“Why There Are No Longer Apostles?”
– Sokhen Chea, BA 3rd Grade ITCS –
In the New Testament, Jesus came to the earth for doing His ministry. During that time He had chosen twelve Apostles to serve His work and had brought them to every place wherever goes. Jesus had called for them from each different place. Many people cast a question, “Why there are no Longer Apostles? Before we discuss more, the first of all, we should understand “what is apostle?” In the New Testament. “The Apostle” is one who was called by God as “an ambassador” that we see in II Cor. 5:20. Jesus had chosen twelve Apostles who had a special relationship to Him, during his ministry on the earth.
When we collect all the connected New Testament information, at least, three experiences arise as a form to one becoming an apostle in the official intellect. First; an apostle has to be an eyewitness of the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection (Acts 1:22; 22:14; 1 Cor. 9:1). Second, an apostle is specifically selected by the Lord or the Holy Spirit (Matt.10:5; Mark 3:13-14; Luke 6:13; Acts 1:26; 9:15). Third, an apostle is invested with the ability to perform miracles (e.g., Mark 3:15; 16:17-20; Luke 9:1-2; Acts 2:43; 4:29-31).
What is the work of Apostles? Through the Bible Apostles’ work is as followings: the Apostles were commissioned by Jesus to introduce the Christian faith (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-48). Second, the Apostles have most responsibility for making the New Testament available first in spoken form and, more exactly, in written form that we can see in (I Corinthians 14:37; Galatians 1:12; Ephesians 3:3-4; I Thessalonians 5:27; II Thessalonians 2:15; 3:14; I Peter 1:12; 2 Peter 1:12-21; 3:15-16). The Apostles exactly described their roles in the early church as giving themselves to “the word of God” and “the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2, 4).
John Frame’s book, Doctrine of the Word of God tells us about Apostles as followings: “The Spirit will allow the memories of the apostle, so that they will remember Jesus’s words. Jesus as divine voice has given to his disciples teaching that is an absolutely necessary foundation for their life and ministry. The word of apostle preserves the word of Jesus. Jesus has shown the apostles things that are to come in the future. So the Spirit give them revelation about the past (the word of Jesus), the present (“all the truth”), and the future (“thing that are to come”).” I Cor. 4:1 tells us that “the apostles are the overseers of the secret of God”.
So God gave the Apostles, like the prophets of the Old Testament, the revelation in Word, which they communicated in their proclamation. In this revelation, their words are the word of God (I Thess. 2:13). So they showed the qualities of the divine voice itself: power (Rom.1:16-17), authority (Gal. 1:9), and divine presence (I Thess. 1:5). There was no decrease in any of these makings when the Word of God moved from lips of God to lips of the prophet and the Apostles.
Therefore, there are no Apostles today, because Paul declares that “He is the last of Apostle” that we can see in I Corinthians 15:8 “and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born”. Another thing, now a day as we see no person living today can meet the experiences given in Scripture for being an Apostle, no one that Christ has selected to be apostolic role. No one can do miracle like the Apostles did, anymore, and God never reveal some revelation to someone like he revealed to his apostle and no one can see and witness about Jesus resurrected and no one can did the miracle like the Apostle has been did. Jesus warned that false prophets would come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they would be ravening wolves (Matthew 7:15). Furthermore, anyone claiming to be an apostle today who teaches anything in adding to the New Testament is clearly not an apostle of Christ! No human being on the earth today can claim that he has been personally singled out and chosen by Jesus to be an Apostle.
The Bible was written by the human through the Spirit of God. The Bible is the Word of God and the Scripture has completed, it is very important in our Christian life. Without God’s word we have no relationship with Him. ‘Without his command he is not our Lord, for the Lord is by the definition one who gives authoritative promises either, so he cannot be our Savior.1
The Scripture itself tells us not to add or take away that we can see in (Deut. 4:2; 12:32; and Rev.22:18-19). John warns to everybody who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book”.
Conclusion
Through above explanation we could know more clearly about “Why there are no longer Apostles?” and we know that there are no longer Apostle because no one that Jesus appoints to be Apostle and no one can do a miracle as the Apostles of Jesus did.
Reference
a.i.1. Frame, John M. Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology. Phillipsburg: P&R, 2006.
a.i.2. Frame, John M. Doctrine of the Word of God: A Theology of Lordship. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing Company, 2006.