“And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;”
Eph. 4:11
“Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection… that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship…“
Acts 1:21-22,25
“…and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist… and the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.”
Acts 21:8-9
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Subsection
Cessationism
Scottish Continuationism?
Prophets & Prophesying in 1 Cor. 14
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Order of Contents
Intro
All 3 Offices
. Articles
. Latin
. Westminster
. Quotes
Apostles
Prophets
Evangelists
. Pastors’ Duty for Evangelism
Extraordinary Officers Exercised Ordinary Power in Common with Elders
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Intro
With self-proclaimed ‘apostles’, ‘prophets’ and ‘evangelists’ making great claims today, the sincere Christian is left to wonder whether such persons have any binding power upon his or her conscience. Thus, the question of whether the offices of apostles, prophets and evangelists continue through the Christian Church is of the utmost, practical importance.
As will be seen clearly from the resources below, the modern claimants to these authoritative offices resemble very little the nature, qualifications and functions of the Biblical offices themselves.
The best, succinct, but detailed, place to start for the discerning inquirer is the several pages of the Southern Presbyterian Thomas Smyth: ‘Of the Extraordinary Officers of the Church’ being Questions 68-76 of An Ecclesiastical Catechism of the Presbyterian Church (1841).
The most obvious reason why these special offices ceased with the direct appointment and laying on of hands by the apostles (as they are described as being conferred by, and limited to, in the New Testament, with their attendant extraordinary gifts: 2 Tim. 1:6; Acts 9:16-18; 13:2-4; 8:16-17; 19:5-7; 1 Tim. 4:14; etc.) is that, as Christ is Head and King of his Church and appoints and regulates its government through his Word, the New Testament does not give directions or authorize how these extraordinary offices should be continued through succession in the continuing Christian Church, whereas it does for elders (pastors, teachers & ruling elders) and deacons (2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Tim. 3; Titus 1:5-8; Acts 14:23; 1 Tim. 4:14; etc.).
In our day of hyper-lay-evangelism, it will sound strange to many, or most, that historic, reformed Christianity has nearly universally regarded the New Testament office of evangelist as having ceased. Persons who held the office of evangelist in Scripture include: Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, Timothy, John Mark, Titus, Silas & Luke. The office had qualifications and powers shared by none today, namely:
Being directly appointed by an apostle with a miraculous gift for the purpose (2 Tim. 1:6; Acts 6:8; 8:13; Acts 8:39-40; 14:3), being accountable directly to the apostles (2 Tim. 4:9,11,21; Acts 17:15-16; Titus 3:12), working with them (2 Cor. 1:1; Acts 20:4; Rom. 16:21; 2 Cor. 1:19; Col. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1; Acts 15:22), fulfilling their delegated designs and work ‘and even acted as their substitutes’ (Calvin, 19:22; 1 Cor. 4:17; Phil. 2:19; 1 Thess. 3:2), receiving special revelations of God (Acts 8:26-27), and having Holy-Spirit-infused power, from the authority of the apostles, to ordain elders in the growing early Church (Acts 14:23; 1 Tim. 4-5) where no presbyteries of elders (1 Tim. 4:14) had yet been established;
This authority and these qualifications and special gifts for the office no person wields today, not having received these things from the apostles (there being no apostles today as apsotles had to be first-hand witnesses of Christ’s physical resurrection (Acts 1:21-22,25; Acts 9:3-5), the last witness to this, Scripture states, was Paul (1 Cor. 15:8).
While there are no extraordinary, New Testament evangelists today (in the wisdom of God), yet the commission of Christ to the apostles as representatives of the Church (Mt. 18:18-20) descends upon the whole Church through them in its respective powers and capacities.
Thus ordinary Church members, in fulfillment of the Great Commission, are to live a life brimming full of Jesus Christ and have Him upon their lips wherever they go and in whatever they do (Acts 8:1, ‘gospelizing’ in the Greek; Col. 3:17), and yet preaching remains solely an authoritative, public, heralding of the gospel limited to the office of minister (as that is all to whom the Word prescribes it to the continuing Christian Church, and no others) and are to preach the gospel to every creature (Mk 16:15).
