The Leading of Original Christianity Was Done By Apostles and Other Gift Ministries through the Spirit, Not by Bishops As We Have Now

Paul writes in first Corinthians about the preeminence of the gift ministries in operation:

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28 ASV)

We can see that this was the actual practice by some of the records in the book of Acts:

And certain men came down from Judaea and taught the brethren, saying, Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and questioning with them, the brethren appointed that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. They therefore, being brought on their way by the church, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and the apostles and the elders, and they rehearsed all things that God had done with them. (Acts 15:1-4 ASV)

Here we see a problem has risen in the church. The problem is that some have said that believers must be circumcised, but others have rejected that notion. What we are looking at here is the fact that this issue was brought to the attention of Paul and Barnabas, who were apostles. It was not brought to and resolved by bishops. Paul and Barnabas, in turn, took the issue to Jerusalem, where it was presented to, again, men with gift ministries, as well as the “elders”. It is clear from these verses that the ultimate authority in deciding what was true doctrine was in the hands of the apostles.

However, in other places, it may not look as clear. Look at these verses:

And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. And when he had saluted them, he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles through his ministry. (Acts 21:17-19 ASV)

The context is that Paul had been advised by prophets on numerous occasions not to go to Jerusalem. And when he gets to Jerusalem it says that he went to James, and the elders. This makes it look like he went to the Bishops, as opposed to going to the apostles and prophets.

However, on closer examination, we read that James, while he was recognized as the “Bishop” of the Jerusalem church, he was also an apostle. This is seen by verses from Paul’s writing to the Galatians:

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. (Galatians 1:18-19 ASV)

So here we see that James (identified as “the Lord’s brother” because there was more than one James) was also recognized as an apostle.

So it is consistent that the authority of the church in original Christianity clearly presided in the apostles and other persons with gift ministries.

This practice changed relatively quickly after the writing of the book of Acts.

In 01.1.3 Clement Used Apostolic Succession as the argument against replacing Presbyters in 1 Clement, we see the just decades after the end of the book of Acts there are already movements to establish the distinction of clergy versus laity with the bishops holding the ultimate authority in the church. Here we see the foundation for the formation of Cessation doctrine, the doctrine that states that the “gifts” including the gift ministries of apostles, prophets and so forth ended with the original apostles. See The Argument that Tongues and other Gifts and Manifestations have Ceased for more on Cessation doctrine.

Nevertheless, we must always acknowledge that in original Christianity the ultimate authority of the church on earth laid in the hands of the apostles, prophets and others with gift ministries.

Original Christianity

This web is a look at primitive, original Christianity, how it developed over time into innumerable denominations and divisions and how original Christianity compares to current practices. It is a resource for looking systematically at the beliefs and practices in the original Christian church, numerous movements and churches since, the modern Christian church, with discussion about how all these changes happened and especially focusing on how well each of these compares to scripture.

Why?

"Jesus Christ is Lord" is the common belief of billions of Christians. But there are tens of thousands of denominations. While ancient denominations like the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox claim to be the original and consequently "true" church, innumerable churches and denominations have started citing error in these ancient bastions and/or the leading of the spirit to reform the church and restore the church.

There are numerous disputed issues. Cessation doctrine (prophecy and the gifts of the spirit ended with the apostles), infant baptism, the inerrancy of Scripture, the form of Church government, the role of women in the church, and currently, the acceptance of homosexuality are just some of the many disputed doctrines that cause the Christian body to be so divided.

The Reformation movement performed an invaluable service. But instead of simply reforming the church or simply working to create one more correct alternative church the Reformation movement worked to increase the number of disputes over scripture and consequently the number of splits has increased exponentially.

The problem with looking at all the denominations is that it can become confusing to just compare this church or denomination to that one. The complexity of looking at all the theological implications can become overwhelming. For many busy people that means just making the best, less than fully educated decision they can, and staying with the church of their heritage or finding a church where they feel they can grow. Just finding the information can be an overwhelming task. Putting it into some understandable framework is an even more complicated task.

This web site, rather than trying to just compare all the current positions on the differences goes back to the beginning (primitive, original Christianity) and evaluates Christianity starting at that point. This includes looking at the gospel accounts, but also includes looking at early church documents as well as other ancient documents, both secular and religious. (There is also a section on Philosophy because its profound impact on Christian theological development.) The articles have numerous references to works both in print and online.

Next the web site looks at the developments in Christianity from original Christianity forward to see how the church developed over time comparing each development with what we know about original Christianity. The goals are:

To trace the development of the church from start to now to see how the church at large wound up with all these competing churches/denominations today, and

To equip people with the knowledge of original Christianity to enable people to make an informed decision on what is the true faith and practice of the church Jesus Christ started.

For an overview of the articles by category, go to the Table of Contents Page.

This is a work in progress. My prayer is that sharing my journey is helpful to you and that together we can grow in the faith that Jesus Christ made available some two thousand years ago.

Also Please Pardon our Dust. There are hundreds of posts and some of them still have typos. If you find typos You can contact Mark at [email protected]. Please be so kind as to mention the name of the post as well as to copy and paste the section with errors. Thank you and God Bless You.

The Leading of Original Christianity Was Done By Apostles and Other Gift Ministries through the Spirit, Not by Bishops As We Have Now

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