Skip to content

Add your phone number?

Optional. Nothing is sent unless you choose it.
The Historic Faith
Sign in

Jumpstarter 1 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion
The Claims of Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy  /  Apostolic Succession – Part 2  /  Discussion Questions
All Questions
Question 1
David Bercot says he found “no scriptural support” and also no pre-Nicene support for apostolic succession “in the sense of the seven tenets” he listed; what does that claim assume about God’s willingness to preserve essential doctrine in Scripture, and what would it imply about doctrines that require later institutional mechanisms to function?
Another way to ask: If Bercot says the Bible and the early church don’t support apostolic succession as he defines it, what does that assume about God keeping key teachings clear in Scripture? What would it mean for teachings that only work if later church systems are in place?

Direct Answer Based on Bercot’s teaching, his claim assumes God preserved essential Christian doctrine in the inspired New Testament, not in later institutional systems. It implies that if a doctrine only works through later mechanisms (like traceable ordination chains), it likely is not part of “the faith… once for all handed to the saints.”

Support from Transcript:

  • He says he found “no scriptural support for the doctrine of apostolic succession” and later concluded “the pre-Nicene early Christian writings don’t teach apostolic succession either” as defined by the “seven tenets.”
  • He calls “don’t go beyond Scripture for doctrine” one of his “cardinal principles.”
  • He treats later-developed mechanisms skeptically: modern lists show ordainers only back to “the Middle Ages… or… the fourth,” because “no one kept lists of ordainers prior to the 4th century.”
  • He argues that if one link is missing, “the whole succession is destroyed,” making the doctrine depend on fragile historical paperwork.
  • He says apostolic succession “certainly was not part of the faith that was once for all handed to the saints,” and therefore hasn’t produced the expected spiritual fruit.
Discussion Follow-ups If a doctrine requires missing historical records to function, can it be an “essential” doctrine? What would it mean for ordinary Christians if God tied grace to mechanisms most believers could never verify?

Jumpstarter 1 of 10
Back Questions Next