2 Corinthians 1:1 Commentary and Bible Study

It is important that we understand that there are no apostles today. People who claim to be apostles of Christ or take that title and that office to themselves are being foolish and unbiblical and conceited, and they plainly do not know what an apostle was, and what special powers he received, and what his function was. The qualifications for apostles were as follows roughly: they had to be personally appointed by Christ. They had to have witnessed the Resurrection; they had to have been with Christ throughout his ministry, so that they were taught by him and they witnessed his miracles and all his powers; they would have unique authority and many of them would be channels of revelation, or else those who would attest the prophets who were channels of revelation. Well, Paul had not been with Christ; he was unusual in so many respects but he was especially taught by revelation. He had not been personally appointed by Christ in his lifetime but he had a special appearance of his own of Christ and he was attested by power to do wonderful things also. The apostles were only for that first stage of the history of the church, and one of their main functions was to authenticate the New Testament scriptures, the canon of Scripture. The New Testament was completed under the authority and the hand of the apostles; their word was Scripture and would abide and in the will of God would be part of the canon of Scripture. Paul was an apostle ‘by the will of God.’ Unlike today’s so-called apostles, he did not appoint himself. He did not promote himself. God made him an apostle.He calls it ‘the church of God which is at Corinth.’ We should just pause and notice it was a complete church. Not the branch of the church of God which is at Corinth, note, but the church of God which is at Corinth. Why use this complete language? Should you not be speaking about the church or denomination of some region, of which the church at Corinth is one particular instance? No, in Scripture that is all there is – local congregations and the universal church of all lands and ages. Every particular congregation, or if you like local church, is a complete church of God. Complete in itself, under God, with its own officers appointed by the church to serve God according to the Scripture. God never made a Church of England. God never made a Church of Rome. This is all human. He makes individual congregations.