yes, that's coming very shortly, by the way, very shortly. Just want to keep that in mind. So, I finally feel comfortable selling some of my photos again.

02:21

So, as a theologian, I have a lot of confidence. As an artist, not so much.

02:28

Okay. So, there are times when I feel like I'm doing okay as an artist. And other times I sit there and go, no, it's all terrible.

02:34

It's all garbage. Just throw it all away. And then I realized that's an overreaction. So, letting you into my mind.

02:42

So, yeah. So, this is, I love this. By the way, that's Radium, Minnesota.

02:48

That's actually Radium itself. And if you were to look on a map and it has like a pin drop, this is where it'll take you.

02:54

So, it's a grain elevator. And that Whorefrost was just beautiful. Loved using the railroad tracks as leading lines.

03:02

And that day, that was a beautiful day to be out shooting. Just saying. Anyway, that's not why we came here.

03:08

So, let me close that down. And what we're going to do is we're going to whirl up the

03:13

Bible. This is where we're going to spend our time today. And in the Bible, we're going to note,

03:18

I'm going to look for Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 4. Now, you're probably familiar with arguments that go something like this.

03:26

And let me kind of walk you through the basic argument. Ephesians 4, it says, and I'll put a little context.

03:33

In saying that he ascended, what does it mean that he also descended in the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is the one who ascended far above all the heavens so that he might fill all things.

03:42

And he, Christ, he gave the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists and the shepherds and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the

04:02

Son of God to mature manhood. So, the way the general argument goes in the NAR, it says, see, here we are, we're supposed to have apostles and prophets until Jesus returns.

04:14

And I sit there and go, uh -huh, we do. We've had them the whole time. Now, let me put it this way.

04:21

I have apostles. You know what their names are? Matthew, John, Peter, Paul.

04:29

Okay. I have prophets. Their names are like Isaiah, Malachi, Amos, Zephaniah.

04:35

Do any of these names sound familiar? I've got prophets. And so, you'll note that the church has the teachings of the apostles and the prophets, which is the reason why in scripture it says that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

04:50

Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. But when we talk about apostles in the New Apostolic Reformation, and here's where it gets interesting, is that for all their talk of their belief in continuationism, that we've always had apostles and prophets, they can't actually point to any.

05:08

And at least from the death of the apostle John until recently, there were no real apostles or prophets.

05:18

I was in the during the time when they claimed that God had restored prophets. And it's

05:23

C. Peter Wagner, read his books on this. He claims that God restored governing apostles to the church in the year 2001, which means they were missing for a long, long, long time.

05:39

So, we're gonna work this all out. What does it mean? What kind of apostles are governing apostles in the scripture?

05:45

This is where we're going to focus. And are there any governing apostles today? Answer, no, but yes,

05:52

I'll explain. So, all that being said, let's do a little bit of work here. So, we're going to know the

05:58

Greek word for apostles is the Greek word apostolos.

06:04

Now, that's way too small. And here's where we're going to make an important distinction.

06:11

So, in the word apostolos, there are two primary meanings. It can be a messenger with extraordinary status, a delegate, an envoy, a messenger.

06:23

Sorry, it can be a messenger without extraordinary status, okay? Or it can be a messenger with extraordinary status.

06:31

That's kind of the important distinction. And apostles are always sent by someone.

06:37

So, an apostle is one who is sent. So, they're sent by churches or governing bodies.

06:43

I always like to use this analogy. Back in 2022, the

06:49

American Association of Lutheran Churches, which is the church body I'm a pastor in, my congregation,

06:57

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church in Oslo, Minnesota, don't you know, that congregation sent two delegates to the national convention.

07:05

One of them was me. I'm the pastor there, so I'm automatically a delegate representing

07:11

Kongsvinger. And one of them was a delegate who was voted on, and it happened to be my wife.

07:17

She was voted by the church council to be the delegate at that convention for Kongsvinger Lutheran Church.

