I’ve heard Roman Catholics and even Anglicans trace their clergy back to the earliest apostles or disciples. Is this a biblical concept or necessary function? The idea seems to resonate with many believers.

Here’s something from the Westminster Dictionary of Church History:

“The concept of uninterrupted transmission of spiritual authority in the ministry through the episcopate from the apostles who were commissioned by Christ. Validity of holy orders is said to depend upon this unbroken succession. Clement of Rome in the 1^st century emphasized the fact of the succession of the ministry from the apostles.”

There was some argument to be made for the concept of apostolic succession in the first few generations of Christianity, when a person’s influences and mentors could be traced back to the apostles. Beyond that, it seems to me to be a vain concept – that real apostolic succession is not accomplished by the laying on of hands, but by faithfulness to biblical truth.

Spurgeon said this:

“Now, it was no doubt the custom to lay on hands at the ordination of Christian ministers by the apostles, and there was an excellent reason for it, for gifts were thereby conveyed to the ordained, and when we can find anybody who can thereby confer some spiritual gift upon us, we shall be glad to have their hands laid on our heads; but empty hands we care not for…. empty hands it seems to me are fitly laid on empty heads, and to submit to an empty ceremony is the idlest of all idle waste of time.”

(From his sermon, Our Gifts, and How to Use Them, on 2 Timothy 1:6)

2 Timothy 2:2: True Apostolic Succession

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

1. The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses: Paul reminded Timothy of the body of truth that he had heard from the Apostle in the presence of many others. Certainly, Timothy heard many Bible studies from Paul and shared much time with the Apostle in personal discipleship.
2. It may be that Paul reminded Timothy of a special message he presented at Timothy’s ordination service among many witnesses.
3. Commit these to faithful men: God gave ministry to Timothy, not for him to keep to himself, but for him to pass on to others. An essential part of his work as a pastor was to pour into others what God had committed to him.
4. One may say that everything that a pastor does in his ministry he should train others to do. There are no duties of a pastor so holy or so secret that he should keep them all to himself. He should always seek to spread ministry about to others, and to train others to do the work of the ministry.
5. Timothy was not to teach others his own particular ideas or theories, but simple apostolic doctrine and example (the things that you have heard from me). What Paul poured into him he was responsible to pour into others.

iii. The job of training leaders is simply part of a pastor’s job description. He should not only train leaders when the need for a leader is obvious; nor should he only train leaders for the needs of his congregation alone. He should train leaders for the Kingdom of God in general, whether they are used in ministry at the particular pastor’s congregation or not.

1. To faithful men: When Timothy looked for those whom he could pour apostolic doctrine and practice into, he was to look for the quality of faithfulness. He didn’t need to find smart men, popular men, strong men, easy men, perfect men, or good-looking men; Paul told him to look for faithful men.
2. Through the history of Christianity, some have held to the idea of apostolic succession. This is the idea that you can know who a true minister of the gospel is because Peter ordained someone to succeed him, and that one ordained someone to succeed him, and the next one ordained someone to succeed him, so forth and so on down the line. However, this verse reveals the real apostolic succession – the succession of faithful men, who take the teachings of the apostles and pass them on.
3. Without faithfulness to the teaching and example of the apostles, the idea of apostolic succession is nothing more than the laying of empty hands upon empty heads. “Where is the uninterrupted apostolic succession? Who can tell? Probably it does not exist on the face of the world. All the pretensions to it by certain Churches are as stupid as they are idle and futile” (Clarke).

LIVE Q&A for August 28, 2025