The argument that the office of evangelist ‘is permanent and not confined to the apostolic period’ because ‘the gifts and functions of evangelism are necessary until the end of the age’ (O.P.C., B.C.O., ch. 7), does not hold, as:
– the primary, distinctive gift of authority and function of the office of evangelist, to ordain elders in the early Church (Acts 14:23; 1 Tim. 4-5) before the establishment of presbyteries (which took over that authority and function), was necessary to the times but is no longer so. The mission field can be, and should be, in contact with presbyteries who are able to ordain elders for them, and provide them oversight, which was formerly the job of Biblical evangelists.
Accordingly, Calvin says, ‘The office I nevertheless call extraordinary, because it has no place in churches duly constituted.’ (Institutes, Book 4, ch. 3, sections 4-5)
– all of the gifts and functions of the New Testament office of evangelist do not continue till the end of the age and only holding to some of the gifts and functions of the office would not have qualified a person for the New Testament office. The New Testament knows of no other office of evangelist besides the one delineated in its pages.
– the ordinary gifts and functions of the Biblical evangelist (as: seeking to win unbelievers, preaching to them, laboring out of bounds of a pastoral charge, making communications and executing regional endeavors, teaching abroad, etc.) are also all powers and responsibilities of pastors who are not inherently tied to the local congregation, but are members of the regional presbytery and the universal visible Church at large. Hence these ordinary gifts and functions are to be exercised by the office that Christ has made continual provision for by presbyterial ordination through the ages.
– If the ordinary gifts and functions of the extraordinary offices implied their continuation, then the distinct offices of apostle and prophet should continue in the Church as well, with their ordinary functions. Yet:
– One would then be hard-pressed to differentiate how an ordinary, contemporary office of apostle is different from a continuing, ordinary office of evangelist, they being only really distinguished by their extraordinary authority and functions.
– The ordinary functions of the preaching and teaching of the apostles and prophets do not necessitate the continuance of separate offices, but are included in the office of minister, and continue in that Christ-ordained, ordinary ministry. There is no difference between these cases and that of the office of evangelist.
– As the higher offices include all of the authority, gifts and functions of the lower offices (see Gillespie, Bayne, etc.), and if one removes all of the extraordinary authority, gifts, calling and functions of the Biblical office of evangelist, one is left precisely with the authority, gifts, calling and functions of the office of minister, and no more. As an office is defined by a specific and unique authority, gifting, calling and functions, an ordinary ‘evangelist’ and a minister, are, by definition, the same office.
Hence, this is why historically reformed denominations such as the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), which inherited its form of government from the Second Reformation of Scotland, simply commissions ministers upon an evangelistic task, though the NT office of evangelist forms no distinct, permanent, office in its government.
When the modern Church comes to reform itself according to the Word of God in these matters, as it did in the Reformation, it will see unprecedented fruitfulness in evangelism, with the blessing of God.
Be sure also to see our resources on the cessation of the charismatic gifts, which are very pertinent to the question.
May these resources be instructive to you and a tremendous blessing to the health and purity of Christ’s Church, and the salvation of the lost.
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On All 3 Extraordinary Offices
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Articles
See also the resources on the cessation of the charismatic gifts generally, which contain much relevant info.
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1500’s
Calvin, John
Institutes, bk. 4, ch. 3, sections 4-5 (d. 1564) 3 pp.
Commentary on Eph. 4:11
Beza, Theodore – 24. The Office of Apostles, Evangelists & Prophets in the Primative Church in A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1565), Ch. 5
Cartwright, Thomas – ‘That Functions of Apostles, Evangelists & Prophets are Not Ordinary’ in The Second Reply of Thomas Cartwright: Against Master Doctor Whitgift’s Second Answer, Touching the Church Discipline ([Heidelberg, 1575]), pp. 303-330
Vermigli, Peter Martyr – Common Places, pt. 4, ch. 1, ‘Of the catholic Church; Of Sundry Ministers of the Church’ (1576)
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1600’s
Hemmingsen, Niels – pp. 136-38 of Commentary on Eph. 4:11
Hemmingsen (1513-1600) was a Lutheran.
Bucanus, William – pp. 535-40 of 42. ‘Of the Ministry & Ministers of the Church’ in Institutions of Christian Religion... (London: Snowdon, 1606), pp. 530-70
What were prophets?
How were true prophets made to prophecy?
How did prophets differ from priests?
What were apostles?
Who were called ‘prophets’?
Who are evangelists?
Ames, William – ch. 33, ‘The Extraordinary Ministers of the Church’ in The Marrow of Theology tr. John D. Eusden (1623; Baker, 1997), bk. 1, pp. 182-85
Ames (1576-1633) was an English, puritan, congregationalist, minister, philosopher and controversialist. He spent much time in the Netherlands, and is noted for his involvement in the controversy between the reformed and the Arminians. Voet highly commended Ames’s Marrow for learning theology.
