APOSTOLIC FAITH VS. LATER DOCTRINE - Returning to the Biblical Foundation
Acts 2:42
STUDY PURPOSE
The first generations of Christians did not begin with medieval church institutions, denominational systems, or centuries of theological terminology.
They began with:
Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
the Holy Ghost
the apostles' teaching
the Scriptures
repentance and faith
baptism
fellowship
prayer
the breaking of bread
holy living
spiritual gifts
the expectation of Christ's return
As Christianity expanded into different cultures and passed through succeeding centuries, Christians developed increasingly detailed theological terminology, creeds, church structures, liturgies, traditions, and doctrinal systems.
Some later formulations attempted to define and defend teachings already present in Scripture.
Other developments remain disputed among Christian traditions because believers disagree over whether they represent legitimate development, permissible tradition, or departures from apostolic teaching.
The purpose of this study is therefore not merely to ask:
“Is this doctrine old?”
The better question is:
“Can this doctrine be established from Scripture and the teaching of Christ and His apostles?”
1. WHAT WAS THE APOSTOLIC FAITH?
The word apostolic refers to the apostles whom Christ commissioned as foundational witnesses of His ministry, death, resurrection, and teaching.
Acts 2:42 tells us that the earliest believers:
“continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine...”
The Greek word translated doctrine is didachē, meaning teaching or instruction.
Therefore, apostolic Christianity was doctrinal from the beginning.
The issue is not:
Doctrine versus no doctrine.
The issue is:
What doctrine did Christ and His apostles teach?
2. JESUS CHRIST WAS CENTRAL
Peter's Pentecost sermon centers upon Jesus.
Read Acts 2:22–36.
Peter proclaims:
Jesus' ministry
↓
His crucifixion
↓
His resurrection
↓
His exaltation
↓
His lordship and Messiahship
The center of apostolic preaching was not an institution.
It was Jesus Christ.
Paul similarly writes:
“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” — 1 Corinthians 2:2
Reflection
Is Christ still at the center of what I believe and teach?
3. THE RESURRECTION WAS ESSENTIAL
The resurrection was not an optional part of apostolic Christianity.
Paul writes:
“And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” — 1 Corinthians 15:14
The apostles consistently preached that Jesus:
died
was buried
rose again
was seen by witnesses
ascended
and will return.
Apostolic Foundation
Death → Burial → Resurrection → Exaltation → Return
Christian faith cannot be separated from the historical claim that Christ rose from the dead.
4. REPENTANCE AND FAITH
After Peter preached Christ, the people asked:
“Men and brethren, what shall we do?” — Acts 2:37
Peter answered:
“Repent...” — Acts 2:38
Apostolic preaching called people to turn from sin and toward God.
Paul summarized his ministry as:
“repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” — Acts 20:21
Apostolic Pattern
Hear the Gospel
↓
Believe
↓
Repent
↓
Follow Christ
Christianity was not presented merely as membership in a religious culture.
It demanded a transformed allegiance.
5. BAPTISM
Baptism appears throughout apostolic Christianity.
Read:
Matthew 28:19
Acts 2:38
Acts 8:36–38
Acts 10:47–48
Romans 6:3–4
Baptism visibly identified believers with Christ and the believing community.
Romans 6 connects baptism with:
Christ's death
burial
resurrection
and newness of life.
Later Christians developed significant disagreements concerning:
who should be baptized
how baptism should be administered
the relationship between baptism and salvation
infant baptism
the precise theological effects of baptism.
Therefore, our task is to distinguish the clear apostolic practice of baptism from later debates concerning its administration and theological interpretation.
6. THE HOLY GHOST
The apostolic church expected the active work of the Holy Ghost.
Jesus promised:
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you...” — Acts 1:8
Acts records:
prophecy
tongues
visions
healings
discernment
miracles
divine guidance
spiritual gifts.
