Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Jack D. Kilcrease (Lutheran) on the Infallibility of the Apostles in their Oral Preaching as well as Inscripturated Revelation

  

Jesus authorized the apostles as His infallible witnesses (and therefore as the infallible authors of Scripture) simultaneous with His authorization of the Word and sacraments of the church (Mt 28:19-20; Lk 10:16; Jn 16:13; Acts 1:8). This correspondence suggests that the authority of Holy Scripture and the authoritative ministry of the church are not separable but function properly only when understood in the light of one another. Some might object that the commissions cited above are authorizations merely of the preaching of the Word, not of the writing of the New Testament itself. This is an incorrect interpretation for a number of reasons.

 

First, Jesus’ authorization of the Word and Sacrament ministry of the apostles came along with His call for the apostles to be universal (“to the ends of the earth,” Acts 1:8) and infallible witnesses (“those who hear you, hear me, Lk 10:16). If Jesus had intended their witness to be constituted merely by their oral preaching and not the writing of the New Testament documents, then the Lord’s prophecy would have failed. This is because the apostles did not literally teach the ends of the earth. But Jesus’ prophecy has not failed: the apostles’ infallible witness has reached the “ends of the earth” in the form of the written New Testament. We must understand His authorization of their ministry to include writing. In the same manner, John, the Beloved Disciple, also “abides” until Jesus comes (Jn 21:22) through the witness of his Gospel.

 

Second, although the preserved written testimonies of the apostles are infallible, the writings of those who succeeded the apostles in the ministry were not. Contrary to what the Roman Catholic Church claims, the New Testament does not assert the infallible teaching authority of the post-apostolic church. Although Matthias could have the apostolic office transferred to him and Paul could be granted the apostolic office, they nonetheless had to fulfill the criterion of being witnesses to the resurrection (Acts 1:22). Because no subsequent bishop of the church can fulfill this criterion, the apostolic office and witness is sui generis and could never be transferred to later generations. (Jack D. Kilcrease, Holy Scripture [Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics 2; Ft. Wayne, Ind.: The Luther Academy, 2020], 89-90)--note, their oral teachings were infallible, too