Oropeza on Apostasy and Apostolic Succession

Recently I've been reading through B. J. Oropeza's three-volume set Apostasy in the New Testament Communities, and I found some interesting comments touching upon the nature of apostolic succession.  As is well known, the replacement of Judas by Matthias (Acts 1:12-26) is a scriptural incident that has often been interpreted by Latter-day Saint thinkers as clear precedent that the Twelve was to be an ongoing body, with the death of any member requiring the selection of a new replacement so as to keep the Twelve at a full quorum.  (In LDS thought, the failure to keep up this process has often been cited as a contributing factor toward the purported Great Apostasy that overtook the church.)  Of course, as J. Reuben Clark, Jr., admitted, the replacement of Judas by Matthias is the only clear example we have of this in the New Testament (On the Way to Immortality and Eternal Life [Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 1953 (1948)], 34-35, 48).  However, Joseph Fielding Smith advanced the argument that other members of the Twelve were likewise replaced upon their deaths by other New Testament figures designated with the title 'apostle', such as Paul (Doctrines of Salvation 3:152-153):

We know that Judas Iscariot lost his standing because of his treacherous betrayal of the Master, and Matthias was called to take his place.  We know that James, the son of Zebedee, was killed with the sword not long after the resurrection of the Lord.  [...]  We know that it was the custom in the beginning to fill vacancies in this presiding council, for the quorum of the Twelve was to remain in the Church during its entire existence.  We know that in the course of time there came a "falling away," and that the Church was taken from the earth, and that the priesthood went back to God for a season.  [...]  Paul was an ordained apostle, and without question he took the place of one of the other brethren in that Council. 

Contrast this, of course, with Clark's statement that "there is no record that he [Paul] was ever a member of the Twelve" (35).  Oropeza's findings also differ markedly from Joseph Fielding Smith's view (which is unsubstantiated by either biblical evidence or early church tradition) and support an alternative view of the Twelve (In the Footsteps of Judas and Other Defectors: The Gospels, Acts, and Johannine Letters [Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2011], 149):

Second, Jesus promised the Twelve they would sit with him on thrones "judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Luke 22:30/Matt 19:28).  The apostasy of Judas reduced the number of disciples to eleven (Acts 1:26; cf. Luke 24:9, 33) and left a vacant seat that needed to be filled if twelve disciples were to reign in the future kingdom, and so Luke includes the replacement of Judas by Matthias in the Acts narrative.  Significantly no replacement is needed for James, another member of the Twelve, when he dies later on in Acts 12:1-2.  His eschatological place is secure because he died a martyr.  He will sit on one of the twelve thrones judging the tribes of Israel.  The same could not be said of Judas; another must take his place because he will not participate in the future kingdom of God. 

Oropeza's research supports the mainstream Christian tradition: that the operative factor requiring the replacement of Judas by Matthias was not Judas' death per se but rather his irrevocable act of apostasy - made irrevocable by his death.  Therefore, Judas is replaced, but James and the others are not.  This indicates that the Twelve was not meant to be an earthly body with a lengthy succession of members; rather, it was meant as a once-for-all eschatological quorum - and no replacement has ever been needed for any member but Judas because all of those members still hold their position in it.  Naturally, the implications of this for LDS thought would be extraordinarily significant, given how overwhelmingly the LDS priesthood hierarchy is founded upon its claims that the biblical Quorum of the Twelve was just such a succession-based body. 

Daniel Tyler on Christian Denominations

The following is taken from Daniel Tyler, "The Gospel Principles", Juvenile Instructor 13/20 (15 October 1878): 232.

It may seem strange to some of our readers, and especially the young, that there should be so many different Christian denominations, and all teaching different doctrines. One would naturally conclude that almost any person of ordinary ability could understand plain, simple language, such as is found in the Old and New Testaments, which they all profess to believe. Still more strange does it appear when we learn the fact that educated men, who have spent the best part of their lives in the study of literature and religion, differ more widely on religious points than the common people; yet such is the case.

Those differences among learned religionists in olden times were attributed to a species of insanity, as the term is often used in our day: "He is religiously insane." Hence it was that a learned judge once said to St. Paul, "Much learning hath made thee mad." The word mad here is used for insane, vulgarly called crazy, which signifies the same thing.

The learned ministers under the Mosaic law were just as much in the dark as are the present Christians. One of those devout preachers being impressed with the divinity of Christ's mission, more on account of His miracles than of the truths He taught, went to Jesus by night and asked the Savior about the plan of salvation. He was told that "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." The minister thought this a new and strange doctrine, and asked a further explanation. He was then told that after a person had been born again to see the kingdom, he must be born of water and of the spirit in order to enter into it. It was too great and too mysterious for the learned priest, or rabbi, as Nicodemus was called. He could not comprehend it. Jesus told him the reason was, that he was not born of the Spirit. He said "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." The man knows that he has felt the divine influence as well as you know when you inhale a gentle breeze of air; but if you have never had that Spirit, he cannot tell it to you so that you can comprehend it, any more than you could explain to an unborn babe the sensation of the atmosphere of this world. It must be felt to be understood.

St. Paul says, "The things of man knoweth no man but by the spirit of man that is in him; even so the things of God knoweth no man but by the spirit of God." The same Apostle says, "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea even the deep things of God." For this reason, when Jesus arose from the dead, and did not design to remain much longer with His disciples to tell them just what to say to the people, He would not allow them to preach in their uninspired condition, lest they should, without that Spirit, lead the people astray, as uninspired men do now. He told them to tarry or wait at Jerusalem until they were endowed with power from on high; or, in other words, until they were born of the Spirit, having already been born of water.

The reason, then, that this generation of so called Christians but really infidels, do not understand the gospel plan as it is, is because they have not the spirit of God. There is a passage of scripture to the effect that the wisdom of this world cannot find out God. That those professing to be wise have not the Spirit of God, which is inspiration and revelation to those who enjoy it, must be plain to everyone, from the fact that they claim that all of the gifts and graces which anciently attended the Holy Ghost are done away, and no longer needed. No matter how plain the plan of salvation is, it requires the Holy Spirit to understand it. So say the scriptures, and the experience and observation of all our Elders are that the doctrine herein set forth is correct. Kind reader, if you have not done so, repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands by proper authority, that you may the more fully learn how to be saved; for on those conditions "the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Do "not neglect so great salvation." You cannot obtain it in any other way.