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THE LORD'S EIGHTY TWO MEN Poteau, Oklahoma
Probably everyone knows that the Lord Jesus
called and ordained twelve men as His apostles. Matthew 3:14-15 says,
“And he ordained twelve, that they should be with
him, and that he might send them forth to preach,
And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to
cast out devils.” They were ordained (set
apart or separated) for the first purpose of being with Him. He taught them by
word and by example. They were learners or disciples. In the common Romanian
Bible, the translator used the word for “apprentice.” John 6:70 records that,
“Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you
twelve, and one of you is a devil?” So then,
the Lord knew full well that one whom He had chosen was
a lost man and would betray Him. Nevertheless,
the Lord had twelve disciples who were with Him and to whom He gave power to
work miracles.
Luke 10:1 tells us,
“After these things the Lord appointed other seventy
also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place,
whither he himself would come.” He gave them
power to work miracles as well. When they returned from one such mission trip
they were rejoicing over the power they had enjoyed. The Lord Jesus said to
them, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not,
that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names
are written in heaven,” (Luke 10:20). So, the
Lord had a total of eighty two “ordained” or “appointed” disciples whom He
empowered to work miracles.
These last (the seventy) were sent out as kind
of “mini-forerunners” although they are not called that – the distinction of
forerunner being given to John the Baptist. The thing we need to see is that all
that the Lord did was open and well known. His visits to various places were
advertised ahead of His arrival. When Paul appeared before Festus and Agrippa he
spoke of Christ and His sufferings and said,
“For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am
persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not
done in a corner,” (Acts 26:26). If this thing
was not done in a corner, it was done out in the open. We may safely conclude
that from the least to the greatest, poor and rich, country folk and city
dwellers, common people and nobility – all in Israel knew of the Lord Jesus
Christ and His forerunner, John the Baptist as well. They all knew about
baptism, too, for while John himself baptized, the Lord Jesus did through His
disciples.
Besides these eighty two men, there were
certain women which followed the Lord and His twelve disciples. When the Lord
was hanging on the tree were are told, “There
were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the
mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; (Who also, when he was in
Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came
up with him unto Jerusalem,” (Mark 15:40-41).
So besides the eighty two men the Lord had “many” women who followed Him. Luke,
in 8:3 of his gospel mentions
others, evidently wealthy women,
“...Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and
Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.”
In addition to these, there were most certainly
others, three of whom were Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha who lived
very near to Jerusalem.
What is the point of all this information?
Several things can be gathered from these facts. Subtracting Judas from the
twelve, we can identify eighty one men who were probably among the one hundred
and twenty who were gathered in Jerusalem when the church there had its first
business meeting in Acts chapter one. Since the qualification for Judas'
replacement had to be a man that had
“...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...,” (Acts 1:21-22) we will not be far
wrong if we conclude that “Joseph called
Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias”
were probably among the seventy ordained by the Lord
Himself, (Acts 1:23).
This also affords insight as to just who was
scattered from the Jerusalem congregation. In Acts 8:1 we read:
“And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that
time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem;
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria,
except the apostles.” There is evidence that
the “all” in this instance does not mean all without exception, but rather, all
without distinction. That is, all sorts of people who were members of the
Jerusalem congregation were scattered – except the apostles!
Loose Baptists and others try to say that this
“all” requires us to believe that men without ordination preached, baptized and
organized churches in various places since the twelve remained in Jerusalem. But
if the sixty nine men (seventy minus Matthias who replaced Judas and was
numbered with the apostles) were scattered abroad, there were plenty of men
among those who were scattered - men trained and ordained by the Lord Jesus
Himself.
The evidence that not all “ordinary” believers
were included in the “all” that were scattered is seen in the verse that follows
the last quote.
Acts 8:2 says,
“And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and
made great lamentation over him.” If all the
Jerusalem church (all without exception) except the apostles were scattered, who
were the “devout men” who carried Stephen's body to be buried? There must have
been some men left in the Jerusalem church!
Besides this there was a man named Philip who,
it seems was left in Jerusalem.
And what shall we do with Philip? He “went
down” which always means leaving Jerusalem which was higher in elevation. In
Acts 8:5-7 it is written: “Then Philip went
down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with
one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing
the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out
of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that
were lame, were healed.” We do not discount
the previous ministry of the Lord Jesus in that place when He dealt with the
woman at the well and others in John chapter four. But does this account of
Philip's ministry not sound exactly like the ministry given to the seventy by
the Lord Himself? They were given power to heal and Philip had that power. And
if this is the case, then Philip was a Christ-ordained man who was also a member
of the Lord's church in Jerusalem.
In Acts chapter six, when deacons (servants)
were needed in the Jerusalem church, we read that the twelve said,
“Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men
of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over
this business,” (Acts 6:3). The Jerusalem
church had enjoyed great growth with an influx of new people – new members. Who
among them would be well known as honest men and who among them would be known
to be full of both the Holy Ghost and wisdom more than those sixty nine men who
had been ordained by the Lord? Many of these may have by this time returned to
Jerusalem – indeed some of them may never have left that city. We think it
likely that of the seven deacons most or perhaps all of them may have been of
this number of men ordained by the Lord.
Later in Acts chapter eight Philip was sent
down to meet the Ethiopian eunuch and to baptize him. These facts may answer the
questions and objections of some. We think Philip met the qualifications
required to administer valid baptism. We have no reason to think otherwise! We
think he was probably numbered among the seventy of the Lord's ordained and
specially empowered disciples. It is a true statement that of all the people in
the New Testament that baptized with a valid baptism about whom we know, each
one was (1) a man, (2) a baptized man, (3) an ordained man, (4) and in good
standing with a previously existing church. Those are the four requirements for
a
man to serve as an administrator of valid baptism. We
understand, of course, that the congregation has the authority in baptism, but
the actual baptism is done by one called by the Spirit and separated for the
work of the ministry by the man's church. This is the pattern set for us in Acts
13:1-4 and nowhere abrogated in Scripture.
These are all conclusions in harmony with what
we know of the Scriptures, the method of the Lord Jesus in His work, and the
ways by which the Spirit works in the Lord's congregations. We know of no valid
objections to these things. Let us rejoice that the Lord works – and that He
works through His servants – unworthy though they be.
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