2212.—The Church and Prophets.
By W. E. R.
If Christ has a true church on earth, should there not be apostles and prophets in it? A prophet is one who speaks for God. An apostle is one whom the Lord sends forth. The word apostle means one sent. Entirely erroneous ideas are obtained sometimes by holding that the apostles are a sort of board of directors to stay in one place and to act as the ruling governing body to the church. That is not the Scriptural idea. It is true that the early apostles were at one time in Jerusalem; they stayed there for some time, a great deal longer than the Lord designed that they should, because His commission to them was not to remain in one place, but to go forth to the world and bear the message of His Gospel. Neither did he confine the number to twelve, as has been taught, because there are as many as eighteen mentioned in the New Testament as apostles. Of the gift of apostleship and prophecy, we read in 1 Cor. 12:28: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets." Apostles are those who lead out in great reformations in God's work, and they have always been manifest, it seems clear to us, in every such reformation that has taken place. Martin Luther was truly an apostle. John Wesley was truly an apostle. But there have not always been prophets, altho it was the Lord's design that they should abide with His people. But when His people departed from His law—and in His own inscrutable wisdom this was allowed for many centuries during the Christian dispensation,—there were no prophets. So it was true in the time of Israel of old, there were times when there were no prophets in the church. With the restoration of that law there comes the spirit of prophecy. See Rom. 12:17; 19:10; Prov. 29:18.