Sunday, March 14, 2021

Apostles and Prophets? Part 3

 In this article I'm shifting the focus to a couple other "office gifts" briefly.

In Ephesians 4:11 we are given 5 "office gifts" to the Body - apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. We are fimiliar with the latter three because they are common place in the local congregation. Yet, what about aposltes and prophets? I plan to embark on that in this article.

To begin with, back during the Reformation a new theological term emerged - cessastionalism. 

Cessationism is a Protestant doctrine that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing ceased with the Apostolic Age. Reformers such as John Calvin originated this view. 

In constrast to cessationism is the doctrine of continuationism - the Christian theological belief that the spiritual gifts have continued to the present age, such as tongues and prophecy. Continuationism arose in opposition to cessationism.

Historically, the Catholic, Methodist, Moravian, and Pentecostal traditions of Christianity have preached continuationism while Dispensationalist and the confessional Reformed and Presbyterian traditions have been cessationist.

As already noted, cessationism is a doctrine of Protestant Christianity. Prior to the Protestant Reformation, there was no such doctrine. It came into being due to miracles in the Catholic Church that John Calvin opposed to. The argument was that, as the gifts of the Spirit must have necessarily ceased at the end of the Apostolic Age, it followed that the claims of miracles and healings should be met with skepticism and could not be used as a sign of God's favour.

Although initial statements of this doctrine held that the miracles and gifts of the Spirit ended with the Apostolic Age, this was soon modified to a view that the gifts faded away over the first three centuries of the Church. Writing in 1918, Benjamin Warfield reasserted the view that the gifts ceased with the death of the last of the apostles, arguing that only the apostles could confer the gifts upon other Christians.

In truth, four types of cessationism doctrines have immerged, which are as follows:

1) Full Cessationists believe that all miracles have ceased, along with any miraculous gifts.

2) Classical Cessationists assert that the miraculous gifts such as prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues ceased with the apostles. However, they do believe that God occasionally works in supernatural ways today.

3) Consistent Cessationists believe that not only were the miraculous gifts only for the establishment of the first-century church, but the need for apostles and prophets also ceased.

4) Concentric Cessationists believe that the miraculous gifts have indeed ceased in the mainstream church and evangelized areas, but may appear in unreached areas as an aid to spreading the Gospel. 

The focus of this article is on the third group - Consistent Cessationists which claim that the need for apostles and prophets has ceased - a fairly recent doctrine as noted above.

Eph. 4:11-14

 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Spiritual gifts were/are given to the Body of Christ to profit the entire Body (12:7). The various gifts are noted in such chapters as Ephesians 4, Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12. 

It is also noted that these gifts where distributed throughout the Body as it pleased God (1 Cor. 12:6, 11, 24). 

That these gifts were/are given for the care of each member of His Body (1 Cor. 12:25, 1 Pet. 4:10), that God may be glorified (1 Pet. 4:11), and His Body may be built up in maturity (1 Cor. 14:12). A good example of this building up is found in Eph. 4:11-16:

In verses 12-13 we see why the ministry gifts were given: " "

1) for the perfecting (equipping, katartismos, S#2677), of the saints (holy ones);
2) for the work of the ministry;
3) for the edifying (building up, spiritual growth) of the body of Christ;
4) until we ALL come into the unity (agreement) of the faith;
5) and of the correct and precise knowledge (epignosis, S#1922) of the Son of God;
6) unto a perfect man (mature, full grown, teleois, S#5046);
7) unto the measure (measuring instrument, standard or rule) of the stature (the attaining of (maturity)) the fulness (completeness) of Christ;
8) that we are not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine;
9) but speaking the truth in love - may (once again emphasized) grow up into Him in ALL things;
10) that the whole Body (and again), may increase, grow, unto the (and again), edifying (building up) of the Body in love.

Who would say that all of this is accomplished or has been accomplished? No one in their right mind! LOL Therefore, if ALL of these things have not occurred, then how could apostles and prophets no longer be needed, as some say, these ministry gifts are no more, when Scripture itself tell us that God gave all of these ministry gifts until the "10 points" listed above have occurred? It's like someone is calling God a liar, or have taken away from His Word, or that they have been deceived which warned about in verse 14.

While it's true that there are no longer apostles in the mold and purpose of the original for the building of the foundation of God's spiritual house, even Scripture itself shows us that there were other apostles (sent out delegates, and messengers) in the first century even as we still have our "sent out delegates" which are often referred to as missionaries today. So to say that the ministry gift of the apostle is not employed through the Body of Christ today is false.

Now, the seemly more difficult ministry gift is that of the prophet. Yet, what has always been the prophet's role in God's kingdom? Their main concern was the spiritual life and purity of God's people. So, how is the spiritual life and purity of the Body of Christ today? For those who profess that the role of the prophet is no longer needed or that God caused this role to cease has missed the big picture as noted in the "10 points", that the role of the prophet is needed until those conditions have been met and we can agree that the Body has not grown into the full maturity of it's Head Jesus Christ.

Some will argue that the gift of prophecy does not exist today because the cannon of Scripture has been completed (which is a relatively new doctrine, "sola scriptura", with its roots in the Reformation). They say that when one speaks prophetically that it is Spirit inspired and is equal in authority to the written Word of God. Therefore, this speaking gift cannot not function today because it would be adding to the cannon of Scripture which is complete according to their interpretation of 1 Cor. 13:10. Yet, we know there were many unnamed prophets in the OT and their words are not in Scripture. We know the prophet Micaiah prophesied more than once to king Ahab (2 Chr. 18:7), those prophecies, being inspired by God, are not found recorded anywhere. 

Even in the NT there were people with the gift of prophecy. 1 Cor. 14 deals with people which have this gift and how it should be used. Plus, Philip had four daughters with the gift. Yet, are any of these Spirit inspired prophetic messages recorded in Scripture? No. Does that mean that they were not inspired by God and in fact they where deceivers with a false gift? Again I say no! God's Word is truth and since it declares that people had these gifts, then they truly did. What is in error then is our understanding or doctrine that every spoken inspired Word of God is something that must be added to the Scriptures, when we know that not all, and probably most prophetic words are not recorded.

I don't want to go off down another rabbit trail, just bringing a little extra to the table to ponder.

So is the need for delegates from our congregations to share Christ and begin new assemblies still remain today? Yes.

So is there a need in the Body of Christ for the ministry of spiritual purity, righteousness and separation from the world? Yes.

Then how can one say that apostles and prophets are no longer needed and that their work has been done away with? We can't. 

Again, this is a brief article to help you see Scripture in it's true light and not according to a doctrine of man that you may have been taught. My point is not to lay out with detail the functions of the apostle or prophet, just that their role did not cease as some teach.

I challenge you to reexamine your doctrinal beliefs on the role of the apostle and prophet. Does it square with Scripture?

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