Apostles and Prophets

Apostles and Prophets

The Church of the living God does not need any more Apostles and Prophets than the ones that God has already sent, and the Apostles whom Christ has already appointed. The church is "built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner Stone" (Eph. 2:20). And these divine appointees were given by God "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry," and "for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12). And "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15:4).

The church today is woefully derelict from the purpose and will of God because of its failure to give the more earnest heed (Heb. 2:1-2) to these holy men who have already been sent by the Father and the Son. In the church there are already twelve Apostles, not including the one who was "born out of due time" (I Cor. 15:8), namely Paul. "In the days of His flesh" (Heb. 5:7) the Lord Jesus spent three years with the Twelve, meticulously instructing them and grooming them for the "foundation stone" positions that they would be occupying, not only in the present age, but also for eternity in the new Jerusalem. And somewhat later, in much the same way, the exalted Christ spent three years with the Apostle Paul (Gal. 1:15-18) while he was in Arabia and then in Damascus (Gal. 1:17). Paul "was not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles" (II Cor. 11:5). Paul was a unique Apostle, and was used by the exalted Savior as He used none others. As Paul declared, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 3:10-11). The foundation that Paul was given of God to lay was a foundation of instruction and understanding of "the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ" (Col. 2:2).

Paul has instructed us about things that none of the other Apostles did: justification by faith, and not by the works of the law, the struggle described in Romans 7, the old man and the new man (Ephesians, Colossians), the mystery (regarding Jew and Gentile) which had been kept secret since the world began (Rom. 16:25), the High Priesthood of Christ (Hebrews), the eternal purpose which God has purposed in Christ Jesus (Eph. 3:10-11), God's dealings with both Jews and Gentiles in relation to His eternal purpose (Rom. 9, 10, 11), our being baptized into Christ, and into the death of Christ, and being raised to walk in newness of life, the two federal heads of our race (Adam, of the old order, Christ of the new and eternal order), extended insight and understanding regarding the resurrection from the dead (I Cor. 15). For all these things, and many others we are indebted to the Apostle Paul.

We should not get hung up on the the number "twelve", wondering how Paul fits in with this number. In our judgment "twelve" is expressing the thought of completeness. And let us give diligent heed to message of Apostles and Prophets that God has already given us. To receive them, is to receive the Father and the Son. To reject them, amounts to a rejection of the Godhead. --editor@banner.org