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John 15:16 - Jesus chose men to be his Apostles
John 20:21 - Jesus made these men sharers in His own mission.
Luke 22:29-30 - These men are part of the kingdom.
Matthew 16:18 - Jesus built His Church upon Peter, who holds the keys of the kingdom.
John 10:16 - One sheperd to lead Christ's flock.
John 21:17 - Christ choose Peter
Ephesians 4:11 - Proof of the hierarchical
1 Tim 3:1, 8, 5:17 - Various offices in the hierarchy
Titus 1:5 - Bishops ordain deacons.
Malachi 2:7 - Seek instructions from the ministerial priesthood, they are God's messangers.
Acts 1:20 - Another person fulfills the Apostles office after their death.
Acts 1:25-26 - Matthias is choosen to replace Peter
1 Tim 4:14 - The gift of the priesthood is given by the laying on of hands.
1 Tim 5:22 - Laying on of hands is not given to everyone.
Acts 14:23 - The Apostles appointed priests for each Church. The Church was not governed by the laity.

Excerpt from the theological thesis on "The Church in the Apostolic and Patristic Age"

In order to appropriately account for the thought and life of the early Church it is first proper to examine salvation history briefly. The history of salvation begins with God who is perfect and is a family unto himself as a Trinity of persons. God created everything that is, including man, who is created in His image and likeness. A fallen angel, known as Satan tempted the first man and the first woman who gave into this temptation and fell from grace into sin. Through this sin all of mankind has lost the supernatural grace of original holiness and is in need of salvation. God promises to be with us and to offer a way in which we can regain a relationship with Him. Throughout the Old Testament God slowly revealed himself to His chosen people. In Noah, God chose one holy family who he saved from a great flood. From the descendants of Noah God calls Abraham to lead a holy tribe, and in Abraham and his son Isaac we see a foreshadowing of the cross of Calvary. Abraham leads Isaac to a mountain top where he will make his only son a sacrifice. Before he does though an angel of the Lord appears and recognizes his willingness to sacrifice his son and stops him. Through the Abrahamic covenant there is a promise of land, of a kingdom, and of a worldwide blessing. The promise of land is fulfilled provisionally when they enter the Promised Land, the promise of a kingdom is fulfilled provisionally through the Davidic kingdom, and the promise of a world wide blessing is provisionally fulfilled through Solomon. All three of these though are fully fulfilled in Christ. In Moses God opens his family to the holy nation of Israel and in David, to a whole kingdom. After David and Solomon the kingdom of God is split, exiled to Babylon, and eventually is allowed to return thanks to Cyrus of Persia. Except for the Maccabean revolt against Rome, there is little activity in salvation history at this point, only an anticipation of many prophecies to be fulfilled in the coming of a new Savior and a "new covenant". The people of God have been unable to save themselves through the legal covenants of the Old Testament as God had planned it. Man by following the Mosaic law will only be able to incur on himself the curses of the law because God ultimately does not desire sacrifice, but mercy. Hebrews explains that Abraham was saved by faith, as are all those saints of the Old Testament. If man follows the prescripts of the law it can only lead to death, because man himself is in need of a new heart and a new spirit as the Ezekiel had prophesied.

Salvation history finds its fulfillment starting with the last prophet, John the Baptist who announces the coming of the Messiah. God continues his self revelation in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, Second Person of the Trinity who is born and raised as a Jewish citizen in Rome. He then spends three years in ministry fulfilling many typological signs such as healing, feeding the poor, and raising the dead. After his ministry, in the Passion, he is tried crucified, dies, and is buried. On the third day he rose again. In the new covenant God has extended his family to both Jew and Gentile, or in other words, to the whole world. A critical turn of events for the life of the early Church is that Jesus does not intend to stay physically with the Church, but will ascend into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, where he will one day come again to judge the living and the dead. While he will be with the Church until the end of the age, he has left leaders to whom he has given authority to guide the Church on earth. It is this authority that Christians then must have looked to in order to know that they properly understood doctrine and interpreted the Old Testament (the only scripture at the time) correctly. The successors of this authority in the early Church are who Christians today must turn to in order to know that we continue to follow the true Christian teachings.

There are several key passages of recorded scripture which reveal to us the nature of this authority in the early church. The first of these is as follows:

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Peter is chosen by Jesus out of all the apostles as the leader and guardian of his flock (John 21:15-18). Peter does not replace Jesus as much as he serves in Jesus place here on earth as a type of "prime minister" when Christ ascends into heaven. This is one of the ways in which Jesus established his kingdom on earth. Jesus' kingdom reflects that of the Davidic kingdom and we see here that Peter is taking his place in the kingdom under the king as prime minister. In 1 Kings 4:6-7 Solomon establishes 12 officers and one prime minister who has the "keys" of the kingdom. This is Davidic royal typology. Jesus also establishes 12 officers (the Apostles), and a prime minister (Peter) in his kingdom. Peter then serves as first among equals in that he also holds the office of bishop in the Church.

This special place of Peter as prime minister in the kingdom is continually emphasized by the scriptures. In each of the lists of the apostles, Peter is always placed first, while the other 11 may be moved around. Peter also preaches first the Good News in Acts 2, and in Acts 5 exercises his power when Ananias and Sapphira deceive the Church. The decisions Peter makes that have been recorded for us have effects on the whole Church, here on earth and in heaven. Peter here exercises authority, not apart from or replacing God, but in God's stead. He is acting, as all the apostles and their successors do "in persona Christi."

The other significant passage in scripture regarding the authority of those chosen by Christ to lead the Church is their power even to grant absolution. "And when he said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Jesus had continually forgiven sins throughout his ministry. He is now giving this power to the apostles who will work in their ministries to continue to bring healing and forgiveness to those who seek it by their faith in Jesus. Priests, united to their bishop continue to offer repentant sinners absolution.

The place of Peter and the apostles in the early Church is clear. They have authority to direct the Church, correct the doctrinal teachings of other Christians when they go wayward, and condemn false prophets. While others can teach about Jesus and do Christian work without the explicit prior permission of the apostles, they do not retain authority without being in union with the apostles. In Acts 19:11-20 we see the example of the seven sons of Sceva, the Jewish high priest attempting to do exorcisms. The demons recognize the authority of Paul, but proclaim these men attempting to cast them out in the name of Jesus have no authority since they are not in union of the apostles. We can attempt to deny the authority of the Catholic Church, but even the powers of darkness realize otherwise. This is the power in ordination. When another group of people begin to practice Christian ministry on their own without the approval and blessing of the Church, they are doing spiritual battle without being fully equipped to do so. They need the resources (actual grace of ordination) in order to effectively carry out the campaign against those forces in the world who work against God. Their own ordinations or each other, apart from the Church are invalid and ineffective as shown by this passage.

What of when an apostle dies though? The question is whether or not this authority given to the apostles dies after the death of the last apostle. While the apostles in some sense have a unique place as the period of public revelation comes to a close with the death of the last apostle, the authority to carry out the ministry and work of the Church does not cease. The specific matter of the replacement of the apostles is dealt with in the first chapter of Acts. Judas Iscariot had to be replaced according to Psalm 69:25, so the apostles elected Matthias who shared in the ministry of the apostles and their authority. Authority in the Church would continue through a method in which those in authority would decide on a replacement. It was never up to others to simply decide they had a call to ministry and declare for themselves that they had received authority by the Holy Spirit. In the scriptures we specifically see the mode of replacement through those who already had authority given to them by Christ. The foundation for apostolic succession has been established. Those who are called to work in ministry need to do so through the Church for the sake of the unity of the body of Christ.