07:24

We had two votes. And here's the thing. In that particular case, because my wife had the authority of the church,

07:30

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, she was acting as an apostle. She was acting as an apostle.

07:36

She was sent by Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, and she can vote on behalf of the entire congregation as the apostle, the emissary, the envoy of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church.

07:47

And she dispensed her duties as the apostle of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church wonderfully.

07:53

But here's the thing. She was, at that time, an envoy without extraordinary status.

08:01

She was of the garden variety type. Okay? So, when we look at the word apostles in the

08:07

New Testament, we have to make a distinction. Is the person being spoken of a messenger without extraordinary status?

08:15

Are they... or are they one with extraordinary status? That's your difference.

08:20

And the question is, who sent them? And that's always going to be the big distinguishing mark.

08:26

So, what we're going to do here, I'm going to pull this up. Hang on a second here. I'm going to go to my keynote.

08:32

And so, that being the case, we're going to note that in the scriptures, okay, messengers without extraordinary status, these can be like missionaries or delegates or things like this, messengers with extraordinary status, especially of God's messengers or envoys, that in the

08:47

New Testament, there are the 12 apostles. And we're going to use this term very narrowly, okay?

08:54

The term apostle of Jesus Christ. And what we mean by that is that they are capable, they have extraordinary status, and they are capable of speaking with the exact...

09:05

the same authority as Jesus himself, okay? Now, in the church,

09:10

I don't have that authority, you don't have that authority, few had that authority. And we'll note when we look at the New Testament, that's going to include the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, the 12, and also the

09:21

Apostle Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ sent to the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul was one of these fellows who had extraordinary status.

09:31

And although Barnabas is mentioned as an apostle, he did not have the same status as Paul.

09:38

In fact, let me see if I can whirl this up in my Bible here. I'm going to look for Acts...

09:44

let's see here. I've got too many things opened, I think. Let's see here,

09:50

Acts 9, Ephesians... let's see, what did I do with it? Here we go, this is it. All right. Okay. In Acts chapter 14,

09:57

Acts chapter 14, it says this, but when the apostles, plural, Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments rushing out into the crowd, crying out, men, men, why?

10:08

That's from the account. But notice here, it says that Barnabas is an apostle.

10:14

What are we to make of that? Well, it's actually quite simple. Barnabas is an apostle in the same way that ordinary apostles are apostles.

10:23

He's not an apostle in the same way that Paul is an apostle, nor is he an apostle in the same way that Peter is an apostle.

10:31

He's truly an apostle, probably sent by a church.

10:36

He's an apostle of a church, sent by a church to do missionary work. This is one of the reasons why there are some church bodies who refer to missionaries as apostles.

10:46

So, if we were to look at it this way, and hang on a second here, I'm going to grab something here. Barnabas, the traveling companion of the apostle

10:56

Paul, he wrote a letter. It's called the Epistle of Barnabas, written in 70

11:01

AD. And you'll notice it's not in your Bible. You know why? Because Barnabas wasn't an apostle with extraordinary status.

11:11

He couldn't write scripture. As a result of it, this epistle lies outside of the

11:17

New Testament. It's an interesting epistle, for sure. I find it to be helpful on several things, but it's clearly not, how shall

11:26

I say it, inerrant. It is errant. He has some great ideas in here, but it doesn't rise to the level of scripture.

11:35

So, that being the case, that makes the apostle Barnabas an apostle without extraordinary status, whereas the apostle

11:43

Paul is one with extraordinary status. Now, let me explain how this extraordinary status works. And I'm going to reference a book.

11:50

This is a book called Redemptive History and the New Testament Scriptures by Herman Ritterbos. And this quote from him is super helpful.

12:00

And let me just kind of read this out, so we can understand how extraordinary authority works.

12:06

The material authority of the canonical writings originates in the history of redemption, because in that history, the unique work of Jesus Christ himself comes to light in Christ, the one sent by the

12:20

Father. Jesus is the one sent by the Father. He's the apostle of the Father himself, okay?