Baynes, Paul – pp. 255-7 of Commentary on Eph. 4:11 d. 1617
English Annotations on 1 Cor. 12:28 1645
Gillespie, George – Ch. 7: ‘Of Prophets and Evangelists: in what Sense their Work and Vocation might be Called Extraordinary, and in what Sense Ordinary’ in A Treatise of Miscellany Questions
Gillespie takes ‘prophets and evangelists’ as having both extraordinary and ordinary aspects and functions. The offices are not ordinary to the continuing Christian church, but upon extraordinary occasions, ecclesiastical assemblies may commission persons for the ordinary work of ‘evangelists’ as messengers to make communications with other assemblies.
Yet Gillespie does not see the office of evangelist has having a permanent place in the church or that there is warrant for them having a distinct ordination, and what he describes as their continuing functions takes place in historically reformed denominations already, such as the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), which, from the Second Reformation in Scotland, never inherited an office of the NT evangelist.
On further details of his understanding of prophets, see ch. 5 blow under ‘Prophets’. See also our section on Scottish Continuationism?
Owen, John – ‘Of Gifts and Offices Extraordinary; and First of Offices’ in A Discourse of Spiritual Gifts in Works, vol. 4, pp. 438 ff.
Poole, Matthew – Commentary on Eph. 4:11
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1800’s
Smyth, Thomas – ‘Of the Extraordinary Officers of the Church’ being Questions 68-76 & pp. 37-40 of An Ecclesiastical Catechism of the Presbyterian Church
Smyth was a Southern Presbyterian minister in Charleston, South Carolina.
Eadie, John – Commentary on Eph. 4:11
Eadie was a professor in the Scottish Secession Church.
Hodge, Charles – Commentary on Eph. 4:11
Hodge, J. Aspinwall – Ch. 3, ‘of the Officers of the Church’ in What is Presbyterian Law, as Defined by the Church Courts?, pp. 41-44 (1882)
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Contemporary
Stewart, Angus – ‘Apostles, Prophets & Evangelists’ 10 paragraphs
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In Latin
1600’s
Aretius, Benedict – ch. 62, ‘Of Ecclesiastical Offices’ in Common Places of the Christian Religion Methodically Explicated (Geneva, 1589; Bern, 1604), pp. 183-86
Aretius (1505–1574)
Polyander, Thysius, Rivet, Walaeus – ch. 42, sections 1-24 of Synopsis of Pure Theology (1625; ed. H. Bavinck, Leiden, 1881)
Gerhard, Johann – Theological Places, vol. 6, Locus 23 ToC
Gerhard (1582-1637) was a Lutheran.
“I hold the third opinion [that NT prophets were extraordinary] with Gerhard… and diverse others…” – G. Gillespie
Voet, Gisbert – Ecclesiastical Politics (Amsterdam: Waesberge, 1663), vol. 3, pt. 2, bk. 2, ‘Of Ministers & the Ecclesiastical Ministry’, Tract 2, ‘Of the Classes, Orders & Grades of Sacred Ministers’
1. Of the Division of Ministers into Ordinary and Extraordinary; and of the Extraordinary Ministers of the Old Testament: the Patriarchs and Prophets 337
2. Of the Extraordinary Ministers Under the New Testament, and First, of the Apostles 351
3. Of the Evangelists and Prophets of the New Testament 364
4. Of the Extraordinary Ministry of John the Baptist 372
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Westminster
The Westminster Form of Presbyterial Church-Government
“The officers which Christ hath appointed for the edification of his church, and the perfecting of the saints, are, some extraordinary, as apostles, evangelists, and prophets, which are ceased. Others ordinary and perpetual, as pastors, teachers, and other church-governors, and deacons.”
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Quotes
Scottish Second Book of Discipline
“In the New Testament and time of the Evangel, He has used the ministry of the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Doctors in administration of the word: The Eldership for good order, and administration of the discipline: The Deaconship to have the cure of the ecclesiastical goods.
Some of their ecclesiastical functions are ordinary, and some extraordinary or temporary. There be three extraordinary functions: the office of the Apostle, the Evangelist, and of the Prophet, which are not perpetual, and now have ceased in the kirk of God, except when it pleased God extraordinarily for a time to stir some of them up again.”
