1 Corinthian 15:7-8 - Paul is the last of
the Apostles who received a unique calling of apostleship through an appearance
of the resurrected Lord.
He doesn't believe that Apostles with a
unique calling and personal appearance from the Lord would come after because
of his use of "last of all" in the passage. Others are called
apostles in the NT that do not write Scripture, and there writings were not
preserved as Scripture, though there is some indication of how they should have
functioned. I cannot find a text that says that only Apostles could write
Scripture, but the argument could be made that the mark of canonicity is by
Apostolic endorsement/association, so that under the guidance of the Apostles,
some of their writings became recognized as Scripture became recognized, while
others were not preserved as Scripture. This shows God's divine hand in
uniquely revealing which books are canonical to the body by the gifts he has
given to the body. What I am saying in essence is that apostles could by the
power of the Holy Spirit and the authority given, recognize Scripture, but only
a select few individuals were uniquely gifted by the Spirit to write Scripture,
some whom were not apostles and neither had they seen the resurrected Lord
(Luke). But the mark of canonicity is not limited to Apostolic endorsement by
those with the unique calling but also through "self-attestation"
like for the book of Hebrews.
The intrinsic qualities of a piece of
writing and as revealed by the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer
ultimately define canonicity at the individual level, and no amount of human
reasoning can ultimately convince anyone to recognize any piece of writing as
"from God" rather the work of the Spirit indwelling the believer
convicts us of such.
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