Was Mary Magdalene an apostle?

by neat blue dog 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  neat blue dog

  The new article about Mary Magdalene says:

  The Catholic Church calls Mary . . . “the apostle of the apostles” because she was the first to bring news of Jesus’ resurrection to the apostles. . . . But this does not make her an apostle. And nowhere in the Scriptures is she called such.

  Apostle is from the Greek word to "send forth", like a messenger. Just as Paul was "an apostle to the nations" because of being sent forth, but 'not one of the twelve'. On that note, Mary was told by Jesus to "go to my brothers" and tell them about his resurrection. But WT just can't bear to say that about a woman, just like they've always lied about Judge Deborah, calling her only a prophetess, and how they never looked into the alternate interpretation of Paul seemingly saying that women should keep silent in the congregation.
  
  
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  Balaamsass2

  I pay the extra $5 a month on my Amazon Prime to get the History Channel. I watched a fascinating show called "Banned from the Bible" (it is still available). About the Apocrypha and other very common letters and books available prior to the "Official" versions accepted in the third century. Some were written by....drumroll....women. :) (Ever wonder WHY JWs toss all that nasty stuff "false religion" accepted in the 3rd century...but KEEP the books those bad guys wanted in the Bible...???)

  Really got me thinking. I highly recommend History Channels':

  1. Banned From The Bible
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  Sea Breeze

  The Roman Catholic Church also teaches that Mary (Jesus mother) is a Co-Mediatrix alongside Jesus Christ. This is still official Catholic dogma even though scripture says that there is only one mediator between God and man.

  Of course the Watchtower positions itself as what amounts to the same thing, requiring membership into the organization in order to be saved from judgment.... essentially a mediator between God and men; ie. God's "mouthpiece" on earth.
  

  After praying together, the disciples cast lots to discern who the chosen man would be, and the lot fell to Matthias. Trusting that God’s hand was in these proceedings, the other apostles received Matthias as the replacement for Judas (Acts 1:24–26). Nothing else is known of Matthias; he is not mentioned again in the Bible.

  The point is that men chose Matthias but Jesus himself chose Paul to replace Judas. We hear nothing further about men's choice but a LOT about Paul, whom Jesus personally chose.

  I think there were only 12 apostles. Watchtower is right on this, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.
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  neat blue dog

  That's what the Bible Students used to assert (new light didn't come until a century later), but I don't think that is correct. After all, Paul talked about Jesus appearing to "the twelve" and then says 'last of all he appeared to me', so I think it's pretty apparent the word apostle is used literally as a descriptive term.
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  Sea Breeze

  Only twelve apostles:

  “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Rev. 21:14).

  "The Twelve" was also likely the nickname of this inner circle group.
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  truth_b_known

  The Catholic Church decided to magically deem the title of "prostitute" on Mary Magdalene. The reason for this was for the fact that people were believing that she was an Apostle or at least of great importance. The Church was not going to let a woman have such an honor.

  Apostolic succession is a real thing. Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot. Further proof comes from non-biblical Christian writing prior to Constantine creating the Holy Roman Church.

  The Protestant movement under Martin Luther rejected any writings outside the Bible. In addition, Luther had several Old Testament books removed from the Bible and was unsuccessful in getting Hebrews, James, and Revelation removed from the New Testament. Luther wanted all those books removed because the contradicted his teachings of By Grace Alone and By Faith Alone.
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  Fr.RAS

  To Sea Breeze's contention above, in fact the Catholic Church does not (now) officially or dogmatically refer to Mary as the Mediatrix or even Co-Redemptrix. Of course Mary "mediates" Christ to the world by her virginal conception of him in the Incarnation and co-redeems in the sense of her unique cooperation with him for the redemption of the world. She was, after all, Christ's first and most faithful follower. But Christ remains her savior, in the eyes of the Church. In the document of the Second Vatican Council on the Church in the Modern World is says something to the effect that "no title should be given to Mary which either adds to or subtracts from Christ's unique role as savior of the world."

  Also, please note that Mary Magdalen was called (again, not dogma, just a pious reflection) the "Apostle TO the Apostles" (not Apostle OF the Apostles) because she and the other women were the first witnesses to the resurrection and were sent to bring the news to the Apostles (as noted).

  Nor did "the Catholic Church" magically term Mary Magdalen a prostitute. Some commentators thought she was the woman caught in adultery, thus...

  If you think of the Catholic Church the way the WT thinks of itself, you will continually imbibe in these confusions. Unlike the WT, and despite its (limited) claims to both Apostolic authority and infallibility, the Church leaves a great bit of space for debate, commentary, speculation and even some dissent.

  I say all this not to provoke a controversy, but just for the sake of getting us out of the old WT, black or white, mindset.

  I appreciate this site and the many contending viewpoints. It is enriching and stimulating.
  
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  JoenB75

  Revelation 12:1 makes us think of Eve and Mary but you could certainly argue we honor Paul more. Of course thinking biblically, both are vessels of Jesus carrying forth the Word into the world ☺️
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  RubaDub

  I think about what the the new system of things will be like. We always hear about the people mentioned in the bible and how we can ask them about their historical activities.

  Perhaps at a convention, we may hear the experiences of men who "did" Mary Magdalene.
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  neat blue dog

  "The Twelve" was also likely the nickname of this inner circle group.

  Exactly, unlike "apostle" which was not exclusive.