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Samuel Rutherford
The Due Right of Presbyteries… (London, 1644)
Part 1, p. 452
“4. What the apostles do as apostles agrees only to apostles, and can be done by none but apostles, or by evangelists having their power by special warrantable commission from them, as what a man does as a man, what a pastor does as a pastor, a deacon as a deacon, a prophet as a prophet, can be done by none but by a man only, a pastor only, a deacon only…
5. …and what any one apostle does as an apostle by the amplitude of a transcendent power, every apostle does it completely, and wholly his alone as without help of another apostle; Peter works a miracle, especially any one apostle, as Paul, his alone might ordain Timothy an evangelist.”
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Part 1, p. 483
“Answer: 1. Some parcels of these epistles are written to Timothy and Titus as evangelists, such as none may now do but they only (2 Tim. 4:4; Tit. 1:3; 2 Tim. 1:5) and some other things which they gave in charge to elders.
2. Some things are written to them as Christians, as 1 Tim. 1:19; Tit. 3:3 and finaliter, or objectively, all is written for the Church’s good; but
3. the bulk of the epistle is written to them as elders, and is a rule of perpetual government, and especially, 1 Tim. 5:22; 2 Tim. 2:2, for these and the like they were to do with the presbytery, as is clear, 1 Tim. 4:14.”
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The Divine Right of Church Government… (London, 1646), p. 64
“3. When God commands such offices to be in his house, which depend immediately upon his own immediate will of giving gifts essentially required to these offices, then these offices are so long in his Church as God is pleased by his immediate will to give these gifts; and when God denies these gifts essentially requisite, sure it is, his immediate will has altered and removed the office, not the will of the Church, so the Lord has altered and removed these offices and gifts of apostles, who could speak with tongues and seal their doctrine with miracles, evangelists, prophets extraordinarily inspired, gifts of healing, etc.”
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London Presbyterian Ministers
The Divine Right of Church Government, pt. 2 (1646/1654)
ch.11, section 1
“Jesus Christ our Mediator hath ordained and set in his Church (besides the apostles and other extraordinary officers that are now ceased) pastors and teachers, as also ruling elders, as the subject of the keys for all ordinary ecclesiastical administrations.”
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Matthew Henry
Commentary on Eph. 4:11
“The officers which Christ gave to his church were of two sorts—extraordinary ones advanced to a higher office in the church: such were apostles, prophets, and evangelists.
The apostles were chief. These Christ immediately called, furnished them with extraordinary gifts and the power of working miracles, and with infallibility in delivering his truth; and, they having been the witnesses of his miracles and doctrine, he sent them forth to spread the gospel and to plant and govern churches.
The prophets seem to have been such as expounded the writings of the Old Testament, and foretold things to come.
The evangelists were ordained persons (2 Tim. 1:6 ), whom the apostles took for their companions in travel (Gal. 2:1 ), and sent them out to settle and establish such churches as the apostles themselves had planted (Acts. 19:22 ), and, not being fixed to any particular place, they were to continue till recalled, 2 Tim. 4:9.
And then there are ordinary ministers, employed in a lower and narrower sphere; as pastors and teachers…”
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Apostles
Articles
1500’s
Willet, Andrew – Questions 8-9, ‘Of the Office & Calling of an Apostle’ in Commentary Upon the Most Divine Epistle of the Holy Apostle St. Paul to the Romans (d. 1621) 12 paragraphs at Purely Presbyterian
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1600’s
Lightfoot, John – pp. 125-28 of Commentary on Acts in Works, vol. 8
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1700’s
Barrington, John Shute – Essay 2, Part 1, ‘On the Apostles’ (†1734) 139 pp. in Theological Works, vol. 2
Barrington (1678–1734) was an Anglican who was friendly to Presbyterians. Note especially his 9 page section on ‘The Power of Conferring Miraculous Gifts’.
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1800’s
Kuyper, Abraham – ‘Apostles To-Day?’ in The Work of the Holy Spirit, pp. 158-63
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1900’s
* Kayser, Phillip – pp. 44-45 of The Canon of Scripture: Biblical Presuppositions (2010) Be sure to also see footnote #78.
