HIERARCHY
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HIERARCHY
II Cor., xi, 13, it is stated that the pseudo-apostles
claimed the position of real Apostles (probalily, there-
fore, in the strict sense) ; they certainly assvimed the
name of "apostles". From this it does not of course
follow that they had a right to that name. The three
well known passages, I Cor., xii, 28 and 29; Eph., ii,
20(iii,5); and Eph., iv, 11, which speak of the "apos-
tles" together with the prophets as members of Christ
and as the foundation of the Church, do not permit us
to decide with certainty whether Paul speaks here of
apostles in the wider sense or, as in all the other texts,
of himself and the Twelve. The latter is the more
probable. There remains, therefore, only the re-
markable passage in Rom., xvi, 7; here .A.ndronicus
and Junias are mentioned as iwiarifwi iv tois dTroffroXois.
These words evidently intended to designate these
two as especially distinguished apostles. This, there-
fore, would be the only passage in the New Testament
where "apostle" occurs in a wider sense, unless it
should have to be translated thus: "they did excellent
service as messengers of the community", and the
word would mean the same as in II Cor., viii, 23.
'AttoittoX^ (office of an apostle) occurs four times in the
New Testament. Twice Paul uses it to denote his
own vocation (Rom., i. 5; I Cor., ix, 2); once to
denote that of Peter (Gal., ii, S). In the Acts, i, 25,
this word (apostleship) together with ministry desig-
nates the office of the Twelve. The thirty-six pas-
sages in the New Testament, apart from the Gospels,
which contain the word send {diro<XTi\\eiy) do not per-
mit of any conclusions being reached on this point.
According to the earliest Christian sources the of- fice of Apostle is a charisma, but not a mystic charisma. The Eleven are Apostles in so far as the}' are witnesses of the life of Christ and recipients of His Divine in- junctions. Paul is an .\po.stle because he has actually seen the heavenly Christ and received his mission from Him. Matthias is an Apostle because he has known Christ and because at his election the Lord Himself determined on whom the lot was to fall. Nothing certain can be said about the source of the "Aposto- late" of Barnabas. At all events he was an Apostle only in the sense that he preached in places where no- body had as yet announced the Gospel, for this was essential in order to merit the title of Apostle. It is certain that the Apostles were frequently moved by a special Divine inspiration to direct their course to some particular locality, but it cannot be proved that this was always the case nor is that at all probable. Other missionaries were most probably called evange- lists (cf. Acts, xxi, 8; Eph., iv, 11; II Tim., iv, 5). But the corresponding verb evayye\lt^€a-6ai is also used for the first Apostolic preaching. Even if towards the end of the so-called Apostolic age there existed Apostles in the wider sense of the word, as we rightly conclude from the "Didache", our first group of sources contains nothing definite as to their authority and unquestionably excludes their being placed on the same level with the Twelve and with Paul (and Barna- bas?). The rest of Paul's Epistles belonging to the first group contain the following additional data with regard to the charismata. Paul bids the Thessalo- nians not to despise prophecy (I The.ss., v, 20). The admonition in the preceding verse (19) to extinguish not the spirit hardly refers to a mystic charisma. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians (ii, 2) con- tains too the noteworthy warning to the Christians not to be easily terrified, nor drawn away from the teachings of the Apostles by any "spirit".
The Acts often speak in general terms of an influ- ence of the Spirit of God and mention in particular the gift of tongues (ii, 4; x, 46; xix, 6) and the charisma of prophecy. The word prophecy (Trpo^jjrei'a) does not occur. The newly converted Christians at Ephesus, on the occasion of Paul's third journey (Acts, xix, 6), prophesied and at the same time spoke with tongues. Chapter xxi, v. 9, speaks of the daughters of PhiUp
" who did prophesy." The remaining texts to be con-
sidered are the following: xi, 27 sq.; xiii, 1 sq.; xv, 32;
xxi, 10 and 11 (cf. xxi, 4, and xx, 23; xix, 21; xvii, 16;
xvi, 6, 7). In chapter xv, 32, Judas and Silas are
called prophets; in ch. xiii, 1, Barnabas and Saul are
mentioned among the " prophets and doctors " of An-
tioch. These two latter are designated by the Holy
Ghost asinstruments of God for the spread of theGospel;
the others while praying impose their hands upon them.
But there is no trace of any ecclesiastical organization
based on the distribution of charismata, of any con-
trol exercised over the Churches by the recipients of
these gifts, nor of any infaUible teaching authority en-
joyed by these ecstatic members. While these cha-
rismatics were numerous and continued to occupy their
position of marked prominence, the local authorities,
if not similarly gifted, remained as a matter of course
in the background. But this does not prove that
there was an institution and an organization of charis-
matic individuals. Whenelectionsweretobeheld, pro-
phetic doctors frequently pointed out the most suitable
candidates. Again some communities were governed
by prophets and doctors before the appointment of
regular administrators. History, however, forbids us
to assert that a regular organization did not come into
existence until the ecstatic and miraculous charismata
had decreased. But it is true that after the disap-
pearance of this species of charismata the normal ad-
ministrative functions became more prominent and
consequently a stronger organization was needed.
The other hj'pothesis which would represent the sub-
jects of these supernatural gifts as thrust aside by the
ordinary governing power of the Church is also wholly
untenable. The truth of the matter is that certain
officious individuals of that class were put in their
proper place by the authorities, and that later on some
of them, whose " gifts" had been artificially tleveloped
by suggestion, were shown up as charlatans.
(7) Origin of Ecclesiastical Authority in General. — ■ The doctrine of St. Paul about the Church as the body of Christ, which finds expression in the Epistle to the Romans, the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Epistle to the Ephesians, is a central feature of his theology. The operation of Christ in the Church and the activity of the various organs of this corporate body, whose members are at the same time members of the mystical body of Christ, find in these epistles their clearest expression. In the Epistle to the Ro- mans (xii, 8) and the First Epistle to the Corinthians (xii, 28) the governing body and the office of govern- ing are depicted as part of the body of Christ and as constituted therein by God and Christ Himself. These two most important and classical passages together with a text of the Epistle to the Ephesians (iv, 11 — second group) show us the origin of the primitive Cliristian governing body in general; it is an institu- tion of Ciod and Christ. They show us furthermore the necessity of those administrative organs, for by their very nature they belong to the body of Christ, the Church. Consequently it is the will of God that besides the Apostolate there should be governing su- periors in the local churches as well. For this reason Ignatius speaks of an (in-o\Ti 6eov, and his teaching is nothing but the purest doctrine of St. Paul. We can therefore speak in a certain sense of a charismatic or- ganization of the Church, for the administrative func- tion is itself a charisma ; only we must take charisma in that correct and broader sense in which Paul uses it. Since therefore some form of governing body is, ac- cording to the doctrine of the Apostle, inseparable from the very notion of the Church, there can be noth- ing more opposed to Paul's ideas than the thought of rights being conferred on superiors by a democratic communit}-. The governing body is in Paul's mind something religious and Divine. Nevertheless the administration need not at once and everj-where ap- pear in its specific form; for the .\postolate is able to
