As often happens, we received a significant question in a recent email—and this one addressed the troublesome subject of apostles and prophets. It came from a woman who had just listened to our podcast in which Nikki Stevenson and I interviewed Justin Peters at the Truth Matters Conference last October. Her email was short but direct:
I’m a big fan of your new podcast! However, this latest one I couldn’t finish. I heard Justin say that EGW couldn’t be legit because she was a WOMAN, and then I heard him say that no one hears from God nowadays—it’s their imagination or the devil!! And the only apostles were the original disciples?
I’m no expert for sure, but this feels very much like Adventism’s penchant for “throwing out the baby with the bath water.” Why would Paul go to the trouble of teaching the new Christians all about the gifts of the spirit and the gifts to the church (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) if he knew it was all just a temporary thing that would die with the disciples? It doesn’t make sense.
Thanks for all the work you do to produce the new podcast.
This writer is not asking a unique question. In fact, in recent years a plethora of apostles and prophets—many of them women—has flooded charismatic and health-and-wealth communities, and their words from the Lord direct the lives and decisions of their followers.
How are we to understand the biblical roles of apostles and prophets? I will share my response to this letter writer below.
What is an apostle?
Thank you for writing! And thank you for explaining your reaction to Justin Peters’ comment.
I understand where you are coming from. I struggled for some time after leaving Adventism to come to terms with the whole issue of apostles, prophets, and men leading the church. However, I have come to see Scripture describing something more clear than I could see while still wrestling with my Adventist worldview.
I’ll try to explain what I see Scripture saying. First, years ago I was writing FAF studies on the book of 1 Corinthians and came to the spiritual gifts. I felt a bit puzzled because Paul wrote about apostles being one of the gifts/offices God gave to the church. (Ephesians 4 lists offices—not individual gifts—the Lord gave, and they are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.) I understood that there are distinct requirements for a person to be considered an apostle, and clearly Jesus’ 12 disciples (minus Judas) were considered apostles.
Acts 1:15–26 describes the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas, and the requirements for his replacement are listed in v. 21-22: he had to have accompanied the rest of the apostles all the time the Lord Jesus was on earth doing His ministry, beginning with John the Baptist’s ministry and continuing until the day Jesus was taken to heaven.
Then, in v. 24-26, we learn how Matthias was chosen. As the disciples prayed, they asked the Lord to show them which of the two men they had selected as candidates was the one to be chosen, and they cast lots. They drew lots, and the lot fell to Matthias. This is the last time casting lots is mentioned in Scripture as a means of learning God’s will (it is mentioned in the Old Testament, and even Proverbs says the lots are in God’s hands.) Importantly, this choice of an apostle and the casting of lots occurred BEFORE Pentecost when the Holy Spirit indwelled believers for the first time. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, however, God no longer had to reveal His will “externally” by the casting of lots.
So we learn in this passage of Acts that an apostle had to have been an eyewitness to Jesus’ earthly ministry. He had to be an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ, and he had to be chosen by Christ (in the case of Matthias, by Christ’s will through the prayers and casting of lots by Jesus’ already-appointed apostles).
We learn, however, that people other than the 12 were called apostles: for example, Paul was an apostle, and Barnabas was also called an apostle. In 1 Corinthians 15:3–9 we read Paul’s account of those to whom Jesus appeared post-resurrection. Interestingly, He did not appear to everyone in general. He very specifically revealed Himself to a few hundred eye-witnesses. In verse 7 we see that after He appeared to Peter, to the twelve, and then to 500 brethren at one time, He next appeared to James (His brother who became the leader of the church in Jerusalem and who wrote the epistle of James—the first New Testament book) and then “to all the apostles”.
These apostles are not named, but they were specific people to whom Christ appeared after His resurrection, so they were eyewitnesses of His defeat of death. Quite likely these apostles had seen Jesus’ ministry as He travelled through Israel fulfilling prophecy and preaching the kingdom of God.
Lastly, the resurrected Jesus appeared to Paul “as to one untimely born”.
Paul, an unbeliever in Jesus during His ministry (as Jesus’ brothers also were [Jn. 7:5]) was likely in Jerusalem during Jesus’ ministry. He must have been aware of Jesus before the Damascus Road experience, and the fact that he held the coats for the Jews who stoned Stephen and then immediately launched a terrorizing persecution against the church (Acts 8:1) after Stephen’s death makes it clear that Paul knew who Jesus was and intensely hated Him. But the Lord Himself met Paul on that road to Damascus and called him to be His apostle to the gentiles.
This 1 Corinthians passage, in other words, confirms that apostles had to be eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ, and they had to be called by Jesus to be an apostle.
One time I asked our pastor Gary Inrig if there might ever be a time when God called another person to go and deliver the gospel to an unreached area in an apostolic manner, establishing the church in an isolated region. His response was clear. He said it wasn’t likely because the church has been established, but IF He did call an apostle, given the biblical description of apostles, such a call would have to be approved by the collective church as a whole. That answer has helped me a great deal. The biblical apostles were clearly known and acknowledged by the entire church from the beginning, and the clear personal call of Jesus on the apostles’ lives was recognized throughout the church.
