Comments on: Apostolicity versus Apostolic Succession?

By: St. Joseph’s Vanguard And Our Lady’s Train » Blog Archive » God Gives Divine Authority to Man

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:53:48 +0000

[...] the authority Christ gave His Apostles and that they gave to their successors, the bishops, and replacing that direct line of authority (Apostolic succession) with a new concept of apostolicity, which meant that anyone could be a valid minister if they “taught what was true”. [...]

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:53:25 +0000

You’re article can be summed up in a favorite passage of mine:
” 1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
(2 Tim 4:3)

By: Tom Brown

Tom Brown — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:02:58 +0000

Dear Devin,

The author didn’t take up any of the biblical support (or historical support in the Fathers) for apostolic succession, but it would have been interesting if he had. I am mindful in a discussion of scripture supporting apostolic succession (or any Catholic doctrine) that it should be made clear to Reformed readers that verses put forward are not offered within a sola Scriptura paradigm.

Peace in Christ,
Tom

By: Devin Rose

Devin Rose — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:02:10 +0000

Tom,

I appreciate your exposition of these ideas.

We are told that apostolic succession is wrong, not because it lacks historical claim or merit, but because it has led to practices that are contrary to the Bible. But what is and is not contrary to the Bible is quite a debatable point.

I agree that it is a debatable point and would claim that the Bible shows a pattern and precedent for apostolic succession in 1 Timothy 4:14 and in 2 Timothy 1:6. when Paul reminds Timothy of the gift he received from God by the laying on of Paul’s hands. I note this for the benefit of especially any Protestant readers who wonder if apostolic succession has some Biblical evidence for it. These are two passages; I recall there are others as well.

And given that apostolic succession was the universal practice of the Church for 1,500 years, simply claiming that the novel position is right because the traditional position is in violation of the novel position does not hold water. If it did, then such assertion-making made by any heretical group would have an equal claim to validity.

Exactly. And if “apostolicity” as defined by this particular Presbyterian community (the OPC) is true, then every Protestant community in the world would make the claim that they are one of the “true” churches because they are “truly obedient” to the the faith recorded by the apostles in their Bibles. Under such a system there is no authority that can determine which of these communities’ teachings correspond with the apostles’ and which do not.