The LDS makes a big thing of their having supposed apostolic authority. They maintain that this proves that they are the only true church, and that having lost authority, the Christian church of today is apostate. But nowhere in the New Testament will you find any teaching about either the apostles or other Christians needing authority in order to propagate the gospel and/or baptize. Nevertheless, the LDS claim of apostolic authority is carefully examined hereunder. And it will be seen that the only Person who was ever given all authority was the Lord Jesus Christ; not His apostles or the LDS church.

This article is broken into two sections. The first section deals with the LDS misapplication of what the gospels teach concerning authority, and the second section deals with what their own scriptures have to say on the subject.

Contrary to what the LDS teaches, all regenerated followers of Christ are expected to spread the gospel, without any authority being required. As an example we need only look at the book of Acts. We read one such example in the verses below, which tell us that some from Cyprus and Cyrene who had come to believe in Christ, and where there were no apostles, no organized church and no ties to the organized church, began spreading the gospel of Christ amongst the Greeks:

And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. (Acts 11:20-21, KJV)

The next few verses tell us that when the church at Jerusalem heard about this, they sent Barnabas off to Antioch to investigate. When he saw how, by the grace of God, all these gentile souls had been saved, he rejoiced with them and encouraged them in the Lord.

Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. (Acts 11:22-23, KJV).

"AUTHORITY" IN THE GOSPELS

At no time did Christ ever bestow authority to preach, promote the gospel or baptize, on any of his apostles, disciples or followers. Nor is there any teaching anywhere in the Bible that so much as suggests that any sort of authority is needed to preach, promote the gospel or baptize.

Although the King James Version of the Bible, which is favoured by the LDS, doesn't use the word "authority" in the gospels, the word "power" that it does use is translated in other places as authority. And as the New American Standard Bible does use the word "authority," in order to be fair to the LDS, when considering the word "authority" we will quote from that version. There are several passages in the gospels that deal with the subject of authority, and we'll go through each of them carefully.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20, NASB)

In this passage Jesus states that He alone has been given all authority. He merely told them to baptize people in His name, as well as in the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and to teach them the things that He had taught, without giving them any authority.

And having summoned His twelve disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. (Matthew 10:1, NASB)

On this occasion the authority given to the twelve disciples was only over unclean spirits and sickness. This is what scholars refer to as a "sign gift."

Sign gifts were given to specific people as a sign that they had been called by God for a special purpose. For instance, in the Old Testament Moses was given the sign gift of miracles so that the Hebrews could be convinced that he had been called and empowered by God to lead them to the promised land. And in the New Testament sign gifts were given to Christ's apostles so that others could be convinced that Christ had been sent by God; and then also later on, after His death and resurrection, to empower them to establish His church.

And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons. (Mark 3:14-15, NASB).

Here the authority was only to cast out demons (also a sign gift), not authority to preach. Nowhere in the Bible did Christ ever say that anyone had to have authority or power to preach the gospel or to baptize. That idea was purely an invention of Joseph Smith. All Christians are expected to spread the gospel. It's part of their service to Christ.

And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs; and He was giving them authority over the unclean spirits; and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belt; but to wear sandals; and He added, "Do not put on two tunics." (Mark 6:7-9, NASB).

Here again Christ only gave them authority over unclean spirits. Furthermore, they were told not to take any money or even a change of clothes, and to wear sandals. If Mormons insist they are conforming to the practices of the twelve apostles in the gospels, then surely they should conform in this respect too.

What the LDS does not make allowance for is that the Bible is a historical document. What we are reading here is a history of what happened during Christ's ministry. And not every single instruction Christ gave to His disciples at that moment in time under those very special circumstances and conditions, was meant to be taken as a permanent pattern that has to be applied to all of His followers, forever. Many practices only applied to the there and then. However, this is not to say that we can't learn from what happened during those early times before the New Covenant actually ratified by Christ's shed blood on the cross.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. (Luke 10:19, NASB).