Paul writes:
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” — 1 Corinthians 12:1
He subsequently discusses:
word of wisdom
word of knowledge
faith
gifts of healing
working of miracles
prophecy
discerning of spirits
divers kinds of tongues
interpretation of tongues.
Important Historical Question
Later Christian traditions developed different positions concerning whether particular miraculous gifts continued beyond the apostolic period.
The New Testament itself clearly demonstrates that spiritual gifts belonged to the lived experience of the apostolic churches.
7. PRAYER AND FASTING
The apostolic church prayed.
Acts 4 records believers praying together after persecution.
Acts 12 records prayer for Peter.
Acts 13 records believers ministering to the Lord and fasting.
“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said...” — Acts 13:2
Prayer was not merely ceremonial.
It was fundamental to the church's life and mission.
8. FELLOWSHIP AND BREAKING OF BREAD
Acts 2:42 identifies four characteristics:
Apostles' doctrine
Fellowship
Breaking of bread
Prayers
The earliest Christian community was therefore not merely a weekly audience.
Believers shared life together.
Reflection
How closely does modern Christian fellowship resemble Acts 2:42?
9. CHURCH LEADERSHIP
The New Testament describes various ministries and offices.
Read:
Ephesians 4:11
Acts 14:23
Acts 20:17, 28
Philippians 1:1
1 Timothy 3
Titus 1
We encounter:
apostles
prophets
evangelists
pastors and teachers
elders
overseers/bishops
deacons.
Later centuries witnessed increasingly elaborate ecclesiastical structures.
The historical development of:
bishops
metropolitans
patriarchs
popes
denominational superintendents
and other hierarchical structures
must therefore be studied separately from the leadership terminology and structures explicitly visible in the New Testament.
10. SCRIPTURE WAS THE STANDARD
The apostles appealed repeatedly to Scripture.
Jesus said:
“It is written...” — Matthew 4:4
Paul reasoned from Scripture.
Peter interpreted events through Scripture.
Philip explained Christ from Isaiah.
The Bereans were praised because they:
“searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” — Acts 17:11
That establishes an important principle.
Teaching should be examined rather than accepted merely because a religious authority teaches it.
11. THE APOSTLES WARNED ABOUT FALSE DOCTRINE
Concern about doctrinal corruption did not begin centuries later.
It appears within the New Testament itself.
Paul warned:
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” — Acts 20:29
He continued:
“Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things...” — Acts 20:30
Paul also warned Timothy:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine...” — 2 Timothy 4:3
Therefore, the New Testament itself expects Christians to exercise doctrinal discernment.
12. THE APOSTLES ALSO USED DEVELOPING FORMULATIONS
We should avoid another mistake.
Not everything expressed more precisely after the apostolic period was necessarily invented from nothing.
Later Christians faced questions such as:
Who exactly is Jesus Christ?
How should His deity and humanity be expressed?
How should Christians speak about Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?
Which writings should be publicly received as Scripture?
How should serious heresies be answered?
Christians consequently developed technical theological vocabulary.
Terms such as:
Trinity
ousia
hypostasis
nature
person
became increasingly important.
Some of these exact theological terms do not appear in the KJV.
But that fact alone does not determine whether the theological concept is biblical.
The proper test is:
Does the formulation faithfully summarize what Scripture teaches?
13. THE TRINITY AS AN EXAMPLE
The English word “Trinity” does not appear in Scripture.
Yet Scripture speaks of:
the Father
the Son
the Holy Ghost.
Jesus commands baptism:
“in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” — Matthew 28:19
Therefore, when evaluating a later theological term, we must distinguish between:
The word itself
and
the biblical teaching the word is intended to describe.
A doctrine cannot be rejected merely because its later technical label is absent from Scripture.
Neither should a doctrine be accepted merely because church authorities developed a theological term for it.
Scripture remains the test.
14. CHURCH COUNCILS
As Christianity expanded, church councils addressed doctrinal controversies.
