15:27 because you have been with me from the beginning. The apostles were eyewitnesses, and through the operation of the Holy Spirit, they were to provide the foundational and authoritative witness to Christ for the church (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:21, 22; Eph. 2:20). Following the conclusion of their unique work there can be no more apostles, and the church’s present witness to Christ is dependent on the apostolic witness as it is written in the New Testament and illumined by the Holy Spirit.