Page 308 - Bible Writers Theology Original

292 ♦ BS)le waters'Theology Chapter Nine
1
Apostle
The twelve apostles of Christ, witnesses of His death and resurrection, and the apostle Paul were the first to be ordained by Him to preach the gospel and establish the doctrine, ''once delivered unto the saints." (See Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:18-20; Matthew 16:13-19; Matthew 13:11; Luke 10:16; Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:2-8; 9:15-16; 26:16-18; Galatians 1:8-12; Romans
11:13;Colossians 1:1; I John 4:6; Jude 3; Revelation 21:14.)
Paul was also aware of a wider category of apostles, "apostles or mes sengers of the church," as he calls them. He too was aware of the dangers they represent (H Corinthians 8:23; Philippians 2:25; Galatians 1:19; I Thessalonians 2:6; Romans 16:7). Unsupervised in their teaching, they could go astray doctrinally or ethically, and could involve whole local churches in
their weaknesses. Some of these men are probably those whom he had in mind when he was defending his apostleship. (See II Corinthians 11:5,13- 15; 12:11.)
The book of Revelation knows and denounces this wider circle of apos tles (Revelation 2:2). Christ still holds the divine prerogative to send forth His chosen vessels to new fields of labor (Matthew 9:37-38; Revelation 3:7-8;
Isaiah 66:18-21).
2 Prophet
Godstilluses,theofficeofaprophetintheNewTestamentChurch. The gift of prophecy can app^ently .be received by the believers who earnestly look for it (I Corinthians 14:1), and can be given to a member of the body of Christ by "the Spirit as He will". However, to prove the perfection of the prophecy it has to be used in the Church approved by two or three witness
es that have the same Spirit with the same message (I Corinthians 12:4-30; cf. Acts 2:18; Acts 21:9).
However, this differs from the special ministry of the prophet. God uses them to communicate special messages to His people. We find a certain Agabus who fulfilled this function in the early Church. (See Acts 13:1-3;
11:28; 21:10-11; Luke 1:67-79; Matthew 11:7-14; Matthew 17:9-13; Acts 1:15; Ephesians 2:20.)
3 Evangelist
Who were theevangelists oftheearly Church? Itisobvious thattheapos tles primarily played this role. The essential qualifications of the twelve apostles of Jesus were that they had been with Him, and that He sent them forth to preach (Mark 3:14; Acts 10:39-42). They were apparently given a trial