12:26

And the unique son of God, and so the bearer of divine authority. God can be said to have revealed himself as canon over against the world.

12:36

But the material authority of the New Testament originates in the history of redemption in another respect, for the communication and the transmission of what has been seen and heard in the fullness of time.

12:48

Christ established a formal authority structure to be the source and the standard for all future preaching of the gospel.

12:57

Now, pay attention to that sentence. Jesus set this up in such a way, there's an actual authority structure that would then determine what can be preached moving forward.

13:08

Remember, the apostle Paul says the job of a pastor is to what? Preach the word.

13:15

Okay. The word is, well, that's going to include the New Testament, okay? So, all pastors are bound to preach these words, and this authority comes from the fact that the scriptures were apostolic, and I'll explain here.

13:32

So, okay. So, Christ established a formal authority structure to be the source and standard of all future preaching of the gospel.

13:38

From the beginning of his public ministry, we see Jesus' intent on sharing his own power, his exousia, with others so that this authority would take visible, tangible shape for the foundation and the extension of the church on earth.

13:53

In that connection, the apostolate in particular should be noted. Jesus surrounded himself with 12 disciples, whom he appointed that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.

14:08

And we are not able to examine every facet of this apostolate here, but we can establish that the apostles' role in the history of redemption was unique and unrepeatable, because they not only received revelation, but were also the bearers and the organs of revelation.

14:28

Their primary and most important task was to function as the foundation of the church. To that revelation,

14:34

Christ binds his church for all time. So, you'll note, as a pastor, I'm bound by the apostolic preaching.

14:41

I'm bound by the New Testament. I can only preach what's in there. I can't preach my own opinions, right? So, Christ binds his church for all time.

14:48

Upon it, he founds and builds his church. The special significance of the apostolate in the divine plan of redemption is shown in many ways in the

14:56

New Testament. The apostles are said to have been taken into the redemptive counsel of God about the sending of his son.

15:05

According to Acts 10 41, Peter said that from out of an entire nation,

15:10

God chose certain people, i .e., the apostles, to be witnesses to Jesus's resurrection.

15:16

And in that way, the apostolate was actually a part of God's redemptive activity in the fullness of time.

15:22

Next part of the quote, Peter describes the significance of the apostolate in the history of redemption in more detail in Acts 10.

15:30

According to Peter, the apostles are to give an authoritative and exclusive testimony in the world.

15:36

They are to vouch for the truth and the significance of Christ's redemptive acts.

15:42

The uniqueness of the apostolic office is also displayed in the expression,

15:48

Apostle of Jesus Christ. And this is a phrase that we got to pay attention to. Recent research has shown that the formal structure of the apostolate was derived from the

15:59

Jewish legal system, where one person could be given the legal power to represent another person.

16:06

The representative who had such power of attorney was called a shaliach, an apostle.

16:14

That's the Hebrew word for apostle, shaliach. And so unique was his relationship to the one he represented, that the shaliach was regarded as that person himself.

16:24

Therefore, to receive an apostle was to receive the person who sent him.

16:30

Jesus applied this formal structure to his apostles when he said, he who receives you receives me, and he who receives me, the one who sent me.

16:43

In another place, Jesus said, as the father has sent me, I also am sending you.

16:49

That's John 20, 21. Thus, in an entirely unique and exclusive sense, Christ entrusted the gospel of the kingdom to the apostles because he commissioned and empowered them to represent him.

17:03

They were his instruments and organs in the continuation of revelation. They share in the mission of Christ himself, and together with him, they constitute the rock, the foundation, and the pillars of the church.

17:18

So, the idea then here is that when we talk about an apostle with extraordinary status, when it comes to the apostles of Jesus Christ, we're going to use that phrase, apostles of Jesus Christ, those who have extraordinary status with that title, that when you do business with them, you're doing business with Jesus himself.

