“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.
“Matthew 16:19, among other things, Christ gives to Peter the ‘Keys to the kingdom of heaven’.”
What the verse says and how you interpret it are two
vastly different things. You have to start with a
huge assumption (that the keys were apostolic authority),
and then ASSUME that assumption also extends to include
succession.
Assumptions are interesting, but arguments from silence are
not persuasive.
Isaiah 22:19-24 - Shebna and Eliakim were real historical people, addressed in this oracle by Isaiah. It has nothing to do with Peter, apostolic succession or the Church. It does violence to the clear meaning of this passage to imply otherwise. Believe what you wish, I could not be intellectually honest and insert what isn’t there.
There isn’t anything you’ve put forth that is Biblical
evidence that the Church is to continue to have an Apostle
chosen on earth.
Nor did you answer any single issue I raised in my previous
post.
If continually choosing a new Apostle to be on earth was
true, it would be very important to the Church on earth.
If it were that important, it would be commanded to the
Church.
If it were that important, a process would be laid out that
the Church should follow.
Neither is true in the NT.
Still, thank you for responding. I wish you the best
in your life and faith,
ampu