Recognize The Bonafide

There is an old saying that It takes one to know one. End quote. When a human sees another human the first human knows that the second human is not a dog. When a dog sees another dog the first dog knows that the second dog is not a human. Apostles are rare nowadays. Therefore if you are not an apostle yourself how can you be expected to recognize one, or expect one to declare that he is one ?

The Bible mentions spiritual perfection in allusive terms leaving readers unclear of the down-to-earth implications of it. Read 1 Corinthians 2:16, Philippians 3:15, Hebrews 6:1, 1 Peter 4:18. The KJV says : We have the mind of Christ. Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded. Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection. If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ? In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul mentions false apostles without saying how anyone can know the difference between the true and the false. The manifold ministries that God has dispensed into the church are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. These include apostles, and nowhere does scripture say that any of these ministries are obsolete or will become obsolete before the end of time.

Scripture tells us more about the works of Moses than it tells us about most New Testament apostles as individuals. Therefore in terms of all-round excellence Moses appears to be a more magnanimous figure than most of them. We are told that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds, but there is no verse that refers to him as an apostle. And we must allow for the fact that the word apostle has not always existed. It is not fair to say that a man cannot be an apostle if all his features do not match those of the first 12 apostles. That is man-made criteria arbitrarily based on scripture. It is like saying : a man cannot be a king if he does not own a horse drawn chariot. There is manifold evidence to refute this thinking. It makes a mountain from a molehill and implies that God shows no concern for all round excellence. The prophets of the Bible were not identical as role models but they were all called prophets.

Therefore a reasonable inference is this : An appropriate use of names is significant here. We should use them in accordance with a spirit-of-dutifulness and the application of the cardinal virtues, and ensure we allocate names and titles that reflect someone's excellence or lack of it. Consider the flexible use of names. In Joshua 13 Balaam the son of Beor is called a soothsayer, but in 2 Peter 2 he is called a prophet.

Apostles do exist today but there are not many of them and most Christians tend not to recognize them : just as most Christians would not recognize an angel if he were adequately disguised. Apostles communicate well and can write their own proverbs, and sometimes many, and they know that God has not set a closed canon on wisdom. Apostles have a clear perception of certain realities that others are oblivious to or only understand vaguely. E.g. the reality of determinism. And they know that caffeine is poison. Apostles are rare nowadays. Therefore if you are not an apostle yourself how can you be expected to recognize one, or expect one to declare that he is one ?

It seems likely that when the day of judgement comes the Lord will delegate his elect apostles from all centuries as judges that they may judge humanity alongside him. Scripture alludes to this at 1 Corinthians 6:2-3.

George Warner