17:40

As the father has sent me, so I am sending you. The one who hears you hears me, and the one who hears me hears the one who sent me.

17:49

That's how the apostolate works, okay? So, you have to, in order to understand the extraordinary status of apostles, they are ones that can legitimately say, the

18:01

Lord says this, and what they say is a command of the

18:06

Lord. I'll demonstrate that in just a little bit, but let's go back then here. So, when we see the apostles

18:12

Barnabas and Paul, Barnabas was not that kind of apostle. He did not have extraordinary status, and his epistle is not considered part of the

18:21

New Testament canon. So, he was sent probably by a church, okay, as a missionary, okay?

18:29

So, we've taken a look, but let me remind you what we just read. Jesus says in Matthew 10, 40, whoever receives you, talking to the apostles, receives me.

18:38

Whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. John 13, Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one who sends me, and whoever receives me sends the one who sent me.

18:48

This is all this kind of a hierarchy, and the apostles are unique in this way, very, very unique, all right?

18:56

Now, let's see here. It was in this passage that we need to take into consideration a few things.

19:02

In fact, let me come back around to here, and we're going to note there's another thing here.

19:09

So, there are three indispensable characteristics, biblically, of apostles of Jesus Christ, and by that we mean those with governing authority who speak for Christ, okay?

19:25

Number one, they are eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Christ. Number two, they are directly appointed by Jesus himself.

19:35

And number three, they have the ability to confirm their apostleship by miraculous signs, okay?

19:43

That's your three things that we're going to look for. Eyewitnesses of the resurrection, directly appointed by Jesus, ability to confirm apostleship by miraculous signs.

19:53

Keep that in mind, okay? So, in Acts 1, it says, In those days Peter stood up among the brothers, the company of the persons was in all about 120, that's about all the believers that there were, said,

20:05

Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas who became a guide for those who arrested

20:12

Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness and falling headlong.

20:20

He burst open in the middle and all of his bowels gushed out and it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

20:26

And so that field was called in their own language, Akedalma, that is the field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, may his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it.

20:36

So let another then take his office. Okay? So you know that with the death of Judas, there is a vacant apostolic office.

20:48

And watch the qualifications. So when one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the

20:55

Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up, one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

21:06

And then they put forward to Joseph called Barsabbas who was called Justice and Matthias. And then they prayed and they said, you

21:14

Lord, you know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen.

21:21

Okay? Eyewitness of the resurrection is a mandatory thing because that's part of their office.

21:27

Okay? And then they leave it to Jesus, which one of the two have you chosen to take the place in this ministry and the apostleship, the office of apostle from which

21:37

Judas turned aside to go to his own place. So they cast lots for them and the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the 11 apostles.

21:47

Okay? Now, when Peter is preaching to Cornelius, he says something rather interesting. And so you'll note what he says in Acts 10.

21:55

And we, the apostles are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

22:01

They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, not to all the people, but us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

22:17

And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.

22:25

So he commanded us and he is the one who, he is the one who was appointed by God to judge the living and the dead and to him, all the prophets bear witness.

22:32

So you get the idea here is the apostle Peter is making it clear. They have a special calling, a special appointment by Christ to be the witnesses.

22:43

So you gotta be an eyewitness of the resurrection of Christ.

22:49

Now you'll know if you're familiar with your New Testament, the apostle Paul on three occasions in the book of Acts recounts how he was converted to because that is his claim to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.

23:04

And he had to defend his status as one of these, who had extraordinary status as an apostle.

23:13

He had to defend that multiple times against those who were constantly challenging whether or not he was a true apostle of Jesus Christ with the same authority as the 12, because Paul had that same authority.

23:26

So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, am I not free? Am I not an apostle?

