Since Jews and Gentiles are now one people in our standing before God, we all have a privileged status. We Gentile believers are not on the outside, but are “fellow citizens” and members of God’s household through faith.

This new “one group” is like a building; the apostle uses this metaphor to picture the ramifications of the mystery of one church that includes both Jews and Gentiles. There is a common foundation, that being the teachings of the apostles and prophets. The apostles were crucial because they were Christ’s authorized representatives of what He taught. The early believers in Jerusalem following Pentecost “were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). As Christianity spread, apostolic authority was the supreme test of orthodox teaching, that is, the standard of truth. All teaching had to agree with what the apostles taught and represented as Christ’s teachings.

The prophets’ ministry was supplemental to the apostles’ ministry because the apostles could not be everywhere. Both gifts, apostles and prophets, formed the foundation of the growing church movement. These gifts are no longer operational in the sense of being present day giftings. However, the foundation endured through the testament of Scriptures and “is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). All teaching and spiritual life today must be built squarely on that foundation.

This truth has enormous implications. The so-called teaching of “apostolic succession” is unapostolic! That is the erroneous teaching that present day bishops are part of a succession of authority traced back to and carrying  the same authoritative role as the first apostles. First, nowhere does Scripture teach that the gift of apostleship is transferrable to others. Second, if apostles still existed today, then the foundation would be continually being built. The image of a building with a foundation would lose its metaphorical value. Once a foundation is built and finished, the building itself is constructed. To change the foundation would render the building unstable. We now have the apostolic and prophetic writings of the New Testament as our infallible, unchanging, authoritative and foundational guide. Authority today resides not in a church magisterium of bishops, but in the Word of God.

Lord, thank You for giving us Your word that records the foundational teachings. We know we can build our lives and ministries on a sure footing.