LUKE AFFIRMS MATTHIAS' APPOINTMENT
Acts 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
This is the first mention of "the twelve" in Scripture after the resurrection of Christ. Please note that at this time, Paul was not yet converted. The only way this verse makes any sense is if Matthias is counted as "one of the twelve." Do YOU believe that Luke was inspired when he wrote this? Not only this, but throughout the entire book of Acts, and a few places in the epistles, reference is made to "the twelve". These all considered Matthias and not Paul, as "one of the twelve".
Consider also that scholars place the writing of this book at least sometime after the last events recorded in the book of Acts. Therefore, here we have the Holy Spirit testifying by Luke, many years later, of the appointment and acceptance of Matthias "among the twelve". Bear in mind also that there is not a single note or sidebar comment by the writer that the appointment of Matthias was ever reversed, or that Matthias came short of fulfilling his calling as an apostle. Consider that Matthew, Mark, Luke AND John ALL made parenthetical comments regarding Judas being the "traitor" of Christ, almost every time his name is mentioned. One could logically conclude that Luke would have done the same regarding Matthias, had he turned out to be a phony, or even less than the other apostles. At least he would have acknowledged their error, would he have not?
Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them....
There are some that suggest that "the twelve" is merely a formal title for the group of apostles; saying that the people habitually called Jesus' closest group of disciples, "the twelve ", and therefore the other references to "the twelve" were formal, and not actual references to the number of the apostles. But in the above verse, Luke writes "the eleven", referring to the ACTUAL number of "The Twelve" that were present. This verse, along with verses in the Gospels of Mark (16:14) and Luke (24:9), prove that the Scriptures refer to "twelve" when there were twelve, and eleven when there were eleven.
If this evidence alone is not enough, we have even stronger evidence by the irrefutable fact that.......
