Posted on: November 17, 2015
Three Authorities of the Apostles, Part III
Jesus Gave His Apostles Royal Authority
The first King of Israel was Saul, followed by David, and then Solomon, his son. Jesus Christ is the eternal King who sits on the throne of David (Luke 1:31, John 1:49, Matthew 25:34, Luke 23:42).
Christ governs his church (the new Israel) as King, just as the kings of Israel governed their people. For example, Solomon appointed 12 officers over all Israel, just as the 12 Apostles were appointed by Jesus. Thus the Apostles received royal authority. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus gives Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. This royal authority in the Old Testament was that of a royal steward, or master of the palace (Chronicles 26:21, 1 Kings 18:3). The person in office had the key of the House of David and was second in authority only after the King. They too had their successors. That is the office Jesus gives to Peter and his successors, since Jesus sits on the throne of David.
The Apostles were given three kinds of authority. They could forgive or retain sins, were teachers and priests, and they had royal authority. But what happened to that authority when they died? In Acts 1:20, Peter said, “Let another take his office.”
The word “office” signifies that Judas’ position was an ongoing position rather than a one-time position. After Matthias had been chosen, the Apostles went on to appoint others with their special authority to teach. The Apostles laid their hands on those they ordained. In Acts 14:23, Apostles gave the authority to other men to teach what Jesus taught. This is called apostolic authority, and the chain of authority is called apostolic succession. If a church cannot trace its authority back to at least one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus, then not only does that church lack true authority, but it’s also not the church Christ established.
In the Catholic Church, all priests are ordained by Bishops, who were ordained by other Bishops and so on, coming to those who were ordained by an Apostle. The Apostles got their authority from Christ.
No one can just assume for themselves the right of ecclesiastic ordination. One cannot simply say, “I am a priest,” and be counted as one. This happens through the passing on, through apostolic succession. It happens through being sent out. And this happens through a valid authority.
The Catholic Church has an unbroken line of authority coming from St. Peter, the chief and Prince of Apostles who received the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is true authority, this is apostolic succession, this is the divine authority of the Catholic Church.
Posted on: October 21, 2015
Three Authorities of the Apostles, Part II
Jesus Gave His Apostles the Authority to Teach
In the Old Testament, God communicated with Moses and gave him authority over the people of Israel. He gave them the Law, thus they had authority to teach. Moses was God’s representative in the Old Testament (Exodus 25:19-21). When Moses was about to die, the authority had to be passed on. It was passed on to Joshua. We see in the Old Testament that Moses’ authority didn’t just die with him. It was passed on. Joshua’s authority as Teacher of the Law didn’t end with him. It was passed on to the Judges, and from them to the Prophets and then to the General Assembly.
Jewish tradition holds that in Jesus’ time, those who had the authority that was passed on from Moses were the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus recognizes this fact, and this is why he says, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat, so you must be careful to do everything they tell you.” (Matthew 23:2-3)
Jesus is the new Moses and the true teacher. The Apostles, those appointed by Jesus, are the new authority able to bind and loose.
Jesus Christ is the eternal High Priest, and the Apostles share in the priesthood of Christ. They were made priests at the Last Supper when Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Posted on: October 6, 2015
Three Authorities of the Apostles, Part I
Jesus Gave His Apostles the Authority to Forgive Sins
In John 20:23, Jesus said to his disciples, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Back in the time of Jesus, the words “bind” and “loose” were very common. These words were the rabbinical terms for forbidding and permitting. It is as plain as the sun that biding signified – and was commonly understood by the Jews at that time to be – a declaration that something was unlawful. Loosing signified, on the contrary, a declaration that something may be lawfully done. Our Saviour spoke to his disciples in a language they understood.
Since there were many specific situations that were not written about in the Torah, the rabbis had to make lots of rules to cover individual cases and they “bound” or “loosed” activities based on their interpretation of the Torah. For example, the Old Testament said not to work on the Sabbath Day (Exodus 20:8-11), but it never defined which activities were work. The rabbis had to make judgments about it. They decided that walking more than 2,000 cubits (about one-half mile) was work, and they bound (forbid) anyone from walking further than that on the Sabbath – which is why the Bible uses the phrase, “Sabbath day’s journey.” No one ever challenged the rabbis’ decision on that issue.
The Rabbis bound and loosed all sorts of things, including binding people from eating with unwashed hands (Mark 7:3) or from picking grain on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-2), or healing on the Sabbath. Meanwhile, they loosed a person from having to support his parents (Matthew 15:3-6) and loosed the profiteering going on in the temple, something Jesus didn’t like (John 2:13-16).
In this sense Jesus, when appointing his disciples to be his successors, used a familiar formula (Matthew 16:19, 18:18). By these words he virtually invested them with the same authority he found belonging to the scribes and Pharisees.
In the book of Acts, Chapter 15, we see there are some heresies out there teaching that “one cannot be saved unless circumcised.” What do the Apostles do about it? They get together and deal with the issue. In Acts 15:1-24, the Apostles bound circumcision.
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