Jones, Peter – ‘1 Cor. 15:8, Paul the Last Apostle’ (1984) 32 pp. in Tyndale Bulletin 36 (1985), pp. 3-34
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Quotes
Early Church
Clement of Rome (c. 35–99)
First Epistle of Clement, ch. 42 in ANF 1:16
“The apostles have preached the Gospel to us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ [has done so] from God. Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ. Both these appointments, then, were made in an orderly way, according to the will of God. Having therefore received their orders, and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and established in the Word of God, with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand.
And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed the firstfruits [of their labours], having first proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe. Nor was this any new thing, since indeed many ages before it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For thus saith the Scripture in a certain place, ‘I will appoint their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith.’ [Isa. 60:17 LXX]”
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Ignatius (d. c. 108/140)
Epistle to the Magnesians, ch. 10 in ANF 1:63
“…the prophecy which speaks thus concerning us: ‘The people shall be called by a new name, which the Lord shall name them, and shall be a holy people.’ This was first fulfilled in Syria, for ‘the disciples were called Christians at Antioch,’ when Paul and Peter were laying the foundations of the Church.”
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Epistle to the Romans, ch. 4 in ANF 1:75
“I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They were apostles; I am but a condemned man.”
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The Muratorian Fragment (AD 170)
“Hermas wrote the Shepherd very recently, in our times, in the city of Rome, while his brother, bishop Pius, sat in the chair of the Church of Rome. Therefore it also ought to be read, but it cannot be read publicly in the church to the people, nor placed among the prophets–as their number is complete—nor among the apostles, for it is after [their] time.”
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1600’s
Samuel Rutherford
A Peaceable & Temperate Plea… (London, 1642)
p. 224
“…the Pope, whom they [Romanists] conceive to be an universal Pastor to care for the whole Churches… and howbeit the apostles and their universal commission ordinary to preach the Gospel to all, their immediate calling, their extraordinary gifts be now out of the world…”
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pp. 225-26
“O that our Lord would be pleased to reveal his mind to our dear [congregationalist] Brethren in this point of truth. For what be extraordinary and temporary in the conjoined authority and pastoral care of the apostles for all the Churches of the world, I see not, neither is it in reason imaginable, which does not in conscience oblige pastors, doctors and elders in the Church of Scotland, to conjoin their authority in one synodical power for all the churches of Scotland…”
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On the Deaths of the Apostles
Hamilton, Patrick – A brief repetition of the times of the several deaths of Christ our Savior, and of his holy apostles, and the manner thereof, so near as may be gathered in Patrick’s Places… (d. 1528; London: White, 1598)
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Prophets
See also Prophecy: Infallible & Ceased and
Prophets & Prophesying in 1 Cor. 14.
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Articles
Rutherford, Samuel – pp. 248-255 of Ch. 16, ‘Where also the Question about Public Prophesying of such Gifted Men as are not in Office, is Discussed Against the Tenet of Separatists’ in A Peaceable & Temperate Plea (1642)
Gillespie, George – ch. 5, ‘Whether these Prophets & Prophesyings in the Primitive Church, 1 Cor. 14; 12:28; Eph. 4:11, were extraordinary and not so to continue; or whether they are precedents for the preaching or prophesying of such as are neither ordained ministers nor probationers for the ministry’ in A Treatise of Miscellany Questions
Gillespie is arguing against the Independants who claimed that their practice of unordained lay-preaching was warranted from the ‘prophets’ and ‘prophesying’ of the NT,, which they took to include gifted, non-ordained lay-persons.
In the midst of the discussion, Gillespie expresses his belief that the NT prophets were extraordinary and inspired, and that at the Reformation and afterwards such persons, whom he in part names in a list, were raised up with gifts greater than that of ordinary pastors. He does not express though, that ‘prophet’ is a continuing office in the church or ordinary thereto, or fallible. As Gillespie regards the phenomenon as extraordinary and ceased in most periods of the church, his view is very different than that of most Continuationists. Gillespie, while using the NT verses of ‘prophets’ as proof-texts for cessationism in other parts of his writings, wonders here whether these Scriptures may bear the additional nuance of including the non-inspired, modern, Reformation ‘prophets’ that Gillespie cites:
“and upon what Scripture can we pitch for such extraordinary prophets, if not upon those Scriptures…?”
Gillespie’s implicit premise seems to be: Finding the accounts of the Reformation ‘prophets’ to be self-evidently true, he seeks Scriptural warrant for them, for it would be strange for God to give ‘prophets’ to his continuing Church, and yet for Scripture not to mention such at all. Therefore, perhaps this modern phenomenon may be grounded in these specific Scriptures?