23:32

Have I not seen the Lord, seen Jesus, our Lord, and are you not my workmanship in the

23:38

Lord? So the apostle Paul makes it clear, he is an eyewitness to the resurrection of Christ. Now he was an eyewitness to the glorified

23:44

Jesus, who knocked him off his horse, hypothetically speaking. We don't know if he was riding a horse, but knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus.

23:53

But Paul has extraordinary status, not ordinary status as an apostle. Okay? And in that regard then, let's see here, where do

24:02

I want to go? Yeah, let's talk about that extraordinary status of Paul's.

24:08

So Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15, he says,

24:14

I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel that I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word that I preached, unless you believed in vain.

24:24

And then he says, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. And we'll see, where did he receive that from?

24:31

Well, let's take a look at Galatians 1. The apostle Paul makes it clear where he got the gospel from.

24:36

In Galatians 1, verse 11, Paul says, I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

24:47

For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

24:55

So the gospel he preaches in 1 Corinthians 15 is a gospel that he got directly from Jesus.

25:04

Okay? So, for I delivered to you as of first importance, we're back to 1 Corinthians 15, what

25:10

I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12.

25:21

Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some, they have fallen asleep.

25:29

Then he appeared to James and to all the apostles, last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

25:36

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

25:44

But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not

25:52

I, but the grace of God that is with me." So note then, Paul then says these words, last of all, eschaton, okay?

26:03

De panton, last of all. These words, last of all, indicate that Paul is the last of the apostles, the last of them with extraordinary status, and that he was even untimely born.

26:21

He was born out of line. I mean, it doesn't make any sense that he was born an apostle the way he was, but he's the last of them.

26:29

There are no other apostles with this extraordinary status.

26:35

He's the last of that kind. That's really kind of the import of what he's saying, and he talks about the fact that Christ appeared also to him.

26:44

He is an eyewitness of the apostle. But if you remember, when it comes to apostles of Jesus Christ, and we're going to talk about governing apostles in the church, there are three things, eyewitnesses of the resurrection, directly appointed by Jesus, and we got that for the apostle

27:00

Paul. He was directly appointed by Jesus as an apostle to the Gentiles.

27:05

Nobody challenges that. That's true. But here's the other bit. You have to be able to confirm your apostleship by miraculous signs.

27:14

Now, as to this thing that the apostle Paul was of this special kind, the extraordinary kind of apostle, remember when it comes to apostles, you got ordinary and extraordinary.

27:23

Those are your two things, and it's based upon who's sending you. And with the extraordinary status, you can legitimately do business on behalf of the person that you represent.

27:31

You may as well be dealing with the person they represent themselves. Note Paul says this in Galatians 1,

27:38

Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the

27:45

Father who raised him from the dead and all the brothers who are with me. Paul here in the book of Galatians has to defend his apostleship, and note what he says here.

27:55

He's an apostle not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ.

28:01

He's legitimately arguing, I am not an apostle of ordinary status. I am not a representative of men.

28:09

I am not a representative of a church. I am not represented through the decision of men, but I'm an apostle through Jesus Christ and God the

28:18

Father who raised him from the dead. He is claiming here that he is an apostle with extraordinary status.

28:28

And you'll note his extraordinary status is on the same level as Peter's, because Paul writes scripture.

28:39

And have you considered then in this regard, as one who is an apostle with this extraordinary status, one who can speak on behalf of Christ, you've probably read things like this and it's gone zoom right over your head, but watch this now, okay?

28:55

In 1 Corinthians 14, and this isn't the only place this happens in 1 Corinthians, okay?

29:02

As in all the churches of the saints, Paul writes, the women should keep silent in the churches.

29:07

They're not permitted to speak, but should be in submission as the law also says. If there's anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.

29:14

It is shameful, shameful for a woman to speak in church. And then he goes on, and note the next part begins with the conjunction or, which means we're still in the same thought.

29:26

Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones that it has reached? If anyone thinks he's a prophet or thinks he's spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things

29:37

I am writing to you are a what? A command of the Lord. There's that extraordinary status.