A prophet’s job
Very few prophets are named in the New Testament, yet their function is clearly identified in two passages, in 1 Corinthians 14:3 and in Ephesians 2:20. The verse in Ephesians tells us that the church, the household of God, has “been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.” This verse identifies the New Testament jobs of the apostles and prophets, and these offices were granted by God to do a one-time, un-repeatable job: establish the church. During the time the church was being established (the account being recorded in the book of Acts), the apostles took the gospel to all the people-groups on earth in exactly the same order as Jesus commissioned them in Matthew 28:18–20: to Jerusalem (recorded in Acts 2), Judea (recorded in Acts 3–6), in Samaria (Acts 8), and then to the uttermost parts of the earth (beginning in Acts 10 when Cornelius and his household were the first gentiles to receive the Holy Spirit and then expanding throughout the gentile world as Paul did his missionary journeys).
The church was only built ONCE, and Jesus Himself said the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The book of Acts describes this one-time, unrepeatable event. In Ephesians 2 Paul explains HOW the church was built, and it was built on the one foundation the church would ever have: the apostles and prophets. Those foundational apostles had been eyewitnesses of Jesus both before and after His death and resurrection—plus they had been personally called by the living Christ! No person today can meet these requirements, and no person today can build the foundation of the church. That has been built, and nothing can prevail against it.
Furthermore, the New Testament prophets provided guidance for the fledgling church. The New Testament Scriptures were not yet written (the apostles were writing Scripture as they planted the church) and the prophets were providing correction and insight and speaking for God to these people who had no Scriptures.
Now that we have the full Scriptures and we know that they are inerrant, infallible, and sufficient, we can count on the Holy Spirit to teach us and to inform our lives through God’s own word. Hebrews 1:1–3 says that in the past God spoke through prophets, but in these last days He has spoken through His Son. In other words, there is no new light. Everything we need to know for salvation and about God has been revealed to us for this age. When Jesus comes back, He will speak again, but until then, we have His written word and the Holy Spirit. We can know there will be no new light! This fact is one of our safeguards against the people who perpetually rise up and proclaim themselves prophets. NO! God has spoken, and He has planted His church once and for all.
Now, could God raise up a prophet today or in ten years? Absolutely. God can do anything He wishes to do in any way he desires. However, we can know that no prophet will ever say anything contrary to or in addition to Scripture. If God needs someone to speak His truth to someone who has no access to His word, however, He can definitely appoint someone to do that. Furthermore, He can appoint people to speak His revealed word to people who need to be guided by it. Nevertheless, we can know for sure that anyone claiming to speak for God (such as Ellen White) but delivering new information not included in Scripture does not have the biblical gift of prophecy.
Christians and the Holy Spirit
The normal life of born again Christians is that the Holy Spirit works in us to comfort us, teach us, guide us, and even to give us words to say at appropriate times—often without our even knowing it’s happening. But God is not sending people as “prophets” or “apostles” today to speak for Him and to foretell the future and to tell people God’s will. We don’t need prophets telling us God’s will because He speaks directly to us Himself through His Spirit in applying His own word to our lives.
Does God send people to talk to us and help us to become grounded in truth? Absolutely! In fact, 1 Corinthians 14:3 tells us that “one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.” The gifts of the Spirit are real, but many false teachers and false prophets (about whom the Lord Jesus warned us Himself) come and claim to speak for God. They lead people and develop reputations as mouth pieces for God. People honor them and trust them, but Scripture never gives us that “prophet model” in the New Testament. In fact, we are to test any message that claims to be prophetic.
There is only one way to test any prophetic message: Scripture itself. Anyone who actually speaks forth for God will not draw attention to Himself but will honor the Lord Jesus and exalt Him above all. They will speak and encourage with God’s words as He has given them to us in Scripture. We should not fear people who give us personal advice and claim divine revelations. If we are born again, the Holy Spirit guides and teaches us personally, and a “prophetic revelation” does not need to “bind” our consciences.
Now that we have Scripture, we can know that if we are not immersing ourselves in it, we can’t expect God to circumvent His own revelation to us and to send prophets and apostles to speak to us. He has already spoken, and anyone speaking for God will be properly exegeting His word and calling us to submit our hearts and minds to Him and to His truth.
As for women—The New Testament model is that men are the leaders of the church. The apostles were men. Elders are to be men as per 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Ephesians 5 describes husbands being the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church—a sacrificial role of service in each case. The new covenant is clear that women are spiritually equal to men, and that they receives spiritual gifts just as men do. The roles in the church are also clear, however: men lead.
Justin Peters’ comment may have assumed his listeners understood his own view point—which clearly not all do. Nevertheless, I have grown to realize there is a great deal of security knowing that the “ball” doesn’t stop with me, and I love knowing that I have Richard’s love and authority protecting me and protecting Life Assurance Ministries. It doesn’t all land in my lap! Furthermore, our experience with EGW underscores the dangers of having women who start movements with false visions.
Clearly the Lord prepares each of us and gives us His work—and He gifts us for the work He gives us. Nevertheless, He won’t lead us in ways that contradict the clear teaching passages of Scripture.
We have already heard from God, and His Spirit continues to teach us and to apply His truth and reality to our lives. If we are not willing to immerse ourselves in His living word, allowing His Spirit to shape and teach us with His truth, we are presumptuous to think God will speak to us and supernaturally reveal information we need. He will draw us to Jesus and convict us of sin; He will teach us, but if someone comes with a message from God, we must submit it to the scrutiny of Scripture. Scripture is God’s revelation to us, and it is our final word. †
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