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My take on apostolic succession

tonychanyt

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Oct 2, 2011
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The term apostolic succession is not in the Scripture. I neither believe nor disbelieve it. I approach it indifferently. I prefer to adhere to Scripture's wording when it comes to doctrines. I would not bother using the term in the formal doctrinal sense. I would put little weight on it when others use it in an argument. People who like to generalize tend to overgeneralize in a doctrine.

They found a replacement for Judas Iscariot in Ac 1:

24 They prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
It is an overgeneralization to conclude that, therefore, we should replace Peter's apostleship when he died and so on.

I don't use the term apostolic succession in my argumentation. I am not encouraging or stopping anyone from believing in apostolic succession. It is not my place to do so.
 
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PloverWing

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As understood by my church, apostolic succession is a historical claim, that our present bishops were ordained by previous bishops, who were ordained by previous bishops, ..., who were ordained by the earliest bishops. Whether the office of "bishop" dates to the time of the apostles or slightly later is something I'll leave to historians, but the earliest bishops would at least have known and studied with the apostles.

By the nature of it, the idea of apostolic succession isn't something we would expect to see described in the New Testament, because most of the apostles were still living when the New Testament was written.
 
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