Important councils included:
Nicaea — AD 325
Constantinople — AD 381
Ephesus — AD 431
Chalcedon — AD 451
These councils did not occur during the apostolic age.
They belonged to later church history.
Their defenders understand them as attempts to articulate and protect biblical teaching concerning Christ and God against competing interpretations.
Different Christian traditions nevertheless disagree about the authority and sometimes the conclusions of particular councils.
Workbook Principle
Do not reason:
“A council said it, therefore it must be biblical.”
But neither should we automatically reason:
“It was defined later, therefore it must be false.”
Instead ask:
“What Scriptures were being interpreted, and does the conclusion faithfully represent them?”
15. APOSTOLIC TEACHING AND HUMAN TRADITION
Jesus warned about human tradition when it displaced God's commandment.
“Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” — Mark 7:9
Yet the New Testament can also use tradition positively for teaching handed down by the apostles.
Therefore, tradition itself is not automatically the problem.
The decisive question is:
What is the source of the tradition?
Is it:
apostolic teaching
or
a later human requirement presented as though God commanded it?
That distinction is critical.
16. APOSTOLIC FAITH VS. LATER DEVELOPMENTS
| Subject | Apostolic-Era Evidence | Later Development |
|---|---|---|
| Jesus Christ | Central to preaching | Extensive Christological terminology |
| Resurrection | Essential Gospel proclamation | Detailed theological formulations |
| Repentance | Explicitly commanded | Different penitential systems developed |
| Baptism | Explicitly practiced | Major debates over mode, subjects and effects |
| Lord's Supper | Explicitly practiced | Different sacramental explanations developed |
| Holy Ghost | Active throughout Acts | Different doctrines concerning gifts developed |
| Spiritual gifts | Explicitly practiced | Continuation/cessation became disputed |
| Church leadership | Elders, overseers, deacons and ministries | More elaborate hierarchies developed |
| Prayer | Central | Formal liturgical traditions developed |
| Fasting | Practiced | Detailed fasting calendars developed |
| Scripture | Authoritative in apostolic teaching | Canon lists and interpretive traditions developed |
| Creeds | Early confessional statements appear in NT | Formal ecumenical creeds developed |
| Councils | Acts 15 records an apostolic council | Later ecumenical councils addressed theological controversies |
17. THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL — ACTS 15
Acts 15 deserves special attention because the apostolic church itself encountered doctrinal controversy.
The question concerned Gentile believers and circumcision.
Some taught:
“Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” — Acts 15:1
The apostles and elders gathered to consider the matter.
They:
debated
heard testimony
considered God's work among Gentiles
appealed to Scripture
reached a judgment
communicated it to the churches.
This demonstrates that doctrinal clarification itself is not automatically a departure from apostolic faith.
The issue is whether the clarification remains faithful to God's revelation and the Gospel.
18. THREE CATEGORIES FOR STUDYING DOCTRINE
When examining church history, place teachings into three categories.
CATEGORY ONE — EXPLICIT APOSTOLIC TEACHING
Teachings plainly present in the New Testament.
Examples:
Christ died and rose again.
Jesus is Lord.
Repentance is necessary.
Believers prayed.
Baptism was practiced.
The Holy Ghost empowered believers.
Spiritual gifts operated.
Christ will return.
CATEGORY TWO — LATER FORMULATION OF BIBLICAL TEACHING
These use later terminology to explain biblical material.
Examples can include theological vocabulary concerning:
Trinity
Christology
canon
atonement
incarnation.
These must be tested by Scripture.
CATEGORY THREE — LATER PRACTICES OR DOCTRINES CLAIMING CHURCH AUTHORITY
These require especially careful investigation.
Ask:
When did this practice appear?
Who taught it?
What Scripture was used to support it?
Was it universally accepted?
Did earlier Christians teach it?
Does it contradict an explicit apostolic command?
This method prevents us from accepting or rejecting something merely because it is ancient.
