FALSE APOSTLES
Have you ever wondered why Jesus
Christ, the Son of Almighty God, chose certain men to be apostles? Matthew was
a Publican, a member of one of the most hated groups in the ancient world.
Peter sometimes spoke when he should have been listening. Jesus himself
surnamed James and John "Boanerges" which means the sons of thunder
(Mk. 3:17). On one occasion, Jesus had determined to go to Jerusalem. "He
steadfastly set his face toward Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face:
and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for
him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go
to Jerusalem." James and John were upset because of the attitude of the
Samaritans. They asked: "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down
from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did?" Jesus turned and
rebuked them: "You know not what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son
of man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (Lk. 9:51-56).
But it was these ordinary men whom
Jesus chose to establish his kingdom on earth. Matthew records a conversation
between Jesus and the apostles that occurred on the coasts of Caesarea
Philippi. Jesus asked his apostles: "Who do men say I the Son of man am?"
The apostles responded: "Some say thou art John the Baptist; some Elijah;
and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." There is absolutely no doubt
our Lord was interested in what men in general were saying about him. But on
this occasion, his main concern was what the apostles thought about him. He
asked: "Who do you say that I am?" The Apostle Peter answered:
"Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God" (Mt. 16: 13-16).
Jesus knew the source of the
apostles' information about him. He said to Peter: "Blessed are you, Simon
son of Jonah: for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my Father
who is in heaven. And I say unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock, I
will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it." Please notice carefully the enormous honor and responsibility Christ
placed on the shoulders of these ordinary men. "And I will give you the
keys of kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt.
16: 17-19).
Before I say more about the
opportunities and obligations Christ gave to the apostles, I must discuss the
tenses of the verbs "shall be bound" and "shall be loosed."
I shall furnish you information from some of the greatest Greek grammarians in
the world. In his wonderful set of books, Word Pictures in the New
Testament (Nashville: Broadman, 1930), the late Dr. A. T.
Robertson, inarguably one of the greatest Greek scholars in the world, calls
these verbs future perfect indicatives which indicate a state of completion.
"All of this assumes ... that Peter's use of the keys will be in accord
with the teaching and the mind of Christ. ... The binding and loosing is
repeated by Jesus to all the disciples" (Mt. 18:18) (volume 1, p. 134).
One of the most helpful Greek word
studies I have in my library has the title, The New Linguistic and
Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1998), by Cleon Rogers, Jr. and Cleon Rogers III. They argue that
the verbs should be translated "will have been bound" and "will
have been loosed ... .It is the church on earth carrying out heaven's
decisions, not heaven ratifying the church's decision" (p. 37). Dr. Hugo
McCord renders the Greek: "What you bind on earth will have been bound in
heaven, and what you release on earth will have been released in heaven."
Charles Williams translates the verbs: "Whatever you forbid on earth must
be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth must
be what is already permitted in heaven."
Albert Barnes preached for more
than thirty-five years for the large and influential First Presbyterian Church
in Philadelphia. He wrote commentaries on almost every book of the Bible. In
his volume on Matthew and Mark (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1952,
a Reprint), Barnes comments on the passage under consideration. "When
Jesus gave this power to the apostles, he meant that whatever they forbade in
the church should have divine authority; whatever they permitted, or
commanded, should also have divine authority-that is, should be bound or
loosed in heaven, or meet the approbation of God. They were to be guided
infallibly in the organization of the church, 1st by Christ, and, 2nd
by the teaching of the Holy Spirit" (p. 171).
In the Great Commission according
to Matthew, Jesus commanded his apostles: "Go therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,
and, lo, I am with you all the way, even to the end of the age" (Mt.
