In their ministry to appoint the elders, the apostles have an office over all the local churches. Acts 14:23, for example, tells us that the apostles appointed elders in every church. Therefore, in their ministry the apostles are a gift given to the churches, and they also have an office with the position and right to set up the elders in all the local churches.
The apostles appoint the elders in the local churches (Acts 14:23). Because the elders in the churches are established and appointed by the apostles, the apostles are over the elders. The eldership is local, and it is under the apostleship.
First Timothy 5:19-20 indicates that an accusation against an elder should be made to the apostles. This shows that the elders are under the apostles.
The government of the church is very simple. The apostles go out and preach the gospel to establish the churches. Then they select the more mature believers and appoint them to be elders to shepherd, to take care of, a local church. The elders should take care of the churches according to the apostles’ teaching. Because all the churches are established by the apostles, and the elders are selected and appointed in different localities by the apostles, in taking care of the churches all the elders should take the word of the apostles.
The apostles are the first gift placed by God in the church. “God has placed some in the church: firstly apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers” (1 Cor. 12:28a). The church here refers both to its universal aspect and to its local aspect. The first gifts to be placed in the church are the apostles, those who are called and sent by God to preach the gospel that sinners may be saved to be the materials for the building of the church, to establish the churches, and to teach the divine truth. Their ministry is universal for all the churches.
The greatest apostle in the New Testament was Paul. In his fourteen Epistles he used many marvelous expressions. For instance, in Romans 8 he used the word “law” to refer not to the commandment given by God but to the innate ability of life. Therefore, there is the law of sin and of death and also the law of the Spirit of life. In Ephesians 1 Paul spoke of the surpassing greatness of the power that was wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead, seating Him in the heavenlies, subjecting all things under His feet, and giving Him to be Head over all things to the church, the Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. The fact that Paul had such a revelation indicates that he was a great apostle. Although we cannot compare with him, we nevertheless may be little apostles, going to the villages and towns to bring the gospel of the truth to people, helping them to believe in the Lord Jesus, and planting local churches.
The prophets are those who speak for God and speak forth God by God’s revelation and who sometimes speak with inspired prediction. In order to be a prophet, one must have the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. This means that a prophet must have the proper knowledge of the Word and also receive much divine revelation. Without this knowledge and this revelation, we cannot speak for God or speak God forth. A prophet must be one who has the light, the revelation, concerning what is written in the Word. The prophets, therefore, must have the spiritual gift to speak the word of wisdom so that God may be spoken forth and by this speaking be dispensed into others. Sometimes the prophets also receive the miraculous ability to foretell, to predict. However, this is not often seen in the New Testament. The emphasis in the New Testament is not on the prophets’ foretelling but on their speaking for God and speaking forth God.
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