Christ’s Provision for the New Testament
Christ’s Provision for the New Testament
Christ’s way of endorsing the New Testament was, of course, different from his way of endorsing the Old, for none of the books of the New Testament had yet been written. If, then, the writing of the New Testament belonged entirely to the future, how could he endorse it at all?
The answer to this question lies in his appointment of the apostles. Jesus seems to have foreseen the need for Scriptures of the New Testament corresponding to the Scriptures of the Old. In the Old Testament God was active in redeeming and judging Israel, and himself raised up prophets to give a true record and interpretation of what he was doing. Now God was active, through Christ, in redeeming and judging the world. Was this supreme and final revelation of God in Christ to be lost to future generations? No, there must be authoritative scribes and interpreters of this revelation as well. So Jesus made provision for this very thing. He carefully (after a whole night of prayer) chose and appointed, and then went on to train and authorize, the twelve apostles to be his witnesses, as God had chosen the prophets in Old Testament days:
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles. (Luke 6:12–13)
All the followers of Jesus were “disciples”; only the twelve were named “apostles.” A study of the New Testament use of the title shows that, although there were “apostles of the churches” roughly equivalent to modern missionaries (for example, 2 Cor. 8:23; Acts 13:1–3; 14:14; Phil. 2:25), “the apostles of Christ”were a small and restricted circle consisting of the Twelve, Matthias (who replaced Judas), Paul, James the Lord’s brother, and perhaps one or two others. Although the whole church is apostolic in the sense that Christ sends it into the world on his mission, and although every Christian should be involved in this mission, yet “apostle” is not a general word for a Christian in the New Testament. Even Paul’s loyal and trusted colleagues like Timothy were not apostles. He deliberately drew a distinction between himself and them. Thus, he began his letter to the Colossians: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.” Timothy was a brother. Indeed, all Christians are brothers and sisters. But he was not an apostle of Christ like Paul.
Modern research suggests that the Greek word apostolos is the equivalent of the Aramaic shaliach, and that the shaliach in rabbinic Judaism was a person with a clearly defined role. He was an emissary of the Sanhedrin, sent out to the Jews of the dispersion to teach in the Council’s name. It was said of him, “the one sent by a person is as this person himself.” In other words, he was a plenipotentiary, speaking with the authority of the person or body that had commissioned him. Thus Saul of Tarsus went to the synagogues at Damascus, armed “with the authority and commission of the chief priests” (Acts 26:12; cf. 9:1–2; 22:5).
It is against this background that Jesus chose twelve men and deliberately gave them this title. The apostles were to be his personal representatives, endowed with his authority to speak in his name. When he sent them out, he said to them, “He who receives you receives me” (Matt. 10:40; John 13:20).
The apostles of Jesus appear to have had a fourfold uniqueness.
First, they had a personal call and authorization by Jesus. This was clear in the case of the Twelve, and Paul claimed something comparable. He vehemently asserted and defended his apostolic authority, insisting that he had received his commission to be an apostle “not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father” (Gal. 1:1). It is further significant that in one of the accounts of Paul’s conversion in the Acts, the very words which Jesus used to commission him are recorded (although Luke has translated them into Greek), namely ego apostello se, “I send you” or “I make you an apostle” (Acts 26:17; cf. 22:21).
Secondly, they had an eyewitness experience of Christ. The Twelve were appointed, Mark says, to be “with him, and that he might send them out to preach.” The verb “sent out” is again apostellein, and their essential qualification for the work of apostleship was to be “with him.” Similarly, shortly before he died, Jesus said to them:
You also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:27)
So he gave them unrivaled opportunities to hear his words and see his works, so that they might later bear witness to what they had seen and heard (cf. 1 John 1:1–3). Especially was it important for them to be witnesses of his resurrection. It was for this that Matthias was chosen, “to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs” (Acts 1:21–26).
It is true, of course, that Paul was not one of the original twelve apostles, that he did not have the eyewitness experience of Jesus which they had, and that probably he never even saw Jesus in the flesh. Some have conjectured that the three years he spent in Arabia, during which he says he received his gospel “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11–12, 17–18), were deliberately intended to compensate him for the three years of Christ’s public ministry which he had missed. Be that as it may, he fulfilled this second apostolic qualification by being a witness of the resurrection. “Am I not an apostle?” he cried. “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1 Cor. 9:1). His reference is of course to his encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road. Although it took place after the ascension, and was therefore abnormal, nevertheless he claims that it was an actual, objective resurrection appearance, and he adds that it was the last. At the end of his catalogue of the resurrection appearances he writes:
Last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Cor. 15:8–9)
Thirdly, they had an extraordinary inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We saw in the previous chapter that the indwelling and illumination of the Holy Spirit is the privilege of all God’s children. This privilege was not restricted to the apostles. Nevertheless, the ministry of the Spirit which Christ promised the apostles was something quite unique, as should be clear from these words:
All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you….
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. (John 14:25–26; 16:12–13)
These wonderful promises have sometimes been applied to all Christian people, and doubtless they do have a secondary reference to us all. But their primary reference is evidently to the apostles who were gathered round Jesus in the Upper Room, of whom he could say, “All this I have spoken to you while still with you” and “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”
What he promised them was twofold. First, that the Holy Spirit would remind them of the teaching he had given them, and secondly that he would supplement it, leading them into all the truth which they could not at the moment receive. The major fulfillment of these promises was in the writing of the Gospels and the epistles of the New Testament.
Fourthly, they had the power to work miracles. The Book of Acts is rightly called “The Acts of the Apostles” (cf. Acts 1:1–2; 2:43; 5:12), and Paul designates the “signs and wonders and miracles” which he had performed “the things that mark an apostle” (2 Cor. 12:12). Further, the purpose of the miraculous power given to the apostles was to authenticate their apostolic commission and message:
How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him [that is, the apostolic eyewitnesses]. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Heb. 2:3–4)
In these four ways the apostles seem to have been unique.