As while do not think the Bible states to us any function in thee office of either a OT Prophet or NT Apostle today, could we instead see them as bascially a prophet for today being a Pastor/Teacher gifted in applying biblical prophecy into todays settings, and an Apostle perhaps those such as Missionaries that God has given a region over to evangelize and appoint pastors and eldersas spiritual leadership npw?
Could we redefine the roles of the prophet and Apostle for Modern times then?
- Thread starter YeshuaFan
- Start date
Not in my opinion.
IMHO it is just a lack of correct Bible teaching.
If and when we understand the meaning of the word APOSTLE we see that the word apostle means “one who is sent out.”
From that definition of the word, the closest thing today to an apostle, in the general sense, is a missionary. A missionary is a follower of Christ who is sent out with the specific mission of proclaiming the gospel. A missionary is an ambassador of Christ to people who have not heard the good news. In a sense, all followers of Jesus Christ are called to be apostles. We are all to be His ambassadors. We are all to be “ones who are sent out”. We are all to be preachers of the good news.
But that is not where the problem lies. The problem comes because in the Pentecostal, Oneness and Holiness churches, when confronted with the Scriptures that tongues and prophesy and a word of knowledge ENDED when the Bible was completed, came up a few years ago the idea that APOSTLES still possessed the spiritual gifts of the original 12 which were and are called the "Sign Gifts". You see, they rejected what the Bible said and came up with a plan to alter what it literally says hence.........Apostles have the sign gifts.
NOW....if we refer to the word APOSTLE as pertaining to the original disciples who became the original 12 plus Paul then it has a different meaning.
The 1st defining Bible qualification of an apostle was their status as witnesses of the resurrection as seen in Acts 1:21-22.......
“…one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” NO ONE can qualify today!
Another qualification was that they were with Jesus from the beginning, accompanied Jesus, lived with Him, learning directly from Him as recorded in Lk. 6:13-16....., receiving training, and later being commissioned to spread His teachings personally.
Now, so that I am 100% clear, allow me to say......There is absolutely no biblical evidence to support such an understanding of the role of apostle today.
None have occupied the office of either Prophet nor Apostle since John passed away, but was just seeing if the modern day equivalents could be as I suggested?
NO they can not.
The only reason why this topic comes up, as I stated, is that the Pentecostals want to speak in tongues and say that God has given them a word of knowledge.
Becaause the Bible does not support that, they came up with the false teaching of Apostles and Prophets today so that they could claim those Sign Gifts!
True, as I was over a decade in the AOG as a teaching Elder, so know Pentacostal theology very well