Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

BIBLE QUESTIONS, CHURCH

ARE THERE ANY LIVING APOSTLES TODAY? — BOB PRICHARD

During His ministry, Jesus had many men and women who followed Him. Among these were the twelve disciples (learners), whom we know as the twelve apostles. The word apostle comes from a Greek word meaning “a messenger, one who is sent forth.” Christ chose His apostles and sent them forth to carry the gospel message to the world. Although Jesus began with only twelve apostles, others became apostles, such as Matthias, who replaced Judas, and Paul, chosen by Christ. Although some claim that there is a need for apostles today, and that the apostleship is available to men today, the scriptures show that there is no one now living who can meet the qualifications, and there is no need for modern day apostles.

After Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and committed suicide, the remaining eleven apostles met to appoint a successor to Judas. Peter set out qualifications for the new apostle. “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection” (Acts 1:21-22). Certainly there is no person living today who walked with Jesus in that period from the baptism of John until His resurrection, or is an eyewitness to the resurrection.  

Paul was an exception to these qualifications, “as of one born out of due time” (1 Corinthians 15:8), but was appointed as an apostle by Christ. Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus so that he could be an apostle and an eyewitness to the resurrection. Paul referred to this when he wrote the Corinthians, “Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?” (1 Corinthians 9:1). He also referred to this requirement for the apostleship, beginning the letter to the Galatians, “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead)” (Galatians 1:1).

Jesus promised the apostles that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth (John 16:13), and told them to wait in Jerusalem to receive “power from on high” (Luke 24:49). God fulfilled this promise, as the apostles, baptized in the Holy Spirit, used their miraculous powers to preach the gospel on the day of Pentecost. According to Ephesians 4:5, there is one baptism today, which is water baptism. There will be no baptism of the Holy Spirit like what the apostles received available for modern man. Paul wrote, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12). Their miracles and signs proved that they were apostles. Only  the apostles could give the miraculous gifts to others, by the laying on of their hands. Acts 8 shows that Philip, although he personally possessed miraculous gifts, could not pass those gifts on to the people of Samaria, so it was necessary for the apostles to come to Samaria to give them spiritual gifts. The work of the apostles was to build up the church, and serve as eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ. They still serve that purpose today through the Bible, but not through any modern day apostles.

BIBLE, BIBLE QUESTIONS

CAN WE SEPARATE THE HUMAN ELEMENT FROM THE DIVINE IN SCRIPTURE? — BOB PRICHARD

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Inspiration literally means “God breathed.” All scripture, or written revelation from God, is thus “God breathed.” Peter described the inspiration of the writers of scripture, saying, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:20-21). The words, “moved by the Holy Ghost,” literally means “borne along,” as a ship is borne along by the winds.

Because God used human beings as the instruments to reveal His will to man, there is necessarily a human element involved in scripture. We see this in things such as the number of medical words found in the writings of Luke, a physician (Colossians 4:14), and in the simple Greek of John, a fisherman, as compared to the more complex Greek of Paul, a highly educated man. Even with differences in style, language, and vocabulary, they all were “moved by the Holy Ghost” to write God’s revelation. Jesus promised the apostles, “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). God was the source of Paul’s writing: “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13).

The writers could make mistakes in their personal lives. Paul did not remember all that he had baptized (1 Corinthians 9:27). He rebuked Peter for his sin (Galatians 2:11-16), and said of himself, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27). They still wrote without error, however, because of inspiration.  

God chose those who would reveal His will, even before He formed them, in the case of Jeremiah and others. “Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. … Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth” (Jeremiah 1:4-5, 9).

Scripture is not “God and man,” but “God through man.” It came from human beings borne along by the Holy Ghost, so we cannot separate the human from the divine. God inspired their very words, so that scripture is without error in faith, science, or history. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2).