The Apostles spoke with a transferred authority from Christ to deliver His teachings. The Apostles taught with the authority of Jesus, who taught with the authority of God. Therefore, as the church father Irenaeus argued long ago, to reject Apostolic authority is to reject the authority of Jesus. And in the final analysis, to reject the authority of Jesus is to reject the authority of God.
What we have here in the concept of Apostolic authority is of vital importance to the Christian faith. But how do we recognize Apostolic authority? By submitting to the Apostolic tradition. In 1 Corinthians 15:3 Paul tells us, “I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received,” and he uses the term paradosis, which is the Greek term we translate as “tradition.” Paradosis literally means “a giving over, a transfer,” and that’s what the New Testament is. It is the Apostolic tradition that the church has received. The church received it from the Apostles, who received it from Christ, who received it from God. That’s why when we reject the teaching of the Apostles—the Apostolic tradition of the New Testament—we’re rejecting the very authority of God.
This article about the Church’s foundation originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
