Posted on 05/14/2002 5:20:16 AM PDT by Alas
I am guessing that a few days of prayer and supplication were involved. It seems that they found two worthy candidates and could not decide between them. Looks to me that they did say to the Lord, "thy will be done" by casting lots.
What you have here is a representation of a living church. The eleven did not dispute that they needed another to join the Quorum of Apostles, instead it was a question of which one would be ordained by them to the calling of special witness of the ressurection.
Why didn't Alas answer your question I would like to see his reply?
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ALAS
Would you be so kind to show where in this Paul was called when he did not exist in this chapter!
Have you ever felt so good about something that you let the feeling carry you away and you did something that perhaps you shouldn't have or maybe took a bit more authority upon your own shoulders than you should have? Well, that seems to be what happened to the eleven remaining Apostles. After they had seen Jesus ascend up into heaven. Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James, seem to have taken things into there own hands. Instead of going to the Lord in prayer and saying, Lord, we are one Apostle short, would You let us have a twelfth? They instead, choose two from amongst themselves, and then went to the Lord in prayer saying: "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen". Then they flipped a coin so to speak, expecting the Lord to choose between only these two and let them know by the sign of heads or tails, which would replace the traitor Judas Iscariot. Of course as we will see later in the Book of Acts, the Lord had another in mind to replace Judas the traitor.
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Acts 1
[Jesus ministers for forty days after his resurrection—Kingdom to be restored to Israel at a later time—The Twelve to bear witness in Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth—Jesus ascends into heaven—Matthias chosen to fill the vacancy in the Twelve.]
13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.
26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
The other group of lesser apostles, numbering 70 total, included Paul. Paul could not be one of the Twelve because he did not behold the risen Christ before the Ascension. There is plenty of evidence that Paul subjected himself to the authority of the Twelve, with himself not being numbered with them.
Perhaps he/she is still searching for the verse in the Bible where it says Matthias was rejected. ;^)
But, more likely, it's probably due to FR being down all day yesterday.
Stay around as we go through the book of Acts and we will come to the time that Saul is choosen.
Here, I must take issue with those of my colleagues who suggest that Matthias was chosen as one of the disciples in the energy of the flesh, and that it was a mistake on the part of men; that God chose Paul rather than Matthias. I believe that this account makes very clear that Matthias was chosen under the superintendency of the Holy Spirit and that he was put in the right place at the right time.Commentary on Matthias.
Twelve men with this high calling constitute an administrative council in the work of the ministry. When a vacancy occurred with the death of Judas Iscariot, Matthias was divinely appointed to that special office as a member of the council (Acts 1: 15-26). Today twelve men with this same divine calling and ordination constitute the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The title was also applied to others who, though not of the number of the original twelve, yet were called to serve as special witnesses of the Lord. Paul repeatedly spoke of himself as an apostle (Rom. 1: 1; 1 Cor. 1: 1; 1 Cor. 9: 1; Gal. 1: 1). He applied the titles to James, the Lord’s brother (Gal. 1: 19), and also to Barnabas (1 Cor. 9: 5-6; cf. Acts 14: 4, 14). The New Testament does not inform us whether these three brethren also served in the council of the Twelve as vacancies occurred therein, or whether they were apostles strictly in the sense of being special witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is referred to as an apostle in Heb. 3: 1-2, a designation meaning that he is the personal and select representative of the Father.
In Luke Chaper ten we learn that Christ sent out seventy, two by two, in addition to the Twelve that were His disciples. In other ancient texts and early Christian writers we learn that the seventy witnesses were also preserved after the resurrection as part of the organization of the church.
We as LDS are familiar with such a calling. "Seventy" to us is an ancient calling found first in the Melchizedek Priesthood of the Old Testament. Then as now, they were sent to judge Israel or in other words to preach. We also have a First Quorum of Seventy today that are given the primary task to declare the Word of God.
That Paul was subject to the Twelve is evident in Acts 15 when he appealed to the Twelve for authority on the matter of circumcision. Paul though an apostle at this time, did subjugate himself to the authority of the Twelve. Paul was given Barnabas, by the Twelve, and was sent by them to the areas that they were to preach. All of these evidences indicate that Paul while an apostle was not, at least at these times, one of the Twelve Apostles.
Which 12 do you think are mentioned in the Book of Revelation? What about the other four, who do we count out?
I suppose a bonus question would be, how many prophets are mentioned in the New Testament? Only living prophets known to the leaders of the Christian church, list both the true ones and the false ones.
But I'll play along. Look in Acts chapters 11, 13, 15, 21 for a few examples, even in some places including specific names, of both true and false living prophets known to the Church.
How can this be? Prophets after the death of Christ?
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