I think you named the apostles correctly. It appears that your list of
names of the others goes down hill from there. You did not even mention
Joseph Smith. Certainly he was as much a (False) prophet as Calvin and
more influential than any of the liberals you chose to honor.
You might want to get a good grip on reality and rethink this.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Within the church , God has placed apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors and teacher. There collective ministries are given a
threefold purpose, but the specifics of each functionary is unique
and even exclusive.
The apostles and prophets are a case in point. They are a part of
those named in Eph 4:11 ff while , at the same time, considered apart
from the remaining categories (evangelists, pastors and teachers). It
is the apostles and prophets who are the foundation of the "household
of God" (Eph 2:20.) Because they are named as the foundation of the
Church, we can be confident that their ministries compliment each
other.
The apostles are given an identify -- the "12" -- while, in fact,
their numbers include the original 12, Matthias, Paul, Barnabas, James
the brother of Jesus, and arguably Apollos, Silvanus and Titus. With
this group of men, we have the writings of all NT scripture except the
historical record of Luke (Luke/Acts). The apostles were
charged with world mission, binding and loosing and the performace of
miracles as an extension (in the Spirit) of who they were. All the
recorded miracles of the NT scripture are performed by Jesus or one of
the apostles.
Their counterpart is the prophet. Whereas the apostles were given to
the First Church, the prophets continue with the church throughout the
ages. It is not the prophets work to continue the addition of
scripture. That work was completed with the apostles. The
scriptures were finished with the passing of the apostles. In time,
the Church Catholic was challenged to identify those scriptures and,
with the providential consideration of God, the Bible was the
result. The prophet, named as a part of the foundation of the
church (Eph 2:20) is, in reality, those we commonly refer to as
"theologian." He is the one who continues the work of the apostle
as he illuminates the message, keeping the biblical message at center
stage and fresh for each new era within the church. People like
Athanasuius, Eusebias, Origen, Tertullian, Calvin, Luther, Barth are
prophets to the Church Catholic while others, less catholic in
function, add to this illuminary function, men like Wesley,
Torrance, NT Wright, and, finally, those who have read and are
acquainted with the above and have a good working knowledge of the
written word, people like Debbie Sawczak, Bill Taylor, Victor
Shepherd, Jon Hughs and the like. It is the prophet that keeps the
word alive and helps to keep us centered on the Christ.
The evangelist, pastor and teacher benefit from these prophets and
give their (the prophets) conributions meaning to those within the
church who have a better understanding of the common man and his
language. And, so , the church at all levels is benefited, edified,
regenerated with the living word without adding more and more
scripture and bigger and better phenom. A truly divine arrangement.
jd
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"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you
ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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