See also our section on Scottish Continuationism?
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Evangelists
See also the Introduction at the top of this page as well as the general articles by Smyth, Owen and others above.
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Articles
1600’s
Heidegger, Johann Heinrich – ‘And Also Evangelists’ in a comment under the article, ‘Heidegger’s Bible Handbook: Matthew: Time of Writing’ from his Body of Theology
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1800’s
Bannerman, James – ‘The Extraordinary Office of Evangelist’ in The Church of Christ, IV.ii.2, pp. 748-764
Smyth, Thomas – in Works, vol. 2
Dabney, Robert – pp. 250-54 of ‘Prelacy a Blunder’ in Discussions, vol. 2
Prelacy has sometimes taken the ‘charismata’ to be a gifting and anointing of the Holy Spirit conferred by the laying on of hands in ordination, in order to justify apostolic succession, etc.
Dabney, on the contrary, shows that it certainly does not mean this, but is to be taken for the extraordinary spiritual giftings of the Holy Spirit, conveyed by the laying on of the apostles hands, which hence has ceased with the apostles. He also discusses the unique nature of the Biblical evangelists. His discussion is important and very insightful.
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1900’s
Schwertley, Brian – ‘Evangelist’ 6 paragraphs from Spiritual Gifts, part 3
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Quote
John Brown of Haddington
The quote below is significant in that it shows that Brown, a mid-1700’s Scottish Secession Church professor, understood evangelists to have been able, of themselves, to ordain elders, and that Titus, as an evangelist, was to do such.
This is in contrast to a modern theory of ‘evangelist’ that such were simply presbyters who had a unique evangelistic function, but did not have the authority to ordain elders of themselves. This theory, based on the silence of Scripture and as it is contrary to Brown, representing the older viewpoint, below, held that Titus did not actually ordain the elders, but rather that a presbytery did.
Letters on the Constitution, Government & Discipline of the Christian Church (d. 1787), pp. 73-74
“Ordination appears to have been performed by apostles, by evangelists, and by a presbytery, Acts 6:6, and 14:23; Tit. 1:5; 1 Tim. 5:22, and 4:14: but never by private Christians. Could these [private Christians] ordain their pastors or other ecclesiastic officers, to what purpose did Paul leave Titus at Crete to ordain elders in every city? Or why did he write never a word about ordination to the people, in any of his epistles, but to their rulers?”
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On the Duty of Pastors for Evangelism
Article
Gillespie, George – p. 48, ‘My second proposition concerning…’ in Ch. 3, ‘Of Greater Presbyteries, which some call Classes’ in Assertion of the Government of the Church of Scotland (1641; Edinburgh, 1846), Pt. 2, Concerning the Assemblies of the Church of Scotland & the Authority Thereof
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Quote
Samuel Rutherford
The Due Right of Presbyteries (1644), pt. 2, p. 204
“Answer. First, we hold that by a calling or ordination he is made a pastor; by election he is restricted to be ordinarily the pastor of his flock.
Secondly, a pastor is a pastor of the catholic Church, but he is not a catholic pastor of the catholic Church, as were the apostles.
Thirdly, the Reformed Churches may send pastors to the Indians, for that which Acosta says of Jesuits, we may with better reason say it of our selves: That pastors are as soldiers, and some soldiers are to keep order and remain in a certain place; others run up and down in all places; So some are affixed to a congregation, to feed them; others may be sent to those people who have not heard of the Gospel, which sending is ordinary and lawful in respect of pastors sending and the pastors who are sent, because in pastors, even after the apostles be dead, there remains a general pastoral care for all the Churches of Christ. Thus sending is not ordinary, but extraordinary in respect of those to whom the pastors are sent; yet is it a pastoral sending [as opposed to this being absent in congregationalism in such a case].
…but a pastoral care for the Churches is not proper to apostles only, but only such a pastoral care by special direction from Christ immediately to preach to all, 2. Backed with the gift of tongues and of miracles; and this essentially differences the apostle from the ordinary pastor; but the former pastoral care to preach the Gospel to all nations, and to convert, is common both to the apostle and pastor.”
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That the Extraordinary Officers Also Exercised an Ordinary Power in Common with Elders, which Continues
Article
Gillespie, George – English-Popish Ceremonies (1637), pt. 3, ch. 8, Digression 4, pp. 183-85 The context is on excommunication in 1 Cor. 5. Gillespie quotes Calvin & Junius.
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