“Did these Apostles exercise any authority beyond that of the disciples?” Let’s see, Thomas, Matthias and Paul weren’t there when this supposed “authority was given. The seventy that were sent out in Luke 10 exercised this authority so when was it given to them in it’s final form?
“Did the Apostles exercise this authority after our Lord’s Ascension?” So did James, the Lord’s brother, Jude, the Lord’s brother, Philip the Evangelist, Barnabas and Silas, Apollos, Timothy, Titus, along with Paul.
“Did the Apostles exercise this authority after our Lord’s Ascension?” As did James, the Lord’s brother, Jude, the Lord’s brother, Paul and Timothy.
“Was the authority of the Apostles a true office that continued beyond the first Apostles?” By the time John writes the last letters to the seven churches, around 95 A.D., he doesn’t even identify himself as an Apostle even after a gap in the time period of writing 65 A.D. to 95 A.D. and he has been exiled for most of that period, nor does he identify any one in the churches as Apostles or having authority as successor to Apostles. What you had is Pastors of city churches that later elevated their office to give it more dignity than what the first seventy enjoyed when the Lord first sent them out without money or more than one suit of clothes or motel reservations.
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