Tuesday, May 18, 2004 AD
Apostles and prophets
Great quote from Hermann Sasse, from We Confess Jesus Christ (p.17), where he refers to the primacy of the apostles (in the narrow sense of those witnesses of the resurrected Christ who were then appointed as His apostles) and their teachings over and against any ongoing prophetical ministry:
The recognition that the revelation in Christ is not something inconclusive or relative stands or falls with the primacy of the apostolate over prophecy. Wherever prophecy asserts its independence and power, it is a threat to the finality of the revelation that happened once in history, of which the apostolic office bears witness. Christ's church is an apostolic, not a prophetic church. This does not mean, as some today suppose, a quenching of the Spirit, a constriction of religion within an ossified institution. Rather it expresses the conviction that revelation has taken place, that the word of God is no longer only given and assigned to a human being here and there, but that the Word has become flesh.Cf. Hebrews 1:1,2.
