BISHOPS DO NOT REPLACE APOSTLES This false concept is based on the doctrine of Cessationism. This is the teaching that the apostle’s ministry ceased after the death of the twelve. The bishops therefore replaced the twelve as the leaders of the church. First of all there is no substitute for the apostle’s ministry. We need apostles in each generation just like we need evangelists, pastors, and teachers. When emerging apostles do not replace founding apostles, the church is in trouble. This cycle of deterioration has occurred in almost every movement and denomination. This is because of a lack of understanding concerning apostolic ministry. After the death of the early apostles the church began to teach that the bishops (those ordained and set by the apostles) replaced the apostles as the governmental leaders of the church. The doctrine of apostolic succession was espoused by Clement of Rome. He intervened on the behalf of the presbyters of Corinth who were dismissed from the church. He ordered their reinstatement by insisting that an orderly succession of bishops was established by the apostles. This is found in the letter of the Roman Church to the Corinthians (c.a.96). During the second century the church came under threat from false teachings, primarily the teachings of Gnosticism. These heresies posed such a threat to the church that Irenaeus proposed the concept that the true churches must be able to trace their leaders back to the apostles. He taught that an unbroken succession of bishops of dioceses founded by the apostles guarantees the truth that a church possesses. In this way one could differentiate true churches from the false ones lead by heretics. This is found in his writing Against the Heresies (c.a.185). Churches were therefore considered apostolic if they could trace their leadership back to the apostles. The African orator Tertullian , in his treatise The Prescription of Heretics (c.a.200) proposed that a church need only have the teaching of the apostles in order to be apostolic. In other words there was no need to have apostolic succession in order to be a legitimate church. Clement of Alexandria (c.a 150- c.a.215) similarly proposed that a succession of doctrine rather than a succession of bishops is the most important characteristic of a true apostolic church. Cyprian , the bishop of Carthage (c.a. 205- c.a.258), is perhaps one of the strongest proponents of apostolic succession. He maintains that the apostolate (the apostles) and the episcopate (the bishops) are one. In his view the bishops were the successors to the apostles and the apostles were the bishops of old. By the mid third century, the difference between the apostles and bishops disappears with Cyprian. The development of the doctrine of apostolic succession ( an unbroken line of bishops from the apostles to the present bishop of Rome) was a response to the rampant heresies being taught in the early church. This doctrine was developed to test the whether a church was legitimate or not. If teachers (heretics) could not trace their leadership to the apostles, they were considered false. Only the apostles and the bishops that replaced them were considered valid teachers and carriers of apostolic tradition. This teaching further states that only ordinations conducted by the bishops were valid. This teaching rests on the false doctrine of Cessationism. It rests on the false concept that bishops replaced apostles. Any teaching based on a lie is false because it rests on a false foundation. There have always been apostles in the church. Tradition has often hid them from our eyes, but this gift was never withdrawn from the church. Each generation needs apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. I agree with Tertullian in stating that the doctrine of the apostles is currently available through the New Testament. Any teaching outside of it is blatantly un-apostolic. Paul was sent as an apostle without the laying on of the hands of the twelve. He was an apostle by the will of God, not by the will of man. Jesus sends apostles. Although they are usually released in the local church and confirmed by prophetic ministry, their origin is from God, not man. No man has to trace his ministry directly to one of the original apostles through the laying on of hands. This would be a fruitless endeavor for the multitudes of apostles the Lord is sending today. The apostle is a pioneer. They are set in the church first (Greek word Proton meaning first in time, order, or rank, 1 Cor.12:28). This pioneering anointing causes great breakthroughs and advancement. New Movements grow rapidly and have great momentum. This usually continues while the founding leader is alive. Movements usually try to maintain the leaders legacy by replacing the leadership with bishops, superintendents, and administrators. The movement begins to lose momentum as it becomes more administrative than apostolic. This process is called institutionalization. Ernest B. Gentile defines institutionalization as the process whereby the church of Jesus Christ becomes an established, recognized organization, a structured and highly formalized institution, often at the expense of certain spiritual factors originally thought to be important. Derek Tidball defines it as the process by which the activities, values, experiences and relationships of the (religious) group become formalized and stabilized so that relatively predictable behaviour and more rigid organizational structures emerge. It is the name for the way in which free spontaneous and living (Church) movements become structured and inflexible. Inflexibility is the characteristic of an old wineskin. New wine must be poured into new wineskins. New wineskins can become old wineskins quickly after the death of the founding leaders. This has happened to almost every movement in the past. It will continue to happen unless a group can identify and raise up emerging apostles to replace the founding apostles. When the founding leaders are replaced by bishops and administrators (governments in 1 Cor.12:28) the emphasis is on maintaining instead of advancing. The movement becomes less open to new ideas and revelation. It ceases to be a movement and becomes a monument. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. (1 Cor. 12:28 , NIV). The NIV translates the Greek word kubernesis as “those with the gift of administration.” The Kings James version uses the term governments. The gift of administration is a very important gift to the success of any church. It is not however set in the church first by God. In
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:56:13 +0000
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