Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ESSAY II THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IN THE i APOSTOLIC AND SUB-APOSTOLIC PERIODS J. A. ROBINSON, D.D. SUMMARY In this Essay (i) the theory of 'Charismatic' ministries is examined and corrected, (2) Lightfoot's exposition of the origin of the Threefold Ministry is confirmed, (3) an attempt is made to indicate the essential significance of this Threefold Ministry. Explanations of St Paul's language proposed in the light of the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles must be tested by a closer attention to the context of the passages. The Teaching merely suggests a peculiar state of things within its own sphere. The New Testament is not explained by it, and still points to a different conception of Church and Ministry. This conception is that which Lightfoot (who wrote 15 years before the Teaching was discovered) formed directly from the New Testament — viz. that the New Testament already shews a permanent ministry being instituted by the divinely commissioned authority of the Apostles : first Deacons, then Presbyter-Bishops were appointed ; and the lines were laid down along which the second century ' Episcopate ' would presently come into being. This judgement of Lightfoot's, questioned by the ' second thoughts,' is confirmed by the 'third thoughts' of criticism. The stages of evolution have become plainer ; so also has the idea itself which was evolved. This generation with its yearning for unity has gained in power to understand how the historic threefold ministry stands for the unity of the whole Church. THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IN THE APOSTOLIC AND SUB-APOSTOLIC PERIODS Forty-nine years have gone by since Lightfoot wrote his famous essay on the early history of the Christian Ministry. These years have been fruitful in discovery and research. Some new documents h... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.