Apostles and Prophets

Begin With What the New Testament Actually Shows

Today, Christians are accustomed to churches led by pastors, priests, ministers, bishops, elders, or other religious leaders.

But when we open the New Testament, two titles appear repeatedly that are absent from the leadership structure of many modern Christian churches:

Apostles and prophets.

That immediately raises several questions.

Jesus Personally Chose Twelve Apostles

The Twelve were not created by later Christianity.

Jesus Himself chose them.

Luke describes Jesus praying before making the selection.

Notice the distinction.

Jesus had disciples.

From among those disciples, He selected twelve and named them apostles.

That means disciple and apostle were not simply interchangeable terms.

Many followed Jesus.

Twelve received a particular calling.

Why Twelve?

The number appears deliberate.

Ancient Israel consisted of twelve tribes.

Jesus organizes a leadership body of Twelve.

He later tells the apostles that they will sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

The selection therefore appears connected with Jesus' larger message concerning Israel and the Kingdom of God.

The Twelve were not simply twelve friends traveling with Jesus.

They had symbolic and organizational significance.

What Does “Apostle” Mean?

The Greek term translated as apostle carries the basic idea of one who is sent.

But in the New Testament, an apostle is more than a messenger delivering information.

The Twelve are commissioned representatives of Jesus Christ.

Jesus teaches them.

He sends them.

He gives them responsibilities.

And He gives them authority.

Jesus Gave the Apostles Authority

Matthew describes Jesus calling the Twelve and giving them power or authority.

They are then sent to preach, heal, and minister.

The pattern is important.

They did not simply decide one morning that they were apostles.

Jesus Gave Peter Keys

One of the most important statements concerning authority occurs after Peter declares Jesus to be the Christ.

Jesus tells Peter:

Christians disagree about exactly how Peter's authority should be understood and whether it continued through later church leaders.

But before debating succession, we should recognize what the passage itself establishes.

Jesus speaks of keys.

Authority in His Church is not presented merely as enthusiasm, education, sincerity, or popularity.

The Apostles Became Witnesses of the Resurrection

After the death and Resurrection of Jesus, the role of the apostles became even more important.

They were witnesses that Jesus had risen.

Peter's preaching in Acts repeatedly centers on that testimony.

The apostles were not merely preserving the ethical teachings of a deceased religious leader.

They were proclaiming:

Jesus Christ is alive.

That testimony became foundational to the Christian movement.

Then Judas Was Gone

Judas Iscariot had been one of the Twelve.

After betraying Jesus, Judas died.

That left eleven apostles.

At this point something happened that deserves far more attention than it often receives.

The remaining apostles did not simply say:

“There were originally twelve, but now there are eleven.”

They sought someone to fill the vacancy.

Matthias Replaced Judas

Acts 1 describes Peter addressing the assembled believers.

Candidates were considered from among those who had accompanied the disciples during Jesus' ministry.

The group prayed for divine guidance.

Matthias was selected.

Acts concludes:

Whatever conclusion we eventually reach about later apostolic succession, Acts clearly shows that the death of an apostle did not initially mean the office itself had ended.

Paul Was Also Called an Apostle

The story becomes even more interesting with Paul.

Paul was not one of the original Twelve.

He had not followed Jesus during His Galilean ministry.

In fact, Paul originally opposed the Christian movement.

Then Paul experienced what he understood as an appearance and calling from the risen Christ.

He later repeatedly identifies himself as an apostle.

Paul therefore presents apostleship as a living calling within the expanding Church, not merely an honorary title for the original companions of Jesus.

Were There Apostles Beyond the Twelve?

The New Testament uses apostolic language beyond the original list of Twelve.

Paul and Barnabas, for example, are called apostles in Acts.

This has produced discussion about whether the word always refers to the same office or can sometimes be used more broadly for commissioned messengers.

That distinction is worth examining.

But either way, apostolic ministry clearly continued after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus.

What About Prophets?

Some people associate prophets almost entirely with the Old Testament.

Moses.

Isaiah.

Jeremiah.

Ezekiel.

Elijah.

But prophets did not disappear when Jesus came.

The New Testament contains prophets too.

Jesus Spoke About Prophets

Jesus warned about false prophets.

That warning itself assumes that the concept of prophecy remained meaningful.

Jesus also lamented Jerusalem's history of rejecting prophets and spoke about messengers God continued to send.

The early Christian movement then openly describes prophets operating within the Church.

Prophets Appear in Acts

Acts records:

One of them was Agabus.

He prophesied concerning a coming famine.

Later in Acts, Agabus gives another prophetic warning concerning Paul.

These passages are important because they occur after Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension.

Antioch Had Prophets and Teachers

Acts describes the church at Antioch this way:

The passage then describes the Holy Spirit directing missionary work.

Barnabas and Saul are set apart and sent.

This is a picture of a Church expecting continuing divine guidance.

Paul Said Christ Gave Apostles and Prophets

Perhaps the most direct statement about Church organization appears in Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

This passage does not present apostles and prophets as mistakes the early Church would eventually outgrow.

Paul says Christ gave them.

Then Paul explains why.

Why Did Christ Give Them?

According to Ephesians, these ministries served several purposes.

Those purposes immediately create a question for modern Christianity.

When Was Their Work Finished?

