Apostolic Tessellation
|
Originally Posted on that Protestant homescooling forum:
I saw your outline, but I really would love scripture. Where does it say in the Bible that the apostleship of Peter was passed down directly throughout the ages. Scripture in context. No one in the Catholic Church has done this for me (and I have many friends in the RCC, I might add) I went to school with them. lol.
|
Why? I don’t mean that question to sound snarky. Let me explain my perspective. The first time my children do a task they get lots of instruction. The second time less so. The third time even less and so forth. At some point in the learning process, I get to hit the high points and move on to better things. At some point, I get to assume that we have verbs nailed and we can move onto other more complex grammatical structures. Does that mean verbs aren’t important? NO! It means, that I have already said it and demonstrated it so many times that I am going to assume that if they don’t know that part they can brush up and move onto the rest. If someone were to look at written instructions I leave for my children regarding their grammar and didn’t take into account previous instruction on verbs, one might assume that I didn’t believe that verbs were important anymore.
Or put another way. I am certainly not a mathematician but with issues such as this it helps me to view scripture as a tessellation or even more complex than that more like a simple fractal. A growing polynomial that with each new iteration reveals a clearer view of the overall but at its core remains the same. Each repetition of the pattern locks things more completely into place. Each step is built on the last and together they all click into place and provide a revealing picture. Once the pattern is established, it is only necessary to clearly delineate changes from it.
God’s pattern of authority starts with the husband and father of a family. We see this early in Genesis when God says to Eve “yet your urge shall be for your husband and he shall be your master.” (Genesis 3:16b NAB) As I outlined in my previous post, this pattern repeats it is reiterated within the family and used to establish authority within the Jewish faith and in Israel. God chooses the first leader(s) and then that leadership is passed on through them. That is the scriptural context. If Jesus meant to do something different; then, I would expect that to be clearly spelled out. If He meant, that authority in His Church would be passed along in a way similar to what was already established in scripture and culture, I would expect there to be minimal instruction. So when in Matthew 16:13-19 Jesus says “And so I say to you, you are Peter [Rock], and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” I see this as a commissioning of leadership in a manner similar to Aaron, Elijah, and David…the expectation is that leadership will continue from Peter. Time and again we see in the NT, that Peter is the chief apostle. (And I am cheating here with an apologetic list, I can come up with many of these on my own but I would not be able to be quite so thorough on my own.) Jesus tells Peter that his faith my strengthen his brethren (Luke 22:32), is given charge of feeding Jesus’ sheep (John 21:17); Jesus’ resurrection was announced to Peter by an angel (Mark 16:7); headed the meeting which elected Matthias (Acts 1:13-26); led the Apostles in preaching on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14); received first coverts (Acts 2:41); performed first miracle after Pentecost (Acts 3:6-7); inflicted first Church punishment (Acts 5:1-11); excommunicated the first heretic (Acts 8:21); received revelation to admit Gentiles into church; (Acts 10:44-46); led first council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:7); pronounces first dogmatic decision (Acts 15:19); Paul visits chief Apostle after conversion (Gal 1:18); etc…. Early church history confirms the legacy of a chief apostle, the writing of the early church father line up with the pattern established in scripture.
That’s the pattern as I see it. Apostolic succession fits the tessellation/fractal of scripture and that is further supported by early church history and the writings of the early church fathers. If the equation needed to be altered, then that would have needed clear and detailed instructions. There aren’t clear scriptures spelling it out because they aren’t necessary. Spiritual succession with a named leader and then proceeding from him is what would be expected given the pattern of all previous scripture. The burden of proof therefore, must rest on the contrary assumption.
Click here to vote for this blog:
