The are no more apostles or prophets.
Not only did the prophets speak by divine inspiration but being a prophet was a position (office bearrer) that had specific functions and dealt with specific issues and spoke to significant people. (the OT & NT fathers) As you will see. (I hope)
When most people think of prophets they associate them with the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus, his apostles, and John the Revelator of the New Testament. People associate prophets with predicting the future because that's mostly what we read in the bible. Both in the Old and New Testament they often 'spoke forth' God's will for Israel and His people. And they received the message from God the Holy Spirit and often spoke it to significant people as well as predict the future. Prophets were often in exile.
Other than what we read in the Old and New Testament books, the Didache is the authority on the office of the prophets.
In the NT church, prophets had specific functions and went from church to church 'telling forth' God's Will for the establishment of the church. They were to receive no money, were only meant to stay for no more than 2 days, had no family and had no place to live. They were subject to abuse as they often extended their stay and accepted money and lived large at the expense of the congregation. There were no prophets between the Testaments and John the Baptist is actually considered the last OT prophet. And there were no prophets after the New Testament church was established.
The NT prophets became 'obsolete' in the sense that after the church was established and the foundation was laid they were no longer necessary.
Apostles and prophets were the foundation of the emerging New Testament church. Apostles were at the top of the church hierarchy and prophets were second.
People are mistaken to believe that there are prophets today.
I've predicted things that came to pass but that doesn't make me a prophet. Today we are disciples, have deacons, and are able to prophesy, but that in no way makes us prophets.
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Ephesians 3:5 says that the mystery concerning the church has been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets through the Holy Spirit which indicates that these roles were fulfilled in the first century, and do not continue today.
Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;Ephesians 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
There have only been a few dozen (or so) prophets throughout history. In the OT God spoke through the prophets and wonders like the burning bush etc. The Holy Spirit wasn't as active in those days as He is today. The prophets of the OT often prophesied concerning Israel and Christ first and second coming and were often exiled. God used Israel to bring about the Messiah to save the world and is God's message to the world. No more prophets are needed to proclaim it. That's the mission of the church.
However! Now that we have the fulness of God's Spirit some can 'prophesy.'
Another brother said...
The truth is that God gave us Prophets (Old Testament) and Apostles (New Testament) for the establishing of the church. Prophets pointed ahead to Jesus. Apostles point back to Jesus. But, now God speaks to us through His Son.
"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world," (Heb. 1:1-2).
Before the church was established Spiritual gifts were administered to only certain individuals hand picked by God. As the Spiritual gifts emerged into the general population of the church, the apostles eventually died off and the prophets were no longer necessary. That's pretty much the way it appears to me.
Some of the following is from Willian Barclay.
Eph 4 gives us a picture of the organization and administration of the early church. It gives us a list of the 'office' bearers in it at the time of Paul. Many of them were in a wandering ministry and went wherever the Spirit led them. And some stayed in their local ministry.
The apostles included more than the twelve. And to be an apostle there were two qualifications. An apostle must have seen Jesus and witnessed his resurrection.
That's why I say there are no more apostles.
The prophets were wanderers throughout the church. Their message wasn't the result of thought and study but the direct result of the Holy Spirit. They had no homes and no families and no means of support. If they took money they were not a true prophet. They went from church to church proclaiming the will of God as the Spirit told them.
The prophets before long vanished from the church. In times of persecution the prophets were the first to suffer and die for their faith. Their occupation was a dangerous one.
This is what William Barclay said.
The prophets became a problem. As the church grew the local organization developed. Each congregation began to grow into an organization which had it's own permanent minister and local administration. Before long the settled ministry began to resent the intrusion of these wandering prophets who often disturbed their congregations. The settled ministry always tends to resent the itinerant evangelist. The inevitable result was that bit by bit the prophets faded out, and the settled ministry was supreme.
The office of the prophet was singularly liable to abuse. These prophetic wanderers had a very considerable prestige. Some of them abused their office and made it an excuse for living a very comfortable life at the expense of the congregation whom they visited. The earliest book of church administration is the Didache, the teachings of the twelve apostles which dates back to just after A.D. 100. In it both the prestige and the suspicion of the prophets is clearly seen.....
It is laid down that a wandering prophet may stay one or two days with a congregation, but if he wishes to stay 3 days he is a false prophet....or if he demands money...he's a false prophet. There were days when the prophets were the real messengers of God to the church and it was so in the day of Paul. But the time came when these wandering prophets were an anachronism, (An anachronism is anything that is out of place in the time period it has been placed in) when some of them brought discredit on their office, and in the end vanished from the scene.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Most christian's I know do agree that there are no more apostles or prophets. All the prophecies about Christ second coming have been made. The church is established and the Word is written.
And I don't know anybody who upholds the qualifications of a prophet and see no use for them now anyway since we have the gift of prophecy which is different than being a prophet.
Today we are disciples and are able to prophesy. That doesn't make us an apostle or a prophet!
Ephesians gives us a picture of the organization and administration of the early church. We have a list of office bearers at the time of Paul.
An apostle must have either seen Jesus or been hand picked by Jesus.
Paul said, "Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" (1 Cor 9:1)
An apostle had to be a witness of the resurrection of Christ. When the eleven met to discuss who would be the successor to Judas, the qualification of the successor was that he must be one of those who had companied with them throughout the earthly life of Jesus, and that he must be ordained to be a witness to the resurrection. (Acts 1: 21-22)
So in a sense the apostles and prophets were bound to die out.
The apostles were hand-picked by Jesus himself.
And when it was day, he [JESUS] called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;
Not only were the original twelve apostles hand-picked by Jesus, Paul was as well.
And as he [Paul] journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Acts 9:3-6
After Jesus appeared to him, he said of Paul:
...for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Acts 9:13-15
Paul refers to himself as:
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ...
Conclusion
So are there apostles today? I have given a number of reasons why there are not. Let’s just review them briefly.
1) There are no apostles today because the apostles served as a foundation for the early church only. We should not expect to see apostles today any more than we should expect to see someone laying a building’s foundation on the fourth floor.
2) There are no apostles today because they had to have seen Jesus after he rose from the dead. The apostles were to bear witness to the resurrection of Christ. To do this they had to have seen him after he rose from the dead. Paul says that he was the last person to see Jesus. Since no one since Paul has seen Jesus, no one since Paul can be an apostle.
3) There are no apostles today because apostles had to be hand-picked by Jesus. Since Jesus isn’t appearing to anyone today, he isn’t hand-picking anyone, either.
4) There are no apostles today because no one today has the miracle-working power of an apostle. Apostles were able to heal any physical condition. No case was to difficult. These healings often involved the miraculous recreation of body parts, and even the resurrection of the dead. No one is manifesting this type of miracle-working power today that I know of.
The Bible warns us not to be deceived by false apostles. Since there are no true apostles or prophets today. Anyone who claims to be an apostle or prophet is a false one.
