New-Apostolic-Church
Short answer: Ephesians 2:19-22 describes the church as a building whose foundation has already been laid, with Christ himself as the cornerstone. The New Apostolic Church (NAC), founded in the nineteenth century and led by a Chief Apostle with a circle of apostles, teaches that living apostles are necessary today for the church's ministry of forgiveness and preparation for Christ's return. Scripture is clear that the church rests on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and it also shows that some claimed apostleship falsely. Faithful Christians differ on whether the gift of apostle continues in some form. What Ephesians 2:19-22 will not support is the idea that a modern office holds authority equal to or necessary alongside Christ and the original witnesses. The church is built on Christ; no living office completes him.
The Foundation Ephesians Describes
Ephesians 2:19-22 begins with a change of status. Gentiles who were once outside Israel's covenants are now, in Paul's words, fellow citizens with God's people and members of his household. The image shifts from a family to a building. The church is not a collection of independent groups but one household, one temple, one dwelling place for God.
Then Paul names the foundation: the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. A foundation is laid once. You do not lay it again in every generation, and you do not add to it. The cornerstone determines the angle of every other stone. If Christ is the cornerstone, the building's whole shape is set by him, and the apostolic witness is the foundation that carries his message forward.
The passage ends with growth: the whole building grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Growth is real, but it is growth on the foundation, not growth of the foundation. This is why the church's identity is anchored in the apostolic gospel rather than in any ongoing office. The building can rise across centuries because the foundation is already sufficient.
Who the New Apostolic Church Says Apostles Are
The New Apostolic Church formed in the 1860s out of a movement that expected renewed apostolic ministry. Its structure centers on a Chief Apostle and a college of apostles who are understood to lead the church, ordain ministers, and administer sacraments. Members believe these apostles carry a commission to prepare the church for Christ's return and to pronounce forgiveness of sins in his name.
NAC teaching does not usually claim that modern apostles replace Christ. It claims Christ works through them, and that living apostles are needed because the church must be led by Christ through an ongoing apostolic office. The practical weight falls on apostolic authority: sacraments, sealing, and forgiveness are tied to the office.
This is where the debate becomes concrete. If the office is necessary for those things, then the church without living apostles lacks something essential. That is a very large claim, and Ephesians 2:19-22 is one of the passages that must be weighed carefully when it is made.
Ephesians 2:20 and the Question of Ongoing Apostles
Some readers take Ephesians 2:20 to mean that apostles exist in every era, because they are named alongside prophets as foundation layers. Others read the verse as referring to the original apostles and prophets whose witness became the church's foundation once and for all. The Greek construction allows either a foundational role exercised in the first generation or a role that continues.
What the verse does not say is that a modern office must exist for the church to be the church. The emphasis falls on the completed foundation and the living cornerstone. Everything else in the building is measured against those, not against itself. Any office that claims to be necessary for salvation or for the validity of sacraments must answer to this priority.
Christians who accept ongoing apostolic ministry generally define it as service, church planting, and guardianship of the gospel, not as an exclusive channel of grace. That distinction matters. The text permits one reading more easily than the other, and the difference is not trivial.
1 Corinthians 12:28 and Order in the Assembly
Paul lists God's appointments in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles and gifts. The list is not a hierarchy of persons but an ordering of functions given to one body. Apostles appear first because they carry the message, not because they outrank the rest of the members in worth.
Notice that the list is fluid. Prophets, teachers, healers, helpers, and administrators all belong to the same sentence. No single office swallows the others, and no office is presented as the only place where Christ's voice is heard. The body has many members, and the Spirit distributes gifts as he wills.
This supplies a check on any system that concentrates spiritual authority in one title. If a church's life depends entirely on one office, it has flattened a passage that deliberately spreads ministry across the assembly. The New Apostolic Church is not unique in facing this risk, but its structure makes the question unusually sharp.
Acts 1 and the Unique Witness of the Twelve
Acts 1 records the replacement of Judas. The requirement is specific: the man must have accompanied the disciples the whole time Jesus went in and out among them, from John's baptism until the ascension. Matthias is chosen as a witness of the resurrection. The qualification is historical participation, not general spiritual gifting.
That is a narrow criterion. It could only be met by people who were present during Jesus' earthly ministry. If apostleship in the strict sense requires eyewitness testimony, then the office as originally constituted cannot be repeated. Later figures like Paul were added by direct encounter with the risen Christ, which is not a pattern anyone can claim for themselves.
This is one reason many Christians distinguish the foundational apostles from later missionary and church-planting work. The distinction is not hostility to leadership. It is an attempt to honor what Acts 1 actually requires rather than treating an extraordinary commission as routine.
