To begin this study of what truly is doctrine we must begin with the early churches as they clearly understood what doctrine was all about. This doesn’t mean there was never controversy about doctrine in these early believers but the Bible explains what they did about that controversy and ultimately what truly is doctrine.
In Acts we are exposed to the first days of the church without Jesus as their leader. He had lead the disciples for three and half years as their “pastor” and trained them to lead after He was gone (John 16). He reminded them that His doctrine was not His own (John 7:16) and even Paul stated that doctrine was from God and must be guarded (1 Timothy 6:1). In Acts 2:42 there is a phrase that helps us understand this process of doctrine. This first church at Jerusalem, established by Jesus (Matthew 16:18), had “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” But what does that mean? Was the doctrine from the Apostles since it was their doctrine?
In short, the answer is no, it was not their doctrine. Notice the words “continued steadfastly” in Acts 2:42. Let me illustrate as best I can. My family loves roller coasters and on a recent family vacation we were at an amusement park we had never been to before. We did not know how to get from one place to the next but when we entered the park we could see a huge roller coaster towering above the trees and the other buildings and wanted to ride that monster. So we started walking toward it. We could easily see it, but if you know anything about amusement parks there are usually few straight lines toward major rides as they want you to visit their shops and games to spend more money and thus place these in between you and the rides which you can see in the distance. One this day, we walked around the games and shops with one goal in mind…get to the coaster. We were continuing steadfastly in our goal to reach the coaster. This is what Acts 2:42 is speaking of “apostles’s doctrine.”
The Apostles had been taught sound doctrine by Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3) and they, as the keepers of this doctrine, were to share it with others who would do the same (2 Timothy 2:1-2). The early church was moving around the false teachings of false prophets (2 Peter 2; 1 John 4:1) and moving toward the teachings that the Apostles shared from Christ (Acts 15:35; Colossians 3:16). Remember that the Apostles never said it was THEIR doctrine but instead continually pointed everyone to what they had heard from Jesus. They were saying it is His doctrine (Hebrews 6:1; 2 John 1:9) and not theirs. Jesus in turn said it was His Father’s doctrine and not His own (John 7:16).
To state it simply, doctrine began with the Father, it was passed to the Son, and then the Apostles. It could be compared to a relay race with each taking the truth and passing it on to the next runner. Each recognizing that the truth from God the Father, the baton is not their own but it is to be handled with great care and responsibility to the next in line.
So what is our generation doing with the sound doctrine given to them? Unfortunately it appears that many Christians have rejected the “doctrines of the apostles” for a doctrine of men. But God’s goal is for every Christian to know sound doctrine so that they are not blown about by every teaching that comes along (Ephesians 4:11-16) and this comes from doctrine is gleaned from the Word of God, namely the words of Jesus Himself who gave us His Father’s doctrine which the Apostles then passed along. This is the next study we will cover here.
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