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The Claims of Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy  /  Apostolic Succession – Part 1  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 1
David Bercot insists that the faith was “once for all delivered” and that any “development” is really “adulteration”; how does that claim shape what you believe God is like in guarding truth—especially when the lesson also says it is “dangerous” to use post-apostolic writings as an independent authority?
Another way to ask: Bercot says the faith was given once and shouldn’t “develop,” and the lesson warns it’s risky to treat later Christian writings as their own authority. How does that shape your view of how God protects truth?

Direct Answer Based on David Bercot’s teaching, God guarded the truth by giving a complete, final apostolic deposit in the New Testament, so later “developments” are not God adding clarity but humans adding corruption. That makes Scripture the safe boundary, while post-apostolic writings are helpful only as commentary—not as a second authority.

Support from Transcript:

  • He calls it a “bedrock teaching of the New Testament that the faith was once for all handed down… complete when the apostles died.”
  • He quotes Paul: “even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel… let him be accursed,” showing finality and divine protection against “anything else.”
  • He quotes Jude 3: “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
  • He says anyone claiming to “improve” the apostles is “not improving it… they’re adulterating it.”
  • He affirms early writings as “the best commentary possible on Scripture,” but warns: “the minute we… begin using them as an independent source of authority… they become a very dangerous one.”
Discussion Follow-ups If God completed the faith through the apostles, how should Christians treat later councils or traditions that claim to define doctrine beyond Scripture?

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