Apostolic Power, Protestants, and Straw Men

This article considers an issue about apostolic authority in Protestantism, then provides an argument to solve the issue, then notes that the issue in some sense remains because there is little information indicating that most protestants hold to the solution.

I. The Problem

Roman Catholics hold to authority by apostolic succession, which in turn holds that the authority of Christ was vested into the original twelve apostles and then into specific subsequent bishops, and ultimately into the Pope as a Bishop of Bishops. The Eastern Orthodox church also appears to hold to apostolic succession, but dissents that the Pope holds special authority in comparison to any other Bishop.

Other denominations hold similar positions, but many protestants reject apostolic succession. This presents an issue: Where from does the authority of any protestant pastor come? See the video below for a rather good in-house debate among modern popular protestant speakers on this topic:

I see the four plausible responses below to the question, \"How do Protestant preachers receive apostolic authority?\"

1. Sola scriptura: Scripture alone is a trustworthy witness of Christ for today. This seems to be the usual protestant answer, according to online resources anyway, and yet it has further issues I will detail in the next section.
2. The direct witness of the Holy Spirit. Theologically, I don't see any issue here, however many protestants insist that the apostolic age is over and no modern apostles exist. So they reject the possibility that they can directly receive apostleship. I think that rejection has theological problems.
3. The other options is that protestant preachers hold authority by non-apostolic means. In practice, I think most protestant preachers hold to a combination of 1 and 3: They believe in the authority of the Holy Spirit, they just reject the label that such authority constitutes apostleship.
4. There is a minority of protestants that flatly accept apostles for today. They also seem to have a variety of doctrinal problems, but those problems seem to be related to the specific implementation of apostolic recognition, not the general doctrine of apostolic power. Watch the video above for concrete examples of this concern.
   1. For example, note that Paul was declared an apostle by spiritual contact with Christ, yet he refused to add new revelation to the Gospel. Modern apostles often disregard this practice.
   2. Other modern apostles simply invent an altogether new meaning of the word, for reasons that are often extrabiblical or unclear.