29:48

Paul can write and say, this is a command of Jesus. Why? Because he is an apostle of Jesus Christ with that extraordinary authority, okay?

30:03

Could you imagine in one of my sermons, I just made something up and said, and the Lord is commanding you, you need to obey this thing

30:10

I'm writing or I'm saying from the pulpit. People would take me out and stone me with snowballs in Minnesota, right?

30:18

I don't have this status, okay? I don't have the status at all, but Paul literally has the authority to be able to write and say that what he is saying is a command of the

30:30

Lord, okay? So here you can see that extraordinary status in effect.

30:38

Barnabas didn't have it, although he was an apostle, he was not an apostle with extraordinary status, only ordinary.

30:44

He was an apostle from men, sent by men. He wasn't an apostle sent by Jesus Christ with the ability to be a shaliach, okay?

30:54

An emissary with that ability to, you might as well be dealing with the person himself. Barnabas didn't have that.

31:00

And so you'll know, if you know how to distinguish these things, you can then see how they come into play.

31:06

And if I'm remembering this correctly, when Paul is talking about marriage, watch what he does here, because he has to make distinctions as to when he's talking with his own opinions and when he's giving a command of the

31:20

Lord, watch this. So now concerning matters about which you wrote, it is good for man not to have sexual relations with a woman, but because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

31:31

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, likewise the wife to her husband, for the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does.

31:38

Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer, but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self -control.

31:53

Now as a concession, not a command, I say this, I wish that all were as myself, but each has his own gift from God, one of one kind, another of another.

32:06

So note here, Paul, in then discussing this matter, says, listen,

32:12

I'm saying this, this is my opinion, this is not a command.

32:18

He has to say that so that you don't sit there and go, well, the Lord has commanded me to do this.

32:23

Paul said, no, no, no, this is just my opinion. This is my commentary here. I'm not speaking with Christ's authority.

32:28

This is not a command of the Lord. Okay. So you'll note here that Paul turns off the commands of the

32:39

Lord. So then in 7 .12, to the rest, I say, I, not the Lord. So in 1

32:45

Corinthians 7, Paul has to sit there and go, okay, I'm telling you this. This isn't

32:50

Christ. This isn't a command from Christ. This is just my opinion. Okay. That if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

33:00

So he says, I am saying this, not the Lord. Note, he absolutely is acting as one who has that extraordinary status.

33:10

And it's important to note that even the Apostle Peter recognized the Apostle Paul's extraordinary status, his authority to speak for the

33:19

Lord. In 2 Peter 3, in his closing Mark, Peter says, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace and count the patience of our

33:31

Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, as he does in all of his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.

33:40

Now, there are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures.

33:50

Peter recognizes that what Paul writes is scripture, that it rises to the level of the word of Jesus, the word of the

34:01

Lord. Okay? So note, Paul had that same authority that Peter had.

34:07

Peter wrote scripture, Paul wrote scripture, Paul wrote more. And Peter acknowledges that what

34:14

Paul wrote is in fact scripture. It's the word of God. He wrote with that kind of authority, right?

34:21

So, that's kind of an important thing. And then we'll note that the apostles also had the ability to perform miracles.

34:33

That's a big part of all of this. Let's see here. Because in order to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, okay, these were confirmed by undeniable signs.

34:44

So, it says in Acts 2 .43, awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the what?

34:54

The apostles, not the grassroots ordinary Christian. They didn't have this authority. And chapter 4 verse 33, with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the

35:07

Lord Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them all. 5 .12,

35:12

now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.

35:18

And they were all together in Solomon's portico. 8 .14, now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them to Peter and John.

35:28

Signs, okay, so you'll note, signs of the true apostles were performed. This is what Paul writes in 2

35:33

Corinthians 12 .12. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

35:41

Paul can operate in the signs of the apostles. He had that same authority.

35:48

So, I think you're starting to see how this all works out.