Authority was only given here over the power of the enemy, as well as over serpents and scorpions.

By applying authority given for other things to authority to preach the gospel, the LDS has twisted what the scriptures actually say. Search as you may you will never find the Bible mentioning that the Lord Jesus bestowed authority to preach the gospel or to baptize, on anyone.



APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY

The LDS wrongly maintains and teaches its members that the early church went into total apostasy after the apostles died, as the authority to act in God's name had died with them. But they have never ever been able to come up with any proof that indicates that there ever has been a total apostasy of the church. And there is a great deal of evidence that proves exactly the opposite. (See the relevant article on this site, entitled "The Apostasy is a Mormon Fallacy.") And we have already proved that there was no such thing as apostolic authority concerning the gospel. Furthermore, if it had been necessary for apostolic authority to be passed on in order for the church to legitimately act in God's name after they died, then surely the apostles would have ordained others with the necessary authority just as the LDS church does today. They were dedicated leaders, and the book of Acts reveals that they had plenty of followers who were just as dedicated. Therefore, it is inconceivable that they would have neglected such an important obligation, had it been necessary.

It would be a different story if the apostles had all died simultaneously and unexpectedly. If apostolic authority had needed to be passed on, then there would have been a problem. But history reveals that this wasn't the case. And if it was such a big deal why is there no teaching or mention of it anywhere in the Bible? Christ never said a word about the necessity for apostolic authority, and nor did any of the apostles.

It is patently obvious that this "authority" teaching was an invention of Joseph Smith, in an attempt to justify his claim about the LDS being "the restored church."



FULL SALVATION BY CHRIST REQUIRES NO AUTHORITY

The Bible is emphatic that all who put their faith in Christ will have their sins forgiven and gain eternal life. On the other hand, nowhere in the Bible does it say that we can only gain full salvation if we are baptized by and obey the laws and ordinances of a specific religious organization that possesses so-called "authority." This is a story that was dreamed up by the LDS prophet, Joseph Smith, because the Bible clearly teaches that salvation is attained only through Christ. He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6). So one doesn't even need to be a member of any church at all to obtain salvation. And furthermore, in the New Testament the word "church" always referred to the body of regenerated believers in Christ, never to a religious organization of any sort.



CHRISTIANITY IS A RELATIONSHIP, NOT A RELIGION

Christianity is not an authoritarian, legalistic religion. Nor is salvation attained through the performance of any sort of religious ritual, such as baptism by a Mormon official who has supposed authority. Salvation is a one-on-one intimate, personal, life-changing relationship between the sinner and the Saviour. The situation is this: I make a decision to turn from my old life of "self" and sin. I repent, stop trusting in myself, come to Christ and put my trust in Him instead, He saves me and I follow Him. He doesn't mess around playing games about my first needing apostolic authority to back up my salvation. He saves me because He is the Saviour and He alone has the authority to do so. He earned it when He died for my sins, in my place, on the cross.

To put it another way, according to the Bible, Christ is the Saviour, not the LDS church. The Bible says that Christ paid the consequences for my sin, in my place, on the cross at Calvary and that if I put my trust in Him, because of what He achieved on the cross in my place and on my behalf, all my sins will be forgiven and I will have eternal life.

After reading this, I did exactly what the Bible said I needed to do to qualify for salvation. I put my trust in Christ alone, and He saved me! Because of that we have a very special relationship. Besides being my Saviour, He has become my dearest Friend and Companion. He leads me and guides me through thick and thin, and I rely on Him moment by moment for grace to cope with the trials, temptations and sorrows of life. He has never let me down. And I am utterly beholden to Him for what He has done and is still doing in my life. I owe Him my everything. I will never get over the wonder of it all. As an old hymn puts it, "we have a bond that nothing can sever. I am His and He is mine forever and forever." (c/f Romans 8:38) And here the LDS is telling me that this is illegal or has no foundation or some such thing, because I'm not a member of their church and there was no apostolic authority involved. My answer to that is that they don't know what they are talking about.

