Jumpstarter 8 of 10

Direct Answer The transcript suggests “perverting proofs” happens when people use Scripture selectively to prop up “new doctrines” rather than receiving what was “once committed…by the apostles.” An ultra-conservative posture would push readers to be suspicious of novelty, slower to adopt trends, and more focused on continuity with apostolic teaching.

Support from Transcript:

• Early congregation: those setting up “new doctrines” “very readily perverting any proofs… from the scriptures to conform to their own notions.”
• It concludes: “a disciple of Christ ought to receive nothing new as doctrine… in addition to what has been once committed to us by the apostles.”
• Bercot’s summary: early Christians were “ultra-conservative, equating change with error.”
• Their expectation of no new revelation meant they “summarily rejected any new teachings that had not come from the apostles.”
• He notes doctrinal stability: between second and third centuries there were “very few changes in doctrines or moral precepts,” with changes mainly in “church government and discipline.”