Many Christian outside of the apostolic churches find apostolic succession to be somewhat of a myth, preferring only the divine scriptures to be the source of truth for Christians. But even in my atheistic state of my life, I always found apostolic succession to be very convincing. In this first part I want to go over the biblical evidence. Later on I will visit patristic and magisterial evidence.
The idea is quite simple and can be easily explained in two points.
- Jesus promises that the church would be preserved through the apostles
- The authority of the apostles is passed down through their successors
The first point is easy to establish. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes bold statements declaring this. From these verses we understand that:
- The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church that is built upon Peter (Matt 16:18)
- Peter is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven (Matt 16:19)
- Peter is given the ability to bind and loose (Matt 16:19)
While the gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church is a clear sign to show that the Church will be preserved. The significance of Peter being given the keys is also profound. This is because Jesus describes himself as the door to salvation (John 10:1-9). The kingdom of heaven is also described as his fathers house with many rooms (John 14:2). Christ is not merely a door of many within this house, he is the door that lets you into the house of God because no one goes through the father except through him (John 14:6-13).
Peter is not only given the keys to the kingdom but he is also given the ability to bind and loose. This same power to bind and loose is also given to the rest of the apostles in Matthew 18:18-20. But what is this?
These two ideas come together in the Old Testament. We know that Christ’s kingdom is a Davidic Kingdom (this is a whole article on its own).
But the power to bind and loose is not the only thing that Jesus gave to the apostles and the Church. In the same passage of Matthew 18, Jesus gives clear instructions about heretics.
Famously in the Gospels, Jesus promises the apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit that will guide them to all truth (John 16:13). Even in their persecution, Jesus says the Holy Spirit will speak through them (Matthew 10:17-20). This leads into the next point.
The second point to establish can be proven throughout Acts, and Paul’s Epistles.
In as early as Chapter 1, we see this process coming together
- The power of the Holy Spirit will come to the apostles as Jesus has promised (Acts 1:8)
- All of the apostles are called to a ministry, even Judas was apart of this (Acts 1: 15-17)
- Judas’ ministry is replaced by Matthias’ appointment (Acts 1:20-26)
Gift of the Holy Spirit that is given to the apostles is different to the one given to all believers.
Isaiah 1 20-25, God restores his line of Judges through apostolic succession.
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