“Acts 1 shows that their office survives their deaths and that others were chosen to fill it.
There you go! You have God’s template for choosing a replacement Apostle!
He must have been with Christ and the other Apostles from the beginning, must have two such candidates nominated, and you must cast lots to determine the new Apostle.
Unfortunately, candidates meeting those qualifications are all gone to glory. This is why the Epistles call the Apostles the foundation stones.
“Indeed, the letter from the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 was not by the apostles alone but by “the apostles and presbyters.” The apostles were already appointing others to share in their authority for the governance of the church.”
Elders are a Church office. They were appointed in each church. We still have elders today.
Best.
Clearly such a candidate would be preferable while available. This does not, however, imply that their office would cease once these no longer existed. By your reasoning Paul himself would not qualify as an apostle.
Elders are a Church office. They were appointed in each church. We still have elders today.
Not true, they were appointed for each church.
For this reason I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you. (Titus 1:5)The presbyters were not appointed by the local congregation but by one who had already been invested with the apostolic authority to do so.