Paul describes apostles, prophets, and other ministries continuing toward a goal.

That goal includes unity of faith and maturity in Christ.

Look at Christianity today.

Christians disagree about baptism.

They disagree about salvation.

They disagree about authority.

They disagree about Communion.

They disagree about spiritual gifts.

They disagree about church government.

They disagree about the nature of God.

They disagree about whether revelation continues.

They disagree about apostles and prophets.

That question does not by itself prove that apostles and prophets must exist today.

But it deserves an answer.

What Was the Foundation of the Church?

Paul uses another striking image in Ephesians.

Speaking to believers, he says they are members of God's household:

Christ is the chief cornerstone.

Apostles and prophets are described as part of the foundation.

Different Christian traditions interpret the continuing implications of this imagery differently.

Some argue that a foundation is laid once and does not need to be laid again.

Others emphasize that living apostles and prophets were part of the functioning Church Christ established.

Both interpretations should be examined.

Were Apostles Only for the First Century?

This is one of the major competing interpretations.

Many Christians believe the apostles had a unique foundational role.

They personally witnessed the ministry and Resurrection of Christ, received His teaching, and helped establish the Church.

Once their testimony was preserved and the apostolic message was transmitted to later generations, the office of apostle in the original sense was no longer required.

Under this view, the authority of the apostles continues primarily through their teaching preserved in Scripture.

That is a serious argument.

But it creates questions of its own.

Did Apostolic Authority Continue Through Bishops?

Catholic and Orthodox Christianity answer the continuity question differently.

They maintain that the apostolic ministry continued through bishops who succeeded the apostles in governing and teaching the Church.

Under this understanding, the Church did not lose apostolic authority when the original apostles died.

The form of leadership developed, but continuity remained.

This claim has deep historical roots and deserves serious examination.

The important question becomes:

Did Authority Disappear?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes a different claim.

It teaches that after the deaths of the apostles and the gradual loss of authorized apostolic leadership, essential priesthood authority was no longer present in its original fullness.

Under that interpretation, Christianity continued.

Believers continued.

Scripture continued.

Faith continued.

Much truth continued.

But something essential had been lost:

divinely authorized apostolic authority.

That leads to the claim that authority later had to be restored, not merely reformed.

Whether that claim is true is another question.

But first we need to determine whether the New Testament makes authority essential in the first place.

What About Prophets Today?

Christians also disagree sharply over continuing prophecy.

Some believe public revelation ended with the apostolic age and that Scripture now contains everything necessary for Christian faith.

Some charismatic and Pentecostal Christians believe gifts of prophecy continue, while distinguishing modern prophecy from the authority of biblical Scripture.

Latter-day Saints believe God continues to call prophets with authority to receive revelation for the Church.

These are very different claims.

Rather than beginning with the modern disagreement, we can begin with the biblical pattern.

Then we can ask:

When did God say He would stop speaking?

What About False Prophets?

Jesus warned that false prophets would arise.

Some people conclude that the safest response is therefore to reject anyone claiming prophetic revelation.

But notice what Jesus actually warned about.

He warned against false prophets.

A warning about counterfeit money does not prove that real money does not exist.

Likewise, the existence of false prophecy does not logically demonstrate that genuine prophecy is impossible.

Instead, it creates the need for discernment.

Does Having a Bible Eliminate the Need for Revelation?

Another argument says that apostles and prophets were necessary before the New Testament was completed, but once Christians had the Bible, continuing revelation was no longer needed.

That explanation is common in some Christian traditions.

But the Bible itself does not contain a statement saying:

“When these writings are collected into one volume, God will no longer call apostles or prophets.”

The New Testament documents were written over time and circulated among different churches before eventually being collected into the canon Christians know today.

The question therefore remains:

After all, the Bible exists because people believed God had spoken.

What Pattern Do We Actually See?

If we strip away later denominational labels and simply list the New Testament evidence, the pattern looks something like this:

That evidence does not automatically settle every later question.

But it gives us something concrete against which later Christian claims can be compared.

Then the Historical Trail Changes

During the New Testament period, apostles are clearly visible.

Then the first generation disappears.

The historical Church continues.

Bishops become increasingly prominent.

Christian writings continue.

Councils eventually address major doctrinal disputes.

Christianity spreads across the Roman world and beyond.

But the leadership structure no longer looks exactly like the one encountered at the beginning of the New Testament story.

How should that development be understood?

Three Major Explanations

Those explanations cannot simply be blended together.

They make different claims about what happened after the apostles.

So we need to follow the evidence further.

The Question Is Not Whether Good Christians Existed

This distinction is important.

Asking whether apostolic authority continued is not the same as asking whether sincere Christians continued.

History contains countless people who loved Christ, served others, studied Scripture, sacrificed, worshiped, prayed, and tried to follow God.

The question of authority is different.

That Leads to Reformation or Restoration

More than a thousand years after the apostolic era, reformers challenged doctrines and practices within Western Christianity.

They translated Scripture.

They challenged religious authority.

They called Christians back to biblical teaching.

Their influence changed history.

But if the original problem involved lost authority rather than only corrupted teaching, reform creates another question.

A person can reform an organization.

A person can rediscover a teaching.

A person can translate a Bible.

But can someone give himself authority from God?

Continue: Reformation or Restoration? →