False Apostles and the Duty to Test
Scripture does not assume that everyone called an apostle is one. 2 Corinthians 11 calls certain men false apostles and deceitful workers who masquerade as apostles of Christ. Revelation 2:2 commends a church for testing those who call themselves apostles and finding them false. The New Testament, in other words, expects discernment rather than automatic acceptance.
Testing does not mean cynicism. It means examining teaching and conduct against the apostolic gospel already delivered. A claim to apostolic authority must be measured by whether it conforms to the message of the first apostles, not by the confidence with which it is made or the size of the organization behind it.
This cuts in every direction. It applies to the New Apostolic Church, and it applies to any pastor, bishop, or movement that treats its own voice as final. The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily to see whether Paul's own preaching was true. That posture is the church's safety, and it is commanded, not optional.
What Belongs to Christ Alone
Ephesians 2 gives Christ the cornerstone. He is the one who holds the building together, and the apostles and prophets are the foundation beneath it. When any office is described as the channel through which forgiveness or salvation must come, the question is whether Christ is being supplemented or proclaimed. The difference is decisive for pastoral care.
Pastors forgive sins by declaring the gospel, not by possessing a power Christ lacks. Sacraments are means of grace because Christ instituted them and works through them, not because the one administering them holds a unique rank. If a believer is taught that Christ's work is incomplete without a particular office, assurance is replaced by dependence on men.
A healthy church points away from its leaders to the cornerstone. A leader who draws attention to his own necessity has moved from service to something else. The test is simple and searching: does this ministry make Christ more central, or does it make itself indispensable?
How to Think About Continuing Apostles Today
Christians disagree here, and honesty requires saying so. Some traditions hold that apostles ceased with the first generation. Others, including some Pentecostal and charismatic churches as well as the New Apostolic Church, believe apostolic ministry continues as a gift of service. Neither view should be caricatured.
The real dividing line is authority, not vocabulary. A church may use the word apostle for a church planter without claiming that his words carry the weight of Scripture. The problem arises when a modern office claims the same authority as the biblical apostles or becomes necessary for salvation.
Wherever a Christian lands, the practical counsel is the same. Test teaching against the apostolic gospel. Value faithful leadership without surrendering your conscience to it. And keep the cornerstone where Ephesians 2 puts it, because a foundation laid by Christ does not need rebuilding by any later hand.
Biblical fidelity check
Ephesians 2:19-22 establishes that the church is one household and one temple, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. It does not say that new apostles must be appointed in every generation, and it does not grant any modern office authority equal to the original apostolic witness. The passage's emphasis falls on the completed foundation and the living Christ who holds the building together.
A common misreading treats the verse as a charter for ongoing apostolic succession, as if the church cannot stand without living apostles. That reads a later institutional claim back into a text about the church's identity across Jew and Gentile. Another misreading treats the passage as if the foundation were unfinished. Both miss the point: the foundation is laid, and the building grows on it. Faithful Christians may differ on whether apostolic gift continues, but no reading of this text makes a modern office essential for salvation.
Other passages that speak to Ephesians 2:19-22
Several related studies help frame this topic. What Does 1 Corinthians 1:10 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application addresses unity in the church, which is directly at stake when one office claims preeminence. What Does 1 Corinthians 1:9 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application grounds that unity in God's faithfulness rather than in human structures. For a wider survey, 1 Corinthians 1: Called, United, and Boasting in the Lord traces how Paul confronts factionalism, and 1 Corinthians 10: Warnings and Freedom warns against presumption in spiritual things. Together these passages reinforce that Christ, not any office, is the church's foundation.
Frequently asked questions
Does the New Apostolic Church believe its apostles are equal to the biblical apostles?
The New Apostolic Church treats its apostles as the continuation of the apostolic ministry and ties forgiveness of sins and preparation for Christ's return to that office. Critics argue this exceeds what Ephesians 2:19-22 and Acts 1:21-26 permit, since the original apostles were eyewitnesses of the resurrection. Members generally describe the office as Christ working through chosen servants rather than replacing him, but the practical authority attached to the office is what makes the claim significant and worth testing carefully against Scripture.
Does Ephesians 2:20 require living apostles in every generation?
The verse says the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone. A foundation is laid once, and this text emphasizes the completed foundation rather than a recurring office. Some Christians read the verse as allowing ongoing apostolic ministry in a service role; others see it as referring to the first-generation witnesses whose teaching became Scripture. The text itself does not make a modern office necessary for the church to exist, and faithful readers differ on how broadly to apply the term.
How should I evaluate a church that claims apostolic authority?
Test the teaching against the apostolic gospel. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 warns that some are false apostles, and Revelation 2:2 commends a church for testing such claims and finding them false. Ask whether Christ remains the cornerstone or whether the office has become essential for forgiveness and salvation. Ask whether leaders welcome scrutiny or discourage it. A ministry that points to Christ and submits to Scripture is safe; one that makes itself indispensable has replaced the foundation with something else.
