The early church understood the importance of the apostles’ doctrine.

Acts 2:42 (NKJV)
⁴² And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Today, most churches seem to devalue the significance of the apostles’ doctrine.  First-century Christians did not make that mistake, at least not in the beginning.  Luke tells us that “they continued steadfastly” in the teachings that the apostles delivered to them, and we must follow their example.

Why do so many in the religious world fail when it comes to this?  In my experience, it is because many do not realize what the doctrine of the apostles is.  It is not just an expression of their personal feelings.    The apostles’ doctrine is nothing less than the word of God.  As we have seen in this series on the church, the apostles were ambassadors for Christ who spoke in His stead (2 Corinthians 5:20), and who were inspired by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).

The apostles’ doctrine can only be found in one place—the New Testament portion of the Bible.  To continue in it is to preach, teach, and practice it, and it alone.  To do otherwise is to bring upon ourselves grave consequences.

Galatians 1:6–9 (ESV)
⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—⁷ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

The word for “accursed” is anathema and means to be devoted to destruction.  That is the destiny of everyone who fails to continue in the apostles’ doctrine.  John referred to the apostles’ doctrine as the teachings of Christ and wrote this about it.

2 John 9 (ESV)
⁹ Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

Do not let anyone ever tell you that doctrine does not matter.  Are we saved by grace through faith?  Yes (Ephesians 2:8-9).  But, the Bible also tells us that we are saved by God’s word (James 1:21).  There are many factors in salvation.  One of them is continuing in the apostles’ doctrine.  We never find Christians in the first century debating the importance of doctrine.  They knew who the apostles were and what authority they had.  They abided by their teaching because they knew their words constituted the word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

From the beginning, the church understood the importance of the apostles’ doctrine.  The church still does today, and like Paul before us, we must be ready to defend it.

Philippians 1:15–16 (ESV)
¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.