But if they want to talk about authority, all leadership has authority of a sort. And in that respect the apostles weren't the only ones with authority. Paul told Titus to appoint elders (Titus 1:5). Titus wasn't an apostle, yet he had the authority to appoint elders, to shepherd a church and to preach and baptize and to do all sorts of other things too. Paul also told Titus in 2:5 to speak and reprove with all authority. And I'm sure that Titus wasn't the only one in the primitive church besides the apostles who had leadership authority. However, it's not only leaders in the church who have authority, but the entire body of Christ. I'm only a little keg in the wheel, a tiny part of the little toe in the body of Christ so to speak, but nevertheless I have the authority both of the Bible and of the gospel of Christ behind me.

From what the Bible teaches it seems that the twelve apostles were considered to be a part of the foundation of the church, and because of that they will have a special place in posterity. When talking about the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, Revelation 21:14 mentions that "the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb."



LDS SCRIPTURES CONFIRM THAT APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY NEVER DIED OUT

Although the LDS is wrong in their claims about apostolic authority being necessary, we will nevertheless discuss how their own scriptures contradict their teaching that there was no longer any authority left on earth because all Christ's apostles had died, and that their apostolic authority had died with them.

In Doctrine and Covenants 7, the LDS maintains that the Apostle John asked for and was given power over death that he might live and bring souls to Christ. Verse 7 mentions that Christ gave him that power "until I come." If Mormon scripture is true and John, Christ's apostle never died, then how could the early church have fallen into total apostasy or have been without apostolic authority?

Furthermore, John was a prolific writer. He wrote some of our most important New Testament scriptures, five books in all. If Mormon scripture is true and he had been given power over death, why then did he suddenly stop writing at precisely the time he would have died a natural death? Remember too that this is the same apostle who had written the seven letters to the churches about their spiritual condition, as recorded in the book of Revelation. He'd had no qualms whatsoever about confronting the church's shortcomings. If the Mormon story is true and he hadn't died, why did he not continue with his oversight of the churches by warning them against their supposed error?

Mormons maintain that on becoming apostate, the early church had removed all the sections of the Bible that had contained Mormon doctrine. If that was the case then why was John so silent on the subject, seeing the LDS maintains that he was still alive at that time? Why did he not warn them, using the same authorative tone as he had in the letters to them in the book of Revelation? The LDS excuse that he was too afraid to do this is utterly ridiculous. This man was a fearless, dedicated servant of Christ. So much so that he exposed himself to the threat of arrest and possible crucifixion, by standing besides Christ's mother, right near His cross when He died (John 19:27). And he had not been afraid to confront the church previously when they had slipped up. So he certainly would not have balked at putting them in place had there been the slightest sign of apostasy.

Furthermore, where are all John's converts that the LDS maintains he was supposed to bring to Christ? Has anyone in the entire history of the world (since New Testament times) ever been converted by John's preaching? Has anyone ever seen him or heard of him? It would have been impossible for someone of John's fearlessness and calibre, to have remained anonymous or out of sight all those years.

In spite of their teaching In Doctrine and Covenants 7, John is described in some places in Mormon literature as having been resurrected and in others as having been translated.

Then there are the three Nephite disciples that 3 Nephi 28:7-9 says will remain alive to bring souls unto the Lord while the world should stand. The Mormon doctrinal writer and apostle, Bruce McConkie says in his book "The Mortal Messiah," Volume 4, page 392, that these Nephites were apostles. So according to Mormon scriptures, there were four faithful apostles, John and the three Nephites, each living on earth during the same period they claim that there was a total apostasy. How then could there have been either lost truth or lost, so-called authority? Why does Mormonism constantly contradict itself, bearing in mind that the main ingredient of truth is its consistency?

After studying the Bible and looking at all the evidence, one can only come to the conclusion that the LDS's contention about supposed authority is just an attempt to back up to their very imaginative claim to be the restored church of Jesus Christ.


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