Was Matthias an Apostle?
By Editor
"A READER of the SIGNS" sends the following:— "Was Matthias of Acts 1:26 chosen by inspiration? and if so, why didn't he fill the place of one of the twelve? and why, as some claim, did Paul take his place? A lady friend of mine a Methodist, asked the question. If Moses was buried by the Lord, how did the divine writer know it? I replied that the writer was inspired. She then said that the apostles made a mistake in their writings, and referred to the case of Matthias; she said their Elder said so." We see no reason to doubt that the disciples' prayer was answered, and that Matthias was chosen by the Lord. The record states that "he was numbered with the eleven apostles," and in Acts 6:2 we find that there were twelve apostles. Nothing is said which would intimate that Matthias has no business to be among them. It is also true that Paul was called to be an apostle, by the Lord Jesus Christ; but it is nowhere stated that he was to take the place of one of the twelve. He was a special apostle, chosen for a special work. Barnabas was also an apostle, Acts 14:14, but he was not one of the twelve. The persons who make such reckless assertions show that they think more of their opinions than they do of the word of God. We expect this in an avowed infidel, but for a professed Christian to thus "handle the word of God deceitfully" shows that the moral sensibilities have been dulled to an alarming extent. There is getting to be more infidelity inside the church than outside; and religious infidelity is the very worst kind, for there is with it a show of piety.