An Apostle Appointed

Acts1:21-26

Judas had abdicated his apostleship by betraying Jesus and then hanging himself. Peter tells us in this passage that he should be replaced. Judas is the only apostle who is replaced when he died. Note in Acts 12:2 that when Herod had James (the brother of John) put to death there is no mention of replacement. A primary reason for the need to replace Judas was so that the prophecy in Matt. 19:28 could be fulfilled. There Jesus promised that the twelve apostles would sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Psalm 109:8 also prophesied that Judas would be replaced “His office let another man take.”

There are men today who claim to be apostles, but they are not. We know that because one of the requirements of apostleship was that the individual must have witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. Of course, there is no one around today that meets that requirement.

We must be careful about who we allow to influence us and who we learn from as we grow in our Christian faith. One of the ways Satan leads us astray is by bringing bad influences into our lives. That is why it is critical that we measure everything we are taught by men by the Word of God. Men can take passages of Scripture and twist them to appear to mean something they don’t. If we are not mature enough in our faith and have not studied the Bible carefully enough we can be led into believing these false teachings.

I know this is true because I have witnessed this several times in our church. People in our congregation have become enamored with a false teaching from someone (outside our congregation) in whom they erroneously placed their trust. Even in our church I’ve had to challenge an adult Sunday School teacher who claimed the Bible was not inerrant.

I would encourage you to study the Bible carefully enough so that you will recognize when someone tries to teach you something other than its truths. I pray that you will be strong enough to stand up to that teaching and walk away from it so your faith is not hindered.