BK,
The Bible teaches the Apostles were laid as a foundation
for the Church. It does not teach we are to have continual
Apostles living on earth [anywhere I can see].
“Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of
the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is
Christ Jesus himself.” Eph 2:20
SO...I would ask you the reverse.
Where does the Bible teach there will always be
Apostles living on the earth?
Where is a selection criteria laid out?
If you use the criteria listed in Acts, when a replacement
for Judas was chosen, it had to be someone who had been
with them from the beginning. Anyone around today that meets
that criteria?
I think not.
Later, completely apart from any action the early Church
took, Jesus Christ Himself appeared to the Apostle Paul
and chose him. Paul was not even a believer when Christ
appeared to him.
Do you believe the Lord will always supernaturally appear
and choose an additional Apostle? Will He continue to choose
non-Christians to become Apostles? In the tradition that
claims Apostolic authority, I do not see either the casting
of the lots (Book of Acts method) nor the Supernatural
appearance of the Lord to choose a non-Christian to become
and Apostle...
[It is worth considering that the Apostle Paul was chosen
while there were already 12 other Apostles living, as far
as we know. That makes 13. So it isn’t like there was a
vacancy...]
Why are there not 12 Apostles, each chosen supernaturally
before they became Christians - directly by the Lord - at
this point in history?
That is the best I can do to respond to your question.
best and Happy New Year,
ampu
PS - You didn’t ask about Apostolic Authority continuing
by the original Apostles who live today, so I will put
that off for another thread.
“Where does the Bible teach there will always be
Apostles living on the earth?”
This is a very good question.
Matthew 16:19, among other things, Christ gives to Peter the ‘Keys to the kingdom of heaven’.
Now, what does he mean here? When someone is given an office they are given the trappings of the office. In this case, part of the trappings of Peter’s office are the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
In most cases, when the current officeholder dies, the keys return to their owner, and are passed onto another officeholder.
You are very right to ask, how do we know that the idea of the keys were meant to be passed on?
If you look at Isaiah 22:19-24
I will depose you from your office,
and you will be ousted from your position.
“In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah.
I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father.
All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.”
And there you have it. The Key to the House of David is heritary. It is intended to be passed down from father to son, and so on.
Now, we look at what Christ says about the Key to the kingdom of Heaven, there’s some parallelism there isn’t there?
“what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”
“whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsover you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
He also says:
“I will build my Church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
So we can take this as evidence that his office persists even to this day.