73 使徒——行使耶稣之权柄的代表Apostles - Jesus'representatives exercised His authority
《简明神学》Concise Theology: A Guide to
Historic Christian Beliefs，巴刻（J. I. Packer）著/張麟至译，更新传道会，2007年。
73 使徒——行使耶稣之权柄的代表
Apostles - Jesus' representatives exercised His authority
于是众人为他们摇签，摇出马提亚来；他就和十一个使徒同列。（徒1:26）
虽然福音书用[门徒]和[使徒]称呼同样的一班人（可3:7,14,20），但这两个词并不是同义词。门徒的意思是[学生、学徒]；使徒的意思则是[使者、代表]，指一个被差派且有差派者全然授权的人。[羔羊十二使徒]（启21:14），与众教会的使者（林后8:23，[使者]即[代表]，原文与[使徒]为同一字），和耶稣其他的门徒有别，他们是蒙耶稣拣选并差派的（可3:14），就如[我们所认为使者]（来3:1）的耶稣自己，也是蒙天父拣选并差派的（彼前1:20）。拒绝耶稣就是拒绝天父，拒绝使徒就是拒绝耶稣（路10:16）。
新约圣经显示，使徒的功能有三：是传福音者、是植堂者（从建立基督教团体的角度而言）和牧师，正如耶稣自己在世上服事时，亦具有这三样功能一样。耶稣宣称，祂所说的话带有天父的神圣权柄（约12:49-50；14:24）；使徒亦然，他们所说的话，也带有基督的神圣权柄（帖前2:13；帖后3:6；另参林前2:12-13；14:37）。
使徒行传1:15-26节显示，五旬节之前的教会籍着摇签，以祷告之心祈求基督拣选以为继承者代替犹大。他们如此做是否对，保罗应当是基督的第十三位使徒；或者是否保罗才是基督所属意代替犹大的使徒，而当时教会拣选马提亚是错误的，这些在使徒行传并没有明言，路加自己可能都不知道。保罗——这位[外邦人的使徒]（罗11:13；加2:8）——在自己大多数的书信开头语里，都宣称自己是使徒。他坚称：因为他在大马色的路上见过基督，并受过祂的差派（徒26:16-18）；他和其他的使徒一样，是耶稣复活真正的见证人（使徒必须是基督复活的见证人，徒1:21-22；10:41-42）。雅各、彼得和约翰都接纳保罗进入使徒圈（加2:9），而神也以使徒应具有的记号（能行神迹与彰显圣灵的作为，见林后12:12；来2:3-4）、和他服事所带出的果子，来印证他的地位。
使徒是神真理启示的代理人，而这些真理要成为基督徒信仰与生活的准绳。依此，并籍着基督指定他们为祂授权的代表（林后10:8；13:10），使徒在初生的教会里就施行独特且有能力的权柄。虽然一些基督徒所实行的职事特殊，在风格上是使徒性的、但是今日已没有使徒了，现今也没有新的正典性启示赐下来。使徒教导的权柄在于正典性的经文，而使徒自己的著作是正典的核心与钥匙。但即使今天已不再有新的启示，现今的教会与使徒时代的教会相比，也并不见得处于教不利的地位，因为圣灵仍在继续不断地解释圣经，并将之应用到神百姓身上。
APOSTLES
JESUS’ REPRESENTATIVES
EXERCISED HIS AUTHORITY
Then
they drew lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven
apostles. ACTS 1:26
Although
the Gospels call the same people “disciples” and “apostles” (Mark 3:7, 14, 20),
the terms are not synonyms. Disciple means “pupil, learner”; apostle means
“emissary, representative,” in the sense of one who is sent with the full
authority of the sender. The “twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:14), as
distinct from the apostles (“representatives”) of the churches (2 Cor. 8:23)
and from the rest of Jesus’ disciples, were chosen and sent by Jesus (Mark
3:14) just as Jesus himself, “the apostle... whom we confess” (Heb. 3:1), was
chosen and sent by the Father (1 Pet. 1:20). Just as rejecting Jesus is
rejecting the Father, so rejecting the apostles is rejecting Jesus (Luke
10:16).
The
New Testament shows the apostles functioning as evangelists, church planters in
the sense of community founders, and pastors, just as Jesus himself had
functioned in these three roles during his earthly ministry. As Jesus claimed
the Father’s divine authority for his words (John 12:49-50; 14:24), so the
apostles claimed Christ’s divine authority for theirs (1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Thess.
3:6; cf. 1 Cor. 2:12-13; 14:37).
Acts
1:15-26 shows us the church before Pentecost prayerfully asking Christ through
the casting of a lot to choose a successor to Judas. Whether they were right to
do this, and Paul was Christ’s thirteenth apostle, or whether Paul was Christ’s
intended replacement for Judas and the choice of Matthias was a mistake, is not
clear in Acts; Luke himself may not have known. Paul, the “apostle to the
Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13; Gal. 2:8), who announces himself as an apostle in the
opening words of most of his letters, insisted that, because he had seen Christ
on the Damascus road and been commissioned by him (Acts 26:16-18), he was as
truly a witness to Jesus’ resurrection (which an apostle was to be, Acts
1:21-22; 10:41-42) as were the others. James, Peter, and John accepted Paul
into apostolic partnership (Gal. 2:9), and God confirmed his status by the
signs of an apostle (miracles and manifestations, 2 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:3-4) and
by the fruitfulness of his ministry (1 Cor. 9:2).
The
apostles were agents of God’s revelation of the truths that would become the
Christian rule of faith and life. As such, and through Christ’s appointment of
them as his authorized representatives (2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10), the apostles
exercised a unique and functional authority in the infant church. There are no
apostles today, though some Christians fulfill ministries that are in
particular ways apostolic in style. No new canonical revelation is currently
being given; apostolic teaching authority resides in the canonical Scriptures,
of which the apostles’ own writings are the core and the key. The absence of
new revelation does not, however, put the contemporary church at any
disadvantage compared with the church of apostolic days, for the Holy Spirit
interprets and applies these Scriptures to God’s people continually.