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"The stewards are chosen by the king or by a prophet."

What makes someone a prophet? In the Old Testament, there is a moment of prophetic call in which God gives His spirit to the prophet. Moses encounters God in the burning bush, Isaiah's lips are cleansed by the burning coal, and Elijah even leaves his prophetic spirit on his successor, Elisha.

After the Resurrection, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. As we see in John 20, He breathes on them and says "Receive the Holy Spirit." Later, in Acts, the Apostles appoint others to carry out the work of the Church in their absence by the laying on of hands, which imparts the Holy Spirit. Likewise, in his letters, Paul speaks often of members of the faithful prophecying or speaking in tongues, and of how it ought to be used for the building up of the church.

Certainly, then, the Apostles are prophets in the New Covenant, for they have the Holy Spirit. We see them exercising their prophetic authority to see to the governance of the Church. In the first chapter of Acts, Peter calls upon the Apostles to exercise this authority to name a new Apostle to fill the place of Judas, and thus Matthias is brought into their ranks.

This is remarkable, for previously, only Jesus claimed to possess the authority to appoint the Twelve. However, after the Ascension, it is clear that the Apostles understand this authority to have been passed on to them. Why, then, should the college of the Apostles and their successors not have the authority to appoint a successor to Peter?

The Beave 1y ago

Oh!

Good points.

Jude was a traitor and should be replaced. So they did. They did not add anyone else to the rank of apostles themselves, though, the one who became Paul was also an apostle because he directly received his mission from Jesus. So, while the original 11 could choose a replacement for the traitor it was and is Jesus who appoints any other apostle to that position. Not another man.

This is exactly the same as all the OT references that you bring up: God appoints prophets to judge Isreal. It follows that God will appoint prophets to judge/guide/shepherd His church. Again: God does that, not man. Even those that are given the gifts are the spirit are not always appointed as leaders of the body of the church. They may go out and preach the gospel or admonish as congregation, but... Not everyone gifted prophecy after the ascension is supposed to be a church leader, nor does that make them an apostle.

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Discussion

MichaelJ 1y ago

God appoints prophets to judge and guide Israel, and those prophets anoint Israel's leaders. In the Old Testament, then, authority passes from God to the prophets, who speak on God's behalf, and from the prophets to the king and civil rulers, whom the prophets identify and anoint.

Christ founds a new Israel, the Church, as is clear from his calling of the Twelve, to stand in the place of the Twelve Tribes of ancient times. In the old Israel, God makes covenants with David, the king, and intervenes through the prophetic office in the appointment of a chief steward, as we see in Isaiah. In the new Israel, the king is Christ, who appoints Peter as his chief steward to keep the keys of the kingdom. The Apostles, who hold the prophetic office and are given the Holy Spirit, are empowered to anoint leaders in the new Israel, like Isaiah did, and to pass on the Holy Spirit to their successors, as Elijah did to Elisha.

In the new Israel, it is true, their is "no king but Christ," but if we accept Christ as the perfection of the Davidic kingship, then we must also expect that the other elements of the Israel of the Old Covenant are perfected in the New.