Chapter 3: Apostolic Succession

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
Matthew 28:18‭-‬20

It has been quite a while since my last post. You have my sincere apologies as the reader, and recipient of my work. Life gets busy, as I'm sure you are aware. But we are back, and ready for a further deep dive into Christian theology. now that you are aware of my convictions and belief on the Eucharist, that it is entirely the true body and blood of Christ, it is time we venture into the next topic: Apostolic Succession.

Growing up in mostly non-denomenal Christian circles, the idea of church leadership was never something concrete. Many different pastors from many different churches had many different ways of entering the role of pastoral ministry within the church. Some were trained by those within the church, and eventually assumed their role as pastor. some went to one denominations seminary, some were hired after receiving a degree in theology and the list goes on. But across all circles of christianity, you either have the earliest form or an imitation of that form (Apostolic succession), or you have a newer take on the way to establish church leadership.

I was mostly aquatinted with the latter. What this led to in almost every one of my experiences, was a number of individuals who felt a calling to leadership, pursued leadership in the church, and due to no concrete form of leadership being passed down from one generation of leadership to the next, it often resulted in massively under equipped pastors, immature church decisions, and unneeded chaos in the context of the church. And after this would happen, you'd have the board of a church, or the elders of a church, or the pastoral team come together and try and find a way to create a solid structure to create solid leaders for the church. what many of these individuals may not understand is that there is a concrete way for this to happen. Apostolic succession.

In the scripture above, in The Gospel according to Matthew chapter 28, we read of Jesus' great commission. He is talking to the 11 remaining disciples, and he commissions them with the authority that he had been given from God, to use that authority to make disciples, and establish the church. Jesus qualifies himself to make this commission by saying that He has all authority, and then uses that authority to give authority. what this teaches is that authority comes from God alone. And therefore, to receive authority it must come by direct link to God. Jesus Christ himself is God, and therefore gives the disciples the authority that He has, to give authority over the church. This is the idea of apostolic succession. Jesus being the king of the church, gave his disciples authority to pass on leadership. when they did, their successors then have that same authority, and their successors have that authority, so on and so forth. With even just a brief inquiry into 1st or 2nd century christianity, you already see apostolic succession as understood by the earliest stages of the church. The apostles/disciples became bishops, and their successors became bishops, so on and so forth.

In my studies of what constituted Church leadership, after a few months, I really didn't have any doubts. Jesus Christ established apostles, and those apostles had the authority given to them by Jesus Christ to make more apostles, in a line of successors that throughout all of human history would constitute the leadership of the church.

Jesus Christ in all the wisdom of the father, knew the dangers of individual interpretation of God's calling. Which is why apostolic succession is such a beautiful aspect of Christ's bride, the church. Only those who feel God's call enter into studying, and thus become equipped to the holy priesthood of the church, and when the time comes that they are ready, receive that authority from a line of apostles that date back all the way to Jesus Christ himself.

Thank you for being a part of my journey of faith, I appreciate your support, prayers, and love in christ. May your day and those to come be blessed, and as always, feel free to reach out to me if you have questions, I’m always open to conversation. tune in next time for an inquiry into the Catholic doctrine of the Pope.