The apostles taught that the Bible is divinely inspired

       “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

       “God, who at many times and in many ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

       “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).

The apostles taught that men would depart from the truth of the Bible

       “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30).

       “But the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1).

       “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

 

We must hold fast to the truth of the apostles’ teaching

       “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:10-11).

       ”The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead … there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10,12).

Jesus Christ and his apostles taught that there is One God

       ”This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).

       “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Corinthians 8:6).

       “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

The Father is the God of Jesus

       “ Jesus said to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).

       “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

       “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

       “You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you” (Acts 2:22).

       “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38).

The Holy Spirit is God’s Power working for our redemption

       ”The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit shall come on you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you. Therefore also that Holy One which will be born of you shall be called Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

       Harnack, an authority on the history of the early Christian church, wrote that in the Apostles’ Creed the Holy Spirit is not a Person. “It looks therefore as though the writer of the Creed did not conceive the Holy Spirit as a Person, but as a Power and Gift. This is indeed literally the case. No proof can be shown that about the middle of the second century the Holy Spirit was believed in as a Person. This conception, on the contrary, is one of much later date, which was still unknown to most Christians by the middle of the fourth century.”

The doctrine of the Trinity is not taught in the Bible

       Dr W R Matthews, Dean of St. Paul’s, wrote, “It must be admitted by everyone who has the rudiments of an historical sense that the doctrine of the Trinity, as a doctrine, formed no part of the original message. St. Paul knew it not, and would have been unable to understand the meaning of the terms used in the theological formula on which the Church ultimately agreed.” (God in Christian Thought and Experience, page 180).

       Dr J S Whale wrote, “The result (of controversy) was the doctrine of the Trinity, slowly worked out and formulated during the fourth century. Christian thought, working with the data of the New Testament and using Greek philosophy as its instrument, constructed the doctrine of Trinity in Unity.” (Christian Doctrine, page 116).

       Neander, the Church historian, wrote, “This doctrine does not, it appears to me, belong strictly to the fundamental articles of the Christian faith; as appears from the fact that it is explicitly set forth in no one particular passage of the New Testament; for the only one in which this is done, the passage relating to the three that bear record (1 John 5) is undoubtedly spurious.” (History of Christian Religion, volume 2, page 286)

(See God’s Way by John Carter for more information)