The phrase
"apostolic teaching" refers to the teachings and messages passed down by Jesus Christ's apostles, who were his closest followers. It includes their instructions, values, and beliefs, which are considered important and authoritative in Christian tradition.
Full definition
The bishops, after all, are not executives of majority - determined positions, but claim a certain charism
of apostolic teaching authority.
For example, in a short chapter about where to draw the line on unity, Jim Turner points to many texts which seem to teach that Christians should separate from those who stray
from apostolic teaching (p. 121).
Still today we possess that
apostolic teaching in the New Testament, which, together with the Old Testament of which the New is the authoritative interpretation, is the written word of God.
In the course of that same history, and in the context of crises posed by philosophical and cultural changes as well as manifest ecclesiastical corruptions, the question of how to determine
authentic apostolic teaching came into intense dispute.
«A clear and convincing testimony to the salvation wrought for us in Christ Jesus has to be based upon
normative apostolic teaching: a teaching which underlies the inspired word of God and sustains the sacramental life of Christians today.»
Now I experience a liberation for orthodoxy in the endless flexibility of
centered apostolic teaching to meld with different cultural environments while offering anew the eternal word of the theandric, messianic Servant in each new historical setting.
«The beliefs of Seventh - day Adventists are rooted in the
biblical apostolic teachings and thus share many essential tenets of Christianity in common with the followers of other Christian churches.
Evangelicals and Catholics alike recognize the promised guidance of the Spirit in the elucidation and unfolding
of apostolic teaching that took place as historic Christian orthodoxy emerged.
«Separating from those who stray
from apostolic teaching» in Christianity is just a small part of the much larger problem of religious intolerance among all faiths.
The divinely inspired writings of the New Testament convey
the apostolic teaching, which is the authoritative interpretation of God's revelation in Christ.
Such development of doctrine, typically in response to grave error and deviant traditions built upon such error, is to be understood not as an addition to
the apostolic teaching contained in Holy Scripture but as Spirit - guided insight into the fullness of that teaching.
(For purposes of this discussion I leave largely aside the situation of the Orthodox, who have valid ordination and other sacraments and adhere to
apostolic teaching.
What one person thinks of as a «fringe opinion» may be included in other person's list of critical «
apostolic teachings.»
It is misappropriated by those who are quick to claim «apostolic succession» but slow about discerning the faithfulness of clerical systems based on such claims to the «
apostolic teaching» that it was devised to safeguard.
Leo himself refers to Jesus as the «only - begotten Word of God», placing himself directly in the line of those Fathers, such as Polycarp and Irenaeus, who received
the apostolic teaching of St John.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is still considered by Anglican theologians as an unwarranted addition to Christian doctrine: unproved from Scripture and not logically deduced from
apostolic teaching.
For, fundamental Christian thought (as articulated in the ecumenical creeds) and foundational Christian practice (such as worship and ethics) are more detailed reflections of
apostolic teaching and practice.
Evangelicals stress the continuity of
apostolic teaching and fidelity to the sacred Scriptures.