1 Corinthians 12:27-29

In both his First Letter to the Corinthians and his Letter to Ephesians (Eph. 4:11-12), St. Paul makes clear that apostles have the highest level of authority in the Church. Paul’s teaching is rooted in that of Jesus, who, after his Resurrection, decrees only to the apostles, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21). How has the Father sent Jesus, so we may know how he’s sending his apostles in leading his fledging Church? Jesus provides the answer in another post-Resurrection encounter:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “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 28:16-20, emphasis added).

As the Father gave his Son a divine mandate, so too Jesus sends his apostles on a mission from God, giving them authority both on earth and in heaven to teach and govern in advancing his kingdom (Matt. 18:15-18), and he promises to send the Holy Spirit to help them in doing so, a promise he gave only to his apostles in the upper room at the Last Supper (John 16:13). This promise extends to the apostles’ ongoing successors as well, for “his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists . . . for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12).