19. THE BEREAN TEST
Acts 17:11
The Bereans:
“received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
This provides an excellent model for studying church history.
HEAR IT
What is being claimed?
↓
IDENTIFY IT
When and where did the teaching appear?
↓
TRACE IT
Can it be found in Christ's teaching or apostolic teaching?
↓
SEARCH SCRIPTURE
What passages actually address the subject?
↓
READ IN CONTEXT
What do those passages mean?
↓
COMPARE SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE
Does the interpretation harmonize with the broader biblical witness?
↓
DISTINGUISH
Is this:
Scripture?
interpretation?
historical tradition?
church regulation?
cultural practice?
↓
HOLD FAST TO TRUTH
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1.
According to Acts 2:42, what four practices characterized the early believers?
2.
What was central to Peter's preaching in Acts 2?
3.
What role did the Holy Ghost have in Acts?
4.
What spiritual gifts does Paul identify in 1 Corinthians 12?
5.
What warning did Paul give in Acts 20:29–30?
6.
How did the Bereans respond to teaching?
7.
What doctrinal controversy was addressed in Acts 15?
DEEPER STUDY
Compare Acts 2:42 with a Modern Church
Apostles' Doctrine
How important is biblical teaching?
Fellowship
Do believers genuinely share life together?
Breaking of Bread
What place does remembrance of Christ have?
Prayer
How central is corporate prayer?
WORD STUDY
Doctrine — Didachē
Meaning:
teaching, instruction
Read:
Matthew 7:28
John 7:16–17
Acts 2:42
Acts 13:12
2 John 9–10
Tradition — Paradosis
Meaning:
something handed down or transmitted
Read:
Mark 7:8–13
1 Corinthians 11:2
2 Thessalonians 2:15
Important Observation
Scripture can speak negatively about human tradition that nullifies God's commandment while speaking positively about apostolic teaching handed down to believers.
Therefore, we must always ask:
Who handed it down, and does it agree with God's Word?
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1.
Have I ever believed something primarily because my denomination or church tradition taught it?
2.
Can I demonstrate my major Christian beliefs from Scripture?
3.
Do I distinguish between Scripture itself and someone's interpretation of Scripture?
4.
Am I willing to examine traditions I have held for many years?
5.
Do I also avoid rejecting something merely because it uses terminology developed after the New Testament period?
PERSONAL APPLICATION
The goal of studying church history is not to become suspicious of every Christian who lived after the apostles.
Neither is the goal to accept every teaching simply because it became traditional.
Our responsibility is to become discerning students of Scripture.
When studying any doctrine, ask:
Where is it written?
What does the passage actually say?
What is the context?
How did Christ teach this subject?
How did the apostles teach it?
How did the earliest churches practice it?
When does the later doctrine first clearly appear historically?
Is the later terminology merely explaining Scripture—or adding something Scripture does not teach?
KEY TRUTH TO REMEMBER
Apostolic Christianity already had doctrine.
The question is therefore not:
“Doctrine or no doctrine?”
The question is:
“Is our doctrine faithful to the teaching of Christ, the apostles, and Scripture?”
Paul instructed Timothy:
“Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” — 2 Timothy 1:13
And Scripture gives us the continuing principle:
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21
CLOSING PRAYER
Father, give me wisdom and discernment as I study Your Word and the history of the Church. Help me distinguish between Your revealed truth, faithful explanations of that truth, and traditions that men have added. Keep me from accepting a teaching merely because it is popular, ancient, denominational, or familiar. At the same time, keep me from rejecting truth simply because Christians later developed language to explain it more carefully.
Teach me to search the Scriptures, rightly divide Your Word, hold fast to sound doctrine, and remain faithful to Jesus Christ. Let my faith be established upon Your truth and not upon the commandments of men. Give me the spirit of the Bereans—to receive teaching with readiness while searching the Scriptures to determine whether these things are so.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
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