Tradition must give way to the clear statements of the Scripture

 The New Testament, largely considered, is apostolic witness. As such, it is the witness of Christ. The witness of the apostles is the witness the exalted Christ has appointed and authorized , such that he identifies it as his very own (Acts 1:21–22; Eph. 2:20); it is on par with Jesus’s own words in truth and authority (e.g., 2 Cor. 13:3; 1 John 1:2 and  1 Jn. 4:14 in the light of 1 Jn. 1:2). The New Testament use of “apostle” (ἀπόστολος) varies. My comments here concern those who were apostles of Christ— those chosen and authorized by Christ and having his authority —the original twelve, with Matthias replacing Judas (Acts 1:20–26), Paul (1 Cor. 15:8–9; cf. Rom. 1:5; 1 Cor. 1:1; 9:2; Gal. 1:1, 11–16), and perhaps others.  These are the apostles in view in Eph. 2:20 and listed as first in 1 Cor. 12:28 and Eph. 4:11; see the discussion of this apostolate (“apostleship,” Acts 1:25) in Ridderbos, Redemptive History, 12–15. In distinction are those “apostles” who served as “...

 “The First Resurrection” In the opening sentence of the article , Kline declared, “One of the critical points in the exegesis of Rev. 20 is the interpretation of prōtos in the phrase, “the first resurrection” (v. 5). Premillennarians understand prōtos in the purely sequential sense of first in a series of items of the same kind. Consequently, premillennarians interpret “the first resurrection” in Revelation 20:5 as a bodily resurrection , “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection.” They also interpret the resurrection event described in Revelation 20:12–13 as a bodily resurrection , “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the...

 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”  Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!”  So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die . Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but , “If it is my will that he remain until I come , what is that to you?” John 21:18–23  His la...