"You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."
-Ephesians 2:19-22
In the passage above, the Apostle Paul is describing the development of the visible church, which began, of course, with the Person and work of Jesus, who then appointed the Apostles and prophets, who then provided the foundation for the rest of us in that church. Some aberrant groups, especially the Mormons, claim that Paul is teaching a continuous succession of apostles and prophets to govern the church. Yet, those same Mormons don't teach that the verse- in fact, the same sentence- teaches that they should have a succession of Jesuses
There are other problems with the Mormon use of the passage. In addition to the contradiction in their interpretation, there is the simple fact that a building does not have a continuing succession of foundations. Rather, one foundation is laid, and then the other parts of the building are built upon that foundation.
Another problem for the Mormon claim is found in other parts of Paul's writings.
In Titus 1:5, the Apostle tells his student, "This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you..." Appoint elders, not prophets, and not apostles. In I Timothy, chapter 3, and again in Titus 1, he gave instructions on the qualifications of those elders. Nowhere does Paul, or any other New Testament writer, give information about how to choose apostles or prophets! Yet, Mormons want us to believe that they have exactly those things of which the Bible never speaks! The implication is obvious, that those offices were temporary, foundational, and never intended for continuation. Rather, they have been replaced with elders and deacons who rule and teach, not by new revelation, but rather according to the completed word of God in the Old and New Testaments.
2 comments:
"Some aberrant groups, especially the Mormons, claim that Paul is teaching a continuous succession of apostles and prophets to govern the church. Yet, those same Mormons don't teach that the verse- in fact, the same sentence- teaches that they should have a succession of Jesuses"
We always have Jesus with us, but apostles die and aren't resurrected in three days.
"a building does not have a continuing succession of foundations. Rather, one foundation is laid, and then the other parts of the building are built upon that foundation."
The foundation is not removed from the building while the building stands. When the foundation is gone, the building is gone. When the foundation is restored, only then can the building can be restored.
"'This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you...' Appoint elders, not prophets, and not apostles."
The appointing of elders does not preclude the appointing of apostles. We know that Judas was replaced by Matthias as an apostle, "And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles" (Acts 1:26) and that Paul was called to be an apostle after that, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God" (Romans 1:1).
So, what we know is that there were additional apostles called after the crucifixion, but we also know that the New Testament does not explain why the calling of further apostles stopped, when it stopped, or if the calling of apostles was supposed to stop.
The Bible in a nut shell
OT, Jesus( the Messiah) is coming
NT the Messiah is here( Jesus)
So we don't need anymore messengers
The last Propher ( messenger ) was John
Matt 11: 12-13
12 "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. 13 "For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
Luk 16:16
16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
Thr final nail is condence beautifully in Hebrews
Heb 1:1-3
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Bottom line
No need of mew messengers Jesus the Mediatorthe Messiah is here
Now the mormos claimed erroneously that they restore the Melckizedek priesthood
But alas, there is no historical document that proves this priesthood was restore
As s matter of fact. B H Robert states in the History of the Church ,V-1 ,p 40
That there is nothing about the priesthood been restore,no historical documents anywhere
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