The Authority Of

by Hyland, T. M. | Category: Apostolic Teaching | Feb 1957

Before our Lord ascended to heaven after His resurrection to take His place at the right hand of God He appeared to His apostles during a period of forty days and spake to them "the things concerning the kingdom of God" (Acts 1.8). Those were momentous meetings, surpassing in importance any gatherings of men for whatever cause since those days. That small group of men gathered around the Lord for those vital consultations was chosen by Him for one of the greatest and most important tasks ever committed to human responsibility. They were men of humble origin and station who sought no prominent place for themselves in the conduct of human affairs. To a number of them the toilsome, uncertain occupation of fishing proved an almost irresistible. attraction. Others had similarly unpretentious aims in life. But the plans of them all had been abruptly shattered by the Voice which one day said:

"Come ye after Me " ... " Follow Me."

We might regard this small group clustered round the Lord as His cabinet, His council of ministers to whom He disclosed His future plan of campaign. As their victorious Leader He was to return to the Father-they were to remain on the field to carry out His instructions. Jewish in their aspirations, their whole outlook was coloured by the glorious promises with which their own Scriptures teemed. - Eagerly and anxiously they questioned the risen Lord regarding His immediate intentions: "Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? " He replied, " It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority, but ... ye shall be My witnesses ... unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1.7-8). His immediate plan for them was a mission of worldwide importance!

Further details of those intimate talks of our Lord and His apostles are not disclosed, but an authoritative announcement made by Him is recorded in the closing verses of Matthew's gospel, clearly indicating the scope of them and the policy which the apostles, as His accredited representatives, were commissioned to pursue

"All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28.18-20).

The apostles must have listened with astonishment to the magnitude of the work they were called upon to undertake. Its immensity and difficulty must have overwhelmed them. How unequal they were for such a task! How impossible its realization seemed! To all their questionings and fears came this full and assuring answer:

" Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you" (Acts 1.8)... "Tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24.49).

Having laid the plans and set before them the objectives, the Lord now discloses the power by which they would be accomplished. The apostles would not be left to their own resources. Difficulties, no matter how formidable, need not deter them. No opposition would be strong enough to withstand the power with which they would be endowed. They would be guided and impelled by One who would take charge of the whole work. Divine power would counteract human limitations. They would not even be left to depend on their own recollection of their Lord's instructions, for the Spirit of God coming upon them in the plenitude of His power would operate with divine skill upon the human faculty of memory and bring to their remembrance all that He said unto them (John 14.26). The promise of the Spirit, then, was the complete answer to all the problems that lay ahead. It is an axiom in divine activity that those God calls to serve Him are granted power equal to the demands He makes upon them.

In accordance with the Lord's promise the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and those gathered with them in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. That wonderful event heralded a new epoch in the dealings of God with men. To consider the full implications of that glorious Occasion is not our present intention. Our purpose is to draw attention to the fact that what afterwards transpired in the ministry and methods of the apostles under the guidance of the Spirit of God was according to the instructions specifically set out by the risen Christ before He ascended to the Father. Divinely commissioned and Spirit-filled they went forward engaging in "the things concerning the kingdom of God." Later they were joined by Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, who was chosen and commissioned by the Lord to fill an important place in the apostolic circle.

The facts we have related are beyond dispute. It should be equally evident in the light of these facts that apostolic teaching and practice constitute the sole authoritative basis to which we must revert for guidance in the prosecution of the work of the Lord in our own day. And apostolic teaching is comprehensive as well as authoritative. Its range includes the cardinal doctrines of the Faith not only in relation to the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ but also in regard to churches of God which were a vital and principal consequence of apostolic labours.

Many Christians fail to recognize the fact that the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ expressed in the teaching of the apostles defines clearly the basis of gathering for His disciples during the period initiated at Pentecost and extending to His second advent. This is an integral part of the Faith which was once for all delivered to the saints and we have no sanction to treat it as of secondary importance. To go further and to suppose that we may dispense with the apostolic pattern in regard to corporate testimony and substitute for it some other, surely constitutes a grave departure from the Faith. We say this without minimizing in the least degree the difficulties and perplexities which face so many of our fellow-believers because of the fearful confusion which exists in regard to this matter today. But we do believe that during the past century or so there has been a recovery of truth along these lines. This recovery has been gradual and each advance nearer to the divine pattern has had fewer and fewer adherents. This is one reason amongst others why so little is heard by many believers of the position we take and the objectives which, amidst much failure, we pursue.

In the year 1882 a pamphlet was issued entitled: "The Church and Churches of God: a suggestive outline of truth," by F. A. Banks. This was heralded by many godly and competent students of the New Testament as a great step forward in the understanding of the will of the Lord on this very important matter. It is not contended here that every detail of this outline can necessarily be established. Undoubtedly further truth has been mined from the New Testament since those days. Hut nothing has appeared during the passage of years which has disturbed the main thesis laid down by this godly and able exponent of the teaching of the apostles. It set forth with clarity and power what many had been groping after for a long time. We believe that there are many today whose longings are aptly expressed in the Psalmist's words:

"0 send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me:

Let them bring me unto Thy holy hill,

And to Thy tabernacles.

Then will I go unto the altar of God,

Unto God my exceeding joy" (Psalm 43.3-4).

We must leave this matter of the Church and Churches of God for further treatment on another occasion, if the Lord will. But we trust that we have at least established in this paper the authority of the teaching of the apostles and its applicability to this important matter of the basis of gathering for God's people in the present day.

Hyland, T. M. | Feb 1957
Apostolic Teaching