28:19-20). The apostles were not free to decide what message they were to
preach. They were to teach whatever Christ commanded them to teach. After our
Lord's resurrection, he met with the apostles to give them the divine plan for
spreading the gospel of Christ. He said to them: "But you shall receive
power, after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto uttermost
part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
We know when the Holy Spirit came
upon the apostles and we know what they preached. "And when the day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4). With the coming of the Holy Spirit, the
apostles were able to carry out the commission God had given them. They were
supernaturally guided in their preaching. For example, when the Jews challenged
Peter and John for their healing of the impotent man, "Peter, filled with
the Holy Spirit, said unto them, You rulers of the people, and elders of
Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man,
by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you, and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom
God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand before you
whole" (Acts 4:8-10).
Before we go any further in our
study of the apostles, I need to make sure that every one in my audience
understands who apostles were and what their qualifications were. The word
"apostle" means one who is sent. The New Testament uses the word in a
generic way and in a specific way of the twelve apostles. Luke calls Paul and
Barnabas "apostles" (Acts 14:14). This is the only time in the book
of Acts the word "apostle" is used of either Paul or Barnabas. Barnabas
is called an apostle because he was sent forth. Neither Paul nor Barnabas was
among the twelve. Paul wrote of men whom he called "messengers of the
churches" (2 Cor. 8:23). The word "messenger" is the same Greek
word translated "apostle." Paul referred to Epaphroditus as "my
brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he
who ministered to my wants" (Phil. 2:25).
Paul certainly was one of the most
influential apostles. He told the Corinthians: "For in nothing am I behind
the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle
were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, wonders, and mighty
deeds" (2 Cor. 12:11-12). There are theologians who think the other
apostles made a mistake when they appointed Matthias instead of Paul to fill
the office vacated by Judas Iscariot. In their commentary on The Acts of
the Apostles (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959), Charles Carter and
Ralph Earle argue "that neither Joseph nor Matthias was Christ's choice of
a successor to Judas seems evident from the fact that, though the lot fell on
Matthias, he is not heard of again in the New Testament and evidently did not
fill the office, though, of course 'silence' is not conclusive evidence. All
subsequent evidence seems to point to Paul as the divine selection to complete
the apostolate" (p. 22). If Matthias were not the Lord's choice, why did
not Luke give some indication of that?
G. Campbell Morgan, an English
preacher, teacher, evangelist and author, was one of the most influential
preachers of his generation. He was a very prolific writer. In his commentary
on The Acts of the Apostles (Old Tappan: Revell, 1954), Morgan
expressed the view "that we have a revelation of their (the apostles')
inefficiency for organization; the election of Matthias was wrong.... The
method of casting lots was no longer necessary. Thus we have the wrong
appointment of Matthias. He was a good man, but the wrong man for his position,
and he passed out of sight." Morgan says he was not prepared to "omit
Paul from the twelve, believing he is (was) God's man for filling the gap"
(p. 21). There is absolutely no basis for such vain speculation. Besides, some
of the other apostles did not figure prominently in the biblical narrative. In
my opinion, the views of Charles Carter, Ralph Earle and G. Campbell Morgan
impugn the integrity of the sacred text.
Paul called some of the teachers at
Corinth "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ" (2 Cor. 11:13). Was Matthias among those false
apostles? He was if he were not the Lord's choice. In fact, if he were not the
right man to fill the office Judas Iscariot could no longer fill, the apostles
were responsible for appointing a false apostle. Please notice how Luke
describes what happened. "And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas,
who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord,
who knowest the hearts of all men, show us whether of these two men thou hast
chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which
Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place" (Acts
1:23-25). The apostles prayed to the Lord that he would show them the man he
had chosen. Did the Lord answer their prayer? If he did - and you know he did -
then Matthias was the man for the office.
Incidentally, false apostles may
not have been that uncommon in the first century. In his letter to the church
at Ephesus, Jesus Christ commended the Ephesians for trying those who said they
were apostles and were not and finding them to be liars (Rev. 2:2). By what
standards did the Ephesian Christians try the false apostles? We do not have to
speculate about the qualifications of apostles. If a man did not meet those
qualifications, he was a false apostle. Let us examine what Luke wrote
concerning the selection of Matthias.
