Originally posted by Brother Bill:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Frogman:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> To how many men was it granted to be apostles? How many did God give to Jesus to train and send out while here on earth? How many were allowed to come to Jesus in the flesh and learn from him personally?
Your teaching continues to strain scripture.
Luke 10:1 ¶After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
Luke 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
Luke 10:17 ¶And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
Jesus was given twelve of whom he set first in the church. But scripture is pretty plain that others were also sent before him.
</font>[/QUOTE]Dallas, I'm not arguing that the 12 were the only disciples, I'm arguing that they were the only apostles. There is a difference.
The apostles were given a unique authority and were inspired to preach and write the scriptures as eye witnesses of Christ's teachings. In John 6 these are the ones that are being discussed as being given to the son by the father just as in John 17.
I don't deny that later Jesus has other disciples, so I'm really not sure where you are going with this. </font>[/QUOTE]Chapter One
Ephesians
I. Apostolic salutation (vs. 1, 2).
vs. 1: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
vs. 2: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Within this opening we find the following topics, which when taken rightly would be considered both doctrinal and practically beneficial:
personal Apostleship of Jesus wrought by the will of God
the will of God (we will not endeavor to break these down at this time, but we may find within each valid subheadings such as here we would certainly find: a. the purpose of God)
saints--showing a body called out and assembled, which body is, or would be identifiable, at Ephesus, or at any place where such a body has been called out, organized and assembled. The next clause ...and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: would show this idea of a visible and local body wherever found, where is it possible to find those of who it is said, “the faithful in Christ Jesus:” except that you see a local body of believers, obedient in doctrine, order, and polity to Christ Jesus, that is they have entered upon a mutual covenant to teach, learn and support the doctrine of God, the order of the church and the spiritual as well as when needed the physical benefit of the body of believers. In the capacity of universiality and invisibility it is impossible to recognize those who are faithful in Christ Jesus. This seems as a hard statement for us to take, but we must accept scripture as it is recorded, and the body of Christ, being a light in the world, then how are we to say such a faithful body exists, though invisible, thus being unseen; or that such a faithful body exists, though being universal, thus having as its members those who are walking according to the flesh and refuse to humble themselves beneath the doctrines and ordinances of the Church as delivered through Christ? These things do not go together and the one denies the other, the one makes the other impossible. In other words, apart from: 1) doctrine; 2) order; and 3) polity (being visible membership accepting these things in covenant); you have no Church. If the opposite of the church were true, then it is impossible to function in the world as Christ purposed His Church to function. We see this from Hebrews 1.1-2. These things being said, let us move on to the study of our scripture before us and deal further with this topic as it may arise.
saints which are at Ephesus
the faithful in Christ Jesus
In the first part of vs. 1 we find: a. Jesus Christ; next we note b. Christ Jesus; the two of these are worthy of mention as they note a difference in the relationship of the individual to Jesus; or to Christ. The first note would be found perhaps in our study of “personal apostleship” We see the language of Paul at this point refers to himself, the apostle of Jesus Christ, he later refers to “the saints and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. This is a hint to us of the relationship in the apostolic age; the contrast between those who were apostles and those who were saints and faithful. Thus first we shall deal with the office of an Apostle.
Section I: The Office of an Apostle
1. Is the calling into apostleship different than the calling into belief?
2. What constitutes this difference?
3. Are we still viewed in the mind of God through Christ as Apostles in this date of the Church Age?
An apostle is the Greek word “Apostolos” and signifies One sent forth. We find it first at Matt. 10.2 :
2Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
5These twelve Jesus sent forth,...
Here at Mattew 10 we find Jesus calling those twelve desciples; these were not the full number which Christ had following him, there on the contrary always great multitudes thronging about him whereever he would go, but these were the number he called out from the shores of the Jordan River having received the Baptism of John, which was 1) unto repentance; 2) and that they believed upon the one that was to come after John (Matt. 3.1-12). Showing first: Baptism administered upon those seeking membership in the body of the church; and that Baptism of believers only, making that today the same as that which John administered to those coming to him as well as to Jesus (Matt. 3.13-17; Mk. 1.9-11; Luke 3.21,22; cf John 1.31-34). For the question of whether or not this body gathered together by Christ constitutes the church we point you to Scripture: I Corinthians 12.28; Ephesians 2.20; 3.5; 4.11.
So then that we find this group of men are sent forth by Christ, this group received their commission at this time from Christ; Matt. 10.5 & 6: “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
This body thus had the commission--having been sent.
This body possessed the instructions giving authority of what and where to preach: Matt. 10.5-7; In verse seven we hear the authority of what to preach: “ And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (This differentiates this sending forth from that of the body given after the resurrection of Christ; note: here they are to go only to the Lost sheep of the house of Israel and are only authorized to preach the kingdom is at hand; That commission of the present day says to us to go into all the world and preach the gospel, which is the gospel of Grace,). We note the power is also differentiated; note Matt. 10.8 “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” In Matt. 28.18: “ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” In Mark 16 we find this same body, except for Judas Iscariot also given this commission in verses 15-18; a careful study of these will show us that sending forth of the twelve at Matthew 10 differed from that of the commission after the resurrection of Christ to that same body. In the first we recognize the offer to Israel of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven, as that king was now in their presence and the power of that kingdom was now being manifest among them, at Matt. 28 and Mark 16 we note the same power is either mentioned, or promised; however the command is to go into all the world. Further at Luke 24.46-49 we see the same command to preach among all nations, and the promise of the “power from up on high.” Here we see the Baptism of the church promised and at Acts 2, the day of Pentecost we witness the fulfillment of that promise, here we see the requirement of being witnesses of these things to be upon these men in order that they receive these “powers of ‘signs following’ in order that they might go into all the world and through the Spirit which dwelt in them, and in that body collectively after Pentecost, fulfill the commission of Christ to His Church.
The word apostle is used of Christ at Heb. 3.1, as he is one sent forth of the Father, then it is only right for him to be the first and lead apostle. Elsewhere, however, the word is used of those of whom Jesus called and sent forth during his ministry on earth, Paul is called to Apostleship by the risen and glorified Lord Acts 9, 22, 26. Of Barnabas we see the designation of Apostleship by the Holy Spirit Acts 13, 14, and 15. Of Matthias, who is chosen by lot to take the place of Judas Iscariot. Acts 1.16-26, though chosen by lots, and numbered among the eleven, this not without the authority of the Lord as will be seen by any who read these verses with care.
The simple and plain sense of 'apostle' is one sent. Now, it is true that after the death of Christ the definition also became one who witnessed the Resurrected Christ Jesus. This would have been true of Paul (the Damascus Road); the choice of Matthias another example, he must have been present with the others when Christ appeared to them.
Yet, apostle remains one sent. You are correct in that disciples are different, a disciple is plainly a student.
Yet, your distinction continues to make an elite group that our Lord has set first in the church for the purpose of establishing and organizing that church; the signs following were given in order that the testimony they gave would be supported by the power of God.
Bro Dallas
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