dous influence in that period
and was undoubtedly one of the chief agents used in establishing the
church and fixing its external form and character.

Many believe that Paul belonged among the twelve as the real successor
of Judas. According to this view, the election of Matthias to the
apostleship was without divine sanction, being proposed by the
impetuous Peter, who, before the descent of the Holy Ghost, often
proposed inadvised things. Strength is given this view by the
oft-repeated assertion of Paul that he was an apostle, "not of men,
neither by men, but by Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1: 1). We are not forced to
that conclusion concerning Matthias, however. In writing the Acts of
the Apostles, Luke the companion of Paul, records the appointment of
Matthias without intimating that it was a mistake. In Scripture usage
a certain parallelism is maintained between the twelve apostles of the
Lamb and the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. When we recall
that there were literally thirteen tribes in Israel, Ephriam and
Manasseh standing for Joseph, we need not be surprized that there
should be literally thirteen foundational apostles in the Christian
church, Matthias and Paul standing, as it were, in the place of Judas.

There can be no doubt that Paul really ranked with the Twelve. He
was a "chosen vessel," the "apostle of the Gentiles." Although as one
"born out of due time," he himself saw Jesus and from him received the
entire gospel by direct revelation. Consequently the other apostles
possessed no advantage over him. He himself says, "The gospel which
was preached of me was not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ"
(Gal. 1:11, 12). He "was not a whit behind the very chiefest
apostles" (2 Cor. 11:5). And it was through Paul particularly that
the revelation of the "mystery" was made complete--"that both Jews and
Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of _the_ SAME _body_," and he was
commissioned "_to make all men see_" it.

The general church was, therefore, made up of various local
congregations, which were "set in order" by apostolic authority. The
essential nature of this organization is determined by the object for
which these congregations were formed, the conditions of membership
therein, and the kind of laws by which they were governed.

[Sidenote: Nature of its organization]

The primary object for which the local church was formed was the