For us to preach the teaching of the apostles today is to preach what the Lord Jesus preached, what the apostles preached, and what Paul and John preached. It violates the teaching of the apostles if we preach anything else. For instance, if someone says that there will be no end to heaven and earth, that they will remain forever, we should find proof in the Bible and tell him that the Bible says there will be an end to heaven and earth. It says in the Gospel of Matthew, “Until the heaven and the earth pass away, one iota or one tittle shall by no means pass away from the law until all come to pass” (Matt. 5:18). Hebrews also says, “They shall perish, but You remain” (Heb. 1:11a). Whatever we preach must all be in accordance with the teaching of the apostles.
Some, such as the Mormons, preach heresies which are different from the teaching of the apostles. In the future, as we go through the whole island to evangelize Taiwan, we will probably meet such preachers. Hence we also need to study them so that we can expose them. In God’s economy, the teaching of the apostles has been completed. None can add to or subtract from it. This is the foundation of God’s New Testament economy. In the Old Testament, the foundation is the law of God. In the New Testament, the first layer of the foundation is the teaching of the apostles.
The term “the teaching of the apostles” appears once in the New Testament as a whole phrase and in many places in fragments. Acts 2:42 says, “And they were continuing steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles.” This is the foundation of the Lord’s recovery. It is like the Constitution: although it has many articles, it still is only one constitution. God’s Old Testament economy has only one law; God’s New Testament economy has also only one teaching of the apostles. This is the foundation of God’s move and also the foundation of our service.
The church started to digress from the teaching of the apostles from the beginning of the second century. We can find some clues of this in Revelation. Besides the teaching of the apostles, there were the teachings of the Nicolaitans (2:15), of Balaam (2:14), as well as that of Jezebel (2:20). The teaching of the Nicolaitans is just the teaching of clergy and laity, which is outside of the teaching of the apostles. The entire Christianity today, with the exception of the Lord’s recovery, has the teaching of the Nicolaitans, that is, the teaching of clergy and laity. Consequently, Christianity has become a religious organization. Even some of the brothers and sisters among us are not clear enough concerning this, bringing in the worldly concept that there is a difference in rank between the elders and the saints. This shows us that this religious concept is in our blood. Today’s Christianity has deviated from the teaching of the apostles. The most obvious deviation is that they have received the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
In this message we shall see that only the teaching of the apostles can stand in God’s New Testament economy, and it will stand unto eternity. We must remember that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The law as the main body of the Old Testament was supplemented by the prophets. The main body of the New Testament is the apostles, and the prophets also serve as a supplement. The principle in both is the same. This is the first level of meaning of God’s New Testament economy.