Cheryl

Don,
Your question is an excellent one and one that should be considered. I believe that the eleven were given authority by Jesus and within that authority we can trust everything that they do regarding the gospel of Christ and the teachings and foundation of the church. The question that I have posed elsewhere and continue to pose, is did the foundational apostles also have the authority to pick the twelfth apostle? I say that their authority for the foundation of the church was to be exercised after they were given power from the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and Jesus asked them to wait for this. While I do believe that they had the authority to appoint apostles to represent them and to carry on the work with them, they were not given the authority to pick the candidates that were then presented to God to choose from to pick one for the twelfth apostle. I believe that scripture is clear that Jesus himself has the authority to pick each and every foundational apostles and each and every foundational apostle was uniquely given a mandate to be an eye witness to the resurrection.

I believe that when the filling of the Holy Spirit happened at Pentecost and the authority was confirmed and supported by the infilling of the Holy Spirit that not one decision they made as a whole was a decision in error or a decision that Jesus had not given them authority to make. I think this is where the difference is and why I believe Paul’s claim to being a special witness to the resurrection overrides the decision of the eleven that came before Pentecost.

I also think that the question has great ramifications on the women’s issue. While I believe that the church has the mandate to make sure that those who protect them are qualified as overseers, I believe that the church does not have authority to ordain pastors who have not been gifted by God as a pastor and neither does the church have the authority to stop a person from operating in their gifting as a pastor if God has so gifted that person. I believe that Ephesians 4:10, 11 teaches us that it is under Jesus’ own authority that the gifts exist and that he himself has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to the body of Christ. We have been given authority to operate in these gifts (1 Peter 4:11) but I do not believe that the church has authority to deny our gifts or to stop us from fulfilling our calling in Christ. It is because if Jesus alone is the one who gifts the body with pastors, then the church does not have the authority to reject a woman who has been gifted by Jesus to be a pastor. The things that are in Jesus’ hands alone must be left in his hands. We can confirm the gifts we see in others but our confirmation cannot make someone a pastor nor can it deny someone’s gifting. The foundation for that belief is 1 Peter 4:10, 11 where the one gifted is given authority to use their gift (those gifted in speaking are authorized to speak as one who speaks the very utterances or oracles of God). I also believe in the fact that Jesus himself chose Paul as an apostle chosen to be a witness to the resurrection. I conclude that there are still areas of authority that do not belong to the church and have never belonged to the church and choosing pastors is one of those areas that the church has no authority over according to Ephesians 4:11.