Apostolic Office and Gospel Proclamation in the Present Age

Jesus undeniably commissioned the twelve apostles to preach. During His earthly ministry He sent them and others to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, and after His resurrection He commissioned them further.

Before the cross, we see the twelve and the seventy (or seventy-two) sent out to preach the kingdom. After the resurrection, He tells them they will be His witnesses:

"…ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’’ Acts 1:8

So the question is not whether the apostles were called to preach; they clearly were. The question is: given that call, why do we not have a continuing line of twelve apostles and a prophet today in direct succession, proclaiming the same gospel in anticipation of the second coming?

To answer, we must distinguish between Israel’s apostolic structure in the kingdom program and the later revelation of the body of Christ.

subsection*The twelve apostles in Israel’s kingdom program

In the earthly ministry of Jesus and in the early chapters of Acts, the twelve apostles occupy a distinct, Israel-centered role. They are the appointed leaders of the remnant within the nation and are promised specific places of authority in the future kingdom.

When Judas died, the remaining eleven did not treat his office as expendable. They moved to fill the vacancy so that the twelve seats would be complete. Matthias was chosen to take the bishopric of Judas. This action shows that the apostolic college of twelve was understood as a definite, numbered group tied to Israel’s tribal structure and to the future kingdom administration.

This role is Israel-specific. It pertains to the apostles’ function in the gospel of the kingdom and the administration of the promised earthly kingdom.

subsection*Misapplications of apostolic succession

Because the twelve occupy such a prominent role in the New Testament, later religious systems have often sought to replicate or continue their offices in ways that extend their authority into Gentile or ecclesiastical structures that differ from the original setting.

For instance:

• The Roman Catholic Church claims a continuing "office of Peter’’ with the pope as his successor, sometimes portrayed as holding the keys of the kingdom. Yet it does not meaningfully replicate the other eleven offices. This imports an Israelite, kingdom-context apostolic office into a Gentile-dominated ecclesiastical institution.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) teaches a restored apostolic quorum, presenting its leaders as successors to Peter, James, John, and the others. Again, this extends the twelve’s Israel-centered role into a setting foreign to its original kingdom orientation.

Both moves fail to recognize that the original twelve belong to the kingdom program for Israel, not to the later, distinct dispensation of the body of Christ.

subsection*The new man: the body of Christ

According to Paul, a "new man’’ was later revealed: the body of Christ, made up of Jew and Gentile, with no distinction regarding access to God in that body.

In Ephesians 3, Paul describes this as a mystery that was not previously made known.

This means that the structure we see in the Gospels and early Acts—twelve apostles sent to Israel, offering the kingdom, operating in a Jewish framework—is not the same structure that governs the body of Christ.

The body of Christ is not under Israel’s kingdom commands, does not function under Israel’s tribal administration, and does not replicate the twelve-apostle governance model as a continuing requirement.

subsection*Apostles and prophets as foundational, not perpetually replaced

In relation to the body of Christ, the New Testament speaks of apostles and prophets as part of its foundation. The apostles (including Paul) and prophets of the early church age gave the foundational revelation upon which the body of Christ is built.

A foundation is laid once. It is not an endlessly replicated layer. The apostles and prophets were gifts to the body of Christ in its formative stage; their teaching remains in Scripture. Their revelatory and foundational role does not require perpetual replacement in each generation.

Thus, we do not seek a new set of twelve apostles and a prophet in our era. Instead, we receive the completed apostolic and prophetic witness preserved in the canonical Scriptures, and we build on that foundation through teaching, evangelism, and faithful living.

subsection*Present responsibility to preach the gospel

In this dispensation, believers in the body of Christ—"neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female’’—are all called to bear witness to the gospel of grace. We are not apostles in the original, foundational sense; we are ordinary members of the body, entrusted with the message already revealed.

Our calling is not to replicate the twelve in form, but to carry forward the truth they and Paul have given us. We proclaim salvation by grace through faith, the finished work of Christ, and we warn and encourage in view of the coming of the Lord.

In that sense, the gospel is preached in preparation for the second coming, but it is preached by the whole body of Christ, not by a new college of twelve apostles and a prophet occupying the same offices as the original twelve in Israel’s kingdom arrangement.

subsection*Why there are not twelve apostles and a prophet today

Returning directly to the question: if Jesus called the twelve to preach His gospel, why not have twelve apostles and a prophet today doing the same?

• Because that call was bound to a particular phase of God’s program: the offer of the kingdom to Israel and the administration of that kingdom.
• Because the twelve, including Matthias replacing Judas, are tied to Israel’s tribal structure and the promise of sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
• Because a new dispensation—the body of Christ—has been revealed, with a different structure and a different kind of administration, not tribal and not limited to Israel.
• Because apostles and prophets in the body of Christ served a foundational revelatory role that does not require continuous succession once the foundation has been laid and Scripture completed.

Therefore, the absence of a contemporary set of twelve apostles and a prophet in no way contradicts Jesus’ commissioning of the twelve. That commission was real and fulfilled in its proper context. Today, the responsibility to proclaim the gospel rests upon the entire body of Christ, grounded in the foundation laid by the original apostles and prophets, as we await the Lord’s return.

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