19 | Assessing Apostolic Authority

2 Corinthians 10:7-11 | Assessing Apostolic Authority

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Slides:

Assess: 

evaluate or estimate the nature, ability, or quality of.

calculate the price or value of.

VERSE 7 - Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. 

1 Corinthians 4:14-16

I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 

Acts 18:9-11 

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on  speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

1 Corinthians 8:1-3

Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.

VERSE 8 - For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 

Matthew 20:25-28

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

John 13:3-17

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him…When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Many Christians reduce the definition of the word apostle to “sent one.” While it is true that the Greek word apostolos is derived from its cognate apostello (I send), people in biblical times associated the word with a messenger who had the role of a legal representative.

Recent research has shown that the formal structure of the apostolate was derived from the Jewish legal system, where one person could be given the legal power to represent another person. The representative with such power of attorney was called a shaliach (apostle), and so unique was his relationship to the one he represented that the shaliach was regarded as that person himself. Therefore to receive an apostle was to receive the person who sent him.”

The man commissioned is always the representative of the man who gives the commission. He represents in his own person the person and rights of the other. The Rabbis summed up this basis of the [apostolos/shaliach] in the frequently quoted statement: …“the one sent by a man is as the man himself.”

An apostle was an authorized legal representative (or messenger) of the one who sent him. For example, when a king in biblical times sent an apostle (or shaliach), this apostle represented the king's full authority. 

So are there modern apostles? The question must always be asked, “An apostle of whom?” Is the apostle sent by Christ, the church, or any other authority? If Christ sends an apostle, this apostle will be like Christ, which is demonstrated by his miraculous powers and prophetic authority. However, if a local church sends an apostle, then this apostle is simply a missionary or church planter. However, I think using the term apostle, in this case, is not wise. Most people associate the term apostle with people like Peter or Paul. Apostles like them do not exist anymore. 

Acts 9:13-16

But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

The LORD gave Paul authority to build up the Corinthian Church by

- Establishing the Gospel as the theological and practical foundation of the Church

- Declaring and enforcing God’s commands for the Church

- Calling individuals in or out of the Church  

- Setting forth his life habits and practices as a standard for the Church

Such was the authority of the Apostle Paul that he was able to call the gospel HIS GOSPEL because he received it directly from Jesus himself

2 Corinthians 10:9-11

I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 

2 Corinthians 10:1-2 

I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 

VERSE 9: I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters.

VERSE 10: For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

2 Corinthians 5:15-17

and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

VERSE 11: Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 

1 Corinthians 4:19-21

But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness