A Short Study on Apostles. By: Ronnie Smith from the Bible.
Why is it important to know the truth about apostles?
1. The church has only two offices, the pastor and deacon. The books to Timothy and Titus are pastoral Bible books that give detail to the order of the church. Throughout the New Testament we are given evidence that only two offices are set forth for the New Testament Church.
2. The words “pastor, elder, and bishop” are synonyms. Pastor is used only once in the New Testament, Eph. 4:11, and is translated “Shepherd”
Bishop is used five times, four in the singular and one in the plural. The Greek word is translated “overseer, bishopric, and visitation” in other portions of the N.T.
Elder is used extensively in the N.T. and stands alone as meaning, “a senior,”
So, the three words used to denote a “pastor,” sum up his duties, as pastor he watches over, shepherds, cares for, as a bishop he is the one who is responsible for decision making concerning the congregation, as an elder he is a mature leader with wisdom, understanding in the scripture, and able to demonstrate the utmost Christian character and conduct.
There is no distinction between a pastor, a bishop or an
elder in the scripture. They all refer to the exact same office.
Now we come to the office of an Apostle.
The N.T. teaches that there were 12 apostles only.
(Paul being the exception)
Rev. 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Acts 8:1 And
Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great
persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all
scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria,
except the apostles.
Here we have an account of “the apostles” staying behind in Jerusalem.
When Judas died, he had to be
replaced… Acts 1:26 And they
gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias;
and he was numbered with the eleven
apostles. There had to be
one more.
He had to be replaced with one who was an eyewitness of the resurrection of
Christ… Acts 1:22 …must
one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
Paul was one “born out of due time”
Paul seen Jesus 1 Cor. 9:1; Acts
26:16
1 Cor. 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
Acts 9:27 …he had seen the Lord…
Eph. 2:20; the apostles had there place in the church as
did the prophets.
To say we need prophets in these last days is to say we need to know more about
God’s plan for human kind. We can
not add to His prophecy. Prophets
had their place in the church and were used mightily.
Now we have ministers, preachers, known as pastors, elders,
and bishops.
Eph. 4:11 must be rightly divided, lining up with all other New Testament
teaching.
Take 2 Tim. 4:1
I charge thee therefore before God, and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing
and his kingdom;
This verse is divided into two parts.
We know from studying all of the New Testament that there are two
judgments. The judgment seat of
Christ and the Great white throne.
“Judge the quick, living, at his appearing, and then the dead at His kingdom.
The New Testament has several examples of this.
Read 2 Peter
3:16 tells us that some scriptures are hard to understand, but we shouldn’t
wrest, or torture ourselves over these, we should study to show ourselves
approved.
In conclusion: There is no doubt from reading the entire New Testament that God gave us teachers. We are warned in James 3:1 not to take instructors, “masters” lightly. The word masters here is translated teachers in other portions of scripture. We see that the teachers of the Word will have a greater condemnation, damnation, judgement.
The Bible
clearly teaches a need for a pastor, bishop, elder, but never an Apostle.