Luke tells what happened to Judas
Iscariot. He had been numbered with the apostles and had been a part of the
great ministry Christ had assigned them. "Now this man purchased a field
with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the
midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers in
Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in the proper tongue, Akeldama,
that is to say, The field of blood" (Acts 1: 17-19). The Old Testament had
predicted: "For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be
desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick (or office) let
another take" (Acts 1:20).
The apostles were Christ's
representatives on earth. They knew they had the responsibility of finding
another man to take the place of Judas. The Holy Spirit provided them with the
qualifications they had to honor in choosing a replacement for Judas. Luke
outlines those qualifications. "Wherefore of these men who have companied
with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among, beginning from
the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one
be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection" (Acts 1:21-22).
So according to the divine record,
who was qualified to be an apostle? Incidentally, Paul would not have qualified
to be one of the twelve. He was a genuine apostle, but he had not companied
with the other apostles all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among
them. He could not belong to the twelve because he had not been with Jesus and
the apostles from the time John baptized our Lord until the time of Christ's
ascension. So G. Campbell Morgan's view that Paul should have been appointed to
fill the office Judas had forsaken makes no sense. Paul was a great preacher, a
faithful apostle and one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived, but he could
not have been one of the twelve, that is, if the qualifications Luke listed
mean anything.
What about modern apostles? Several
months ago I watched a ceremony on Trinity Broadcasting Network. A number of
prominent Pentecostals were ordaining Frederick Price as an apostle. There is a
very serious problem involved in attempting to make anyone in modern times an
apostle. That person would have to at least 1950 years old. Would that not make
Methuselah a spring chicken? Unless a man has companied with the apostles
"beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he (Jesus
Christ) was taken up from" the apostles, he is a false apostle. No man - I repeat - no man can be an apostle
in our day. Anyone who claims to be an apostle is either deceived or is
deliberately deceiving others.
There are cultic groups which
designate some of their leaders as "apostles." They are overlooking
the qualifications outlined in Acts 1:21- 22. Is it not time for all groups
that claim to be Christian to follow the teachings of the word of God? No
church has a scriptural right to go beyond what God has ordained. Denominations
and cultic groups are being arrogant when they alter the will of God as
revealed in the Bible. Do people honestly believe they can ignore what God has
revealed in his word and still have his approval?
The New Testament explains just how
important the apostles were and are to the church of our Lord. Paul told the
Ephesians: "Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together grows
unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom you also are built together for a
habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22). In his very
scholarly commentary on Ephesians (Dallas: Word, 1990), Dr.
Andrew Lincoln comments on the apostles and prophets: They "are foundational
in the sense of being primary and authoritative recipients and proc1aimers of
revelation. The apostles were those with special authority from their
commissioning by the risen Lord.... The apostles provided a foundational link
with the risen Christ, and together with the prophets gave foundational
interpretation of what God has done in Christ for the edification of the
church" (p. 153). Nobody on this earth has that kind of authority today.
Both 1 Corinthians and Ephesians
classify the apostles as supernatural gifts to the church. Paul provides a list
of the miraculous gifts God had bestowed on the church. "God has set some
in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of
tongues" (1 Cor. 12:28). The same apostle told the Ephesians: "He
gave some, apostles, and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers" (Eph. 4: 11). Even though we live almost two
thousand years since the last apostle died, we are blessed even today by these
great men's devotion to the cause of Christ.
What an enormous honor it must have
been for the men whom Christ himself selected to be his apostles. But their
lives were often in danger because of their preaching and teaching. Tradition
says that all of the apostles, except John, died violent deaths. Is that the
reason Paul told the Corinthians: "For I think God has set forth us the
apostles last, as it were appointed unto death: for we are made a spectacle
unto the world, and to angels, and to men" (1 Cor. 4:9)? Paul referred to
the sufferings the apostles had to endure for the cause of Christ. "We are
fools for Christ's sake.... Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and
thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place.
And labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we suffer it" (l Cor. 4:10-12). You and I are blessed in many
ways because of the faithfulness of Christ's apostles.
Winford
Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour
P.O. Box 118
Fayetteville, TN 37334