Even though God had placed Christ at the head of the church and only Christ has been authorized of God to say what the doctrine of that church will be. However, there are scriptures that say God has ordained others to be members of this organization. In (I Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11-12; Philippians 1:1; and I Timothy 3:8-13) one reads that he gave unto the church apostles, prophets, pastors, deacons, teachers, and evangelists.

With this in mind, consider the following questions and their scriptural answers.

The New Testament portion of the Bible is the new covenant which God promised through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:1-13). Christ is the new prophet through whom God said he would give his new covenant (Deuteronomy 18:18-19; Acts 3:20-23; Hebrews 8:1-13; and Hebrews 1:1-2). Therefore the New Testament is the word of God for this dispensation of time, but how and through whom was it given unto the world?

God gave it to Christ, who in turn gave it to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave it to the apostles and they in turn gave it to the entire world (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:16-15; and Luke 24:46-49).

God knew that taking the gospel to the entire world was to great a task to be accomplished by thirteen men. Thus, he gave the apostles power to give unto others the gift of prophesy. This they did by the laying on of their hands (Acts 8:14-18; Acts 19:1-7; and II Timothy 1:6). Paul (after speaking of what men in the past did not know) stated, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit…" (I Corinthians 2:10). The question is who is the "us" spoken of in that scripture? According to what he wrote in Ephesians 3:1-5 the "us" represents the apostles and prophets.

Apostles and prophets were given by God to be earthen vessels through whom Christ, the head of the church, would reveal the new covenant previously promised in Jeremiah. Religious speakers for the sake of saving time and writers for the sake of being conservative with space in their articles rarely state the reasons for this. Simply put; most don’t spend the time to show that God established an order for this new covenant to be given. First it was to be given through Christ (Deuteronomy 18:18-19; John 12:48-50; and Hebrews 1:1-2), then Christ through the Holy Spirit (John 14:25-26; and John 16:12-16). The Holy Spirit then, through the apostles and prophets (John 16:12-16; Matthew 10:18-20; I Corinthians 2:6-13; Ephesians 3:1-5; II Corinthians 3:4-6; Galatians 1:11-12; and I Corinthians 14:37) gave it to the world. These all confirm the words that were going to be put into Christ’s mouth (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).

There are scriptures which affirm that the Holy Spirit revealed unto the apostles all of the teachings of Jesus (John 14:25-26; John 16:12-15; Acts 20:26-32; and Galatians 1:6-9). Since Christ through the Holy Spirit revealed unto those thirteen original apostles all the truth and their only purpose was to serve as the earthen vessels through whom Christ (by the Holy Spirit) gave them the whole truth of which they did (Acts 20:26-32). In addition, since God would condemn either angel or man who added to their teachings (Galatians 1:6-9 and Revelation 22:18) there was no need for even a second group of apostles.

Also according to Acts 1:12-16 and Acts 26:21-22 no man could serve as an apostle who had not seen Jesus before and after his death, burial, and resurrection. Therefore, having successors for them was a scriptural impossibility.

What about the prophets and why were they given? They, like the apostles, served as earthen vessels through which Jesus (by the Holy Spirit) delivered his teachings in the New Testament. Hence, when all the truth had been given, they (the prophets) were no longer needed. Realize also that the prophets discussed obtained their gifts by the laying on of the hands of an apostle. The last person upon whom the last apostle laid his hands was the very last prophet of God.

There are no living apostles or prophets in the church today. However, strictly speaking the church does still have apostles and prophets. After Moses and other Old Testament prophets were dead, it is said the children of Israel had them and were to hear them (Luke 16:20-31). They had their writings and through those, they were to hear them. Even so, the writings of the apostles and New Testament prophets are still here and must be heard.

According to Acts 1:15-26, it was not. Matthias was selected to take the place of the fallen Judas. In Acts 1:26 it states that he was numbered with the eleven. To be an apostle one had to be a witness of the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 1:22). Jesus appeared unto Paul (Acts 26:16) in order to make him a witness. Paul as the twelve had seen Jesus before he died; but unlike them he had not seen Jesus from the time of his resurrection and his ascension, which was why Christ appeared unto him.

All of the following scriptures proclaim that Paul was indeed an apostle. He proved to be a very special apostle, one that had the primary responsibility of delivering God’s new covenant to the Gentiles (I Corinthians 9:1; Romans 1:1; I Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1; Galatians 2:6-8; and II Timothy 1:8-11).

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