35:53

And even in Paul's conversion story, it makes it clear that Jesus is the one who commissions

36:02

Saul of Tarsus to become the apostle to the Gentiles.

36:07

So, when we look then here, coming back, okay, that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, that's true, because the apostles spoke with the same authority as Jesus, and they can give commands and say, this is a command of the

36:26

Lord. So, their writings get collected and they become the New Testament scriptures.

36:33

So, the church is truly then built on the foundations of the apostles and the prophets. And the prophets,

36:38

I would point out to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Zechariah, you get the idea.

36:45

The church is built on the foundation of them, the apostles and the prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone.

36:51

So, when it says then this, Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry and for building up the body of Christ, okay, it is not saying that we're going to have apostles continuing no, okay,

37:08

I would say I still have apostles. Apostle Paul, no, when we read in 1

37:14

Corinthians chapter 14, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, this is scripture, and what

37:21

Paul says, it says that this is that if you're spiritual, you must acknowledge that what he is writing is a command of the

37:29

Lord, and that continues to this day. So, we have apostles who are governing us.

37:36

Paul, governing us. Peter, governing us. John, governing us.

37:43

Matthew, governing us. You get the idea here, right? Okay, these apostles are still governing us through their word.

37:51

And so, we are being equipped for particular tasks through their apostolic ministry to this day.

37:58

If you're familiar with your ecumenical creeds, it legitimately says in the ecumenical creeds that we believe in one holy

38:06

Catholic and apostolic church, which means it is a church built on the preaching and teaching of the apostles.

38:13

And as it says in Acts 2, they, the Christians, devoted themselves to what? The apostles' teaching. And so, we as Christians do as well.

38:21

So, the idea then here is that, yeah, I believe in apostles, and I believe in prophets, and they're found in the scriptures.

38:28

They are the foundation of the church. And then you'll note then that Christians, pastors, which continue to this day, they are given explicit instruction to do what?

38:40

They are to, well, as the apostle Paul says, all scriptures breathe out by God, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so the man of God may be equipped for every good work.

38:52

And what is the job then of the pastor? I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who's the judge of the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom to what?

39:01

Preach the word. Because through the word, we have the actual words of Christ, the word of God.

39:07

And the apostles, because of their extraordinary status with extraordinary authority, what they write is scripture.

39:15

And you'll note that in the Bible then, there are no qualifications given for subsequent apostles, none.

39:25

Paul makes it clear that he's the last of this kind of apostle, the apostle with extraordinary status.

39:33

So, coming back then to our keynote then, so we note then the apostle Paul and the 12, they are apostles of Jesus Christ in this governing sense, and they have these characteristics.

39:46

They're all eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were directly appointed by Jesus, and they all had the ability to confirm their apostleship by miraculous signs, and they were truly apostles with extraordinary status, so much so that they can actually say the

40:01

Lord is commanding people through the words that they write and they say. You see the difference? So, are there governing apostles today?

40:08

No, none that are on planet Earth. By the way, the apostles are still living.

40:14

Okay, God is not the God of the dead, he's the God of the living, so Peter and Paul and Matthew and John, they're still living.

40:20

They live with Christ in heaven, and their words have been recorded in the living act of word of God. And so, we are all bound to devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching because through these teachings,

40:32

Christ is teaching us, and the Father is teaching us, and pastors are only allowed to preach the word.

40:38

So, understanding rightly apostles and their function, the difference between a delegate versus one who has extraordinary status, these are important distinctions to make.

40:48

And once you get that in your mind, then you'll recognize that the claim that God restored apostles in 2001 to the church, and that we need to have governing apostles today to be faithful to the idea of having a fivefold ministry, that's baloney.

41:01

Okay? It's baloney because the apostles are still preaching and teaching to us, and they're still governing us through their written word.

41:10

So, hopefully you found this helpful. I needed to, like I said, make this video to kind of put a stake down, and if so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below.

41:19

And until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.