Rebuild the apostolic rule
Can you state the biblical doctrines that every Christian claim must preserve?
Test every Christian claim by the apostolic faith.
Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roman Catholicism, and Progressive Christianity differ sharply. They are grouped because each claims Christian identity while locating governing authority or doctrine beyond, over, or against the sufficient apostolic Word.
- RetrieveState the apostolic rule.
- RepresentDefine every shared term.
- TestProve the contradiction.
- DefendProclaim the sufficient Christ.
Rebuild the apostolic rule
Before comparing movements, retrieve the standard: revelation, one triune Creator, incarnation, Christ’s sufficient atonement, bodily resurrection, justification, church, and final hope.
Revelation
God’s written Word is true, sufficient, and able to judge every later prophet, tradition, organization, experience, and cultural authority.
God
The one eternal Creator exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; no creature becomes God and no divine person is created.
Christ
The eternal Son became truly human, died for sins, rose bodily, reigns, and alone mediates between God and humanity.
Gospel
God justifies the ungodly by grace through faith because of Christ’s sufficient work, producing holiness as fruit.
Church
Christ preserves His people under His Word; no later institution owns authority to replace His apostolic gospel.
Hope
Christ will return visibly, judge, raise the dead, defeat every enemy, and renew creation.
Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10–13; Matthew 28:18–20
Establish God, mission, preservation, and authority.
John 1:1–18; Colossians 1:15–20; Hebrews 1
Establish the eternal Creator-Son.
Romans 3:21–4:8; 1 Corinthians 15:1–28
Establish justification and the historical gospel.
All eight doctrines are stated, contextually supported, and classified as explicit, necessary, or not established.
Write the apostolic rule from memory, then verify every proposition and visibly correct overstatement.
Christian vocabulary must be tested by apostolic meaning, authority, and gospel.