Restoring Apostolic Faith

Recovering the Ancient View We Somehow Forgot

Christians today often treat Scripture as if it dropped from heaven leather-bound, gilded, and indexed. Protestants filtered down 66 book version, Orthodox 78-79 books, and Catholic 73.  

Second Temple Jews and early churches would’ve looked at us with a tilted head, and confused look like a puppy.  

Because “Scripture” in the ancient world wasn’t a canon chart.

It wasn’t even primarily a book.

It was the story — and at its core, whatever God had actually said or done.

Everything else was a vessel for the message.

1. Before the Books: Scripture Was a Living Stream

In early Israel and well into the Second Temple period, Scripture existed as a stream, not a shelf.

• The Torah was the anchor.

• Prophetic words were treated as direct revelation.

• And much of Israel’s sacred memory lived in oral tradition — faithful, but not verbatim.

When a prophet spoke, the inspired part was the words from God (Jer 1:9; Deut 18:18).

The narrative framing and retellings were respected, but no ancient Jew believed the messenger’s every syllable was infallible.

As James Kugel notes, ancient Jews saw Scripture as “a record of God’s actions and words,” not “a flawless transcript of every detail” (How to Read the Bible, p. 12).

Translation:

The divine message was infallible.

The human packaging was faithful, not perfect.

2. When Scrolls Multiplied, So Did Variants

As Israel’s traditions were written down, different communities treasured different scrolls.

Your “Scripture” depended partly on geography, tradition, and school.

We see this clearly at Qumran, which preserved:

• multiple versions of Jeremiah,

• variant forms of Samuel,

• expansions of Genesis,

• and liturgical writings alongside biblical books.

(Dead Sea Scrolls: 1QIsaa; 4QJerb; 4QSam; 4QReworked Pentateuch).

This diversity was normal.

And with Hebrew and Aramaic declining among Diaspora Jews, the Jewish scholars in Alexandria translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek — the Septuagint — to preserve the most widely used forms of Scripture (Letter of Aristeas §§30–40).

The Septuagint didn’t create Scripture.

It preserved Scripture for a world no longer fluent in Hebrew.

The story, and especially God’s direct words and acts, remained the authoritative core.

3. Then Came Jesus — and the Apostles

Fast-forward to the first century.

The early church inherited the Jewish understanding:

Scripture = God’s revelation through His actions and His voice.

Jesus’ words and deeds— his character naturally became Scripture:

• Matthew 24:35 — “My words will not pass away.”

• John 6:63 — “The words I have spoken are spirit and life.”

The apostles were commissioned as witnesses (Acts 1:8), empowered with signs and wonders (2 Cor 12:12), and entrusted to guard Jesus’ teaching (Matt 28:19–20).

But here’s the crucial bit:

The apostles never claimed to be generating a new layer of Scripture equal or subsequent to Torah or the words of Jesus.

Their authority was functional — to teach, interpret, and apply the revelation — not canonical, in the sense of “everything we write is divine dictation.”

Paul proves this repeatedly.

In 1 Corinthians 7, he distinguishes between:

• Jesus’ direct teaching — “not I, but the Lord” (7:10)

• his own Spirit-guided judgment — “I, not the Lord” (7:12)

He even says:

“I have no command of the Lord… but I give an opinion as one who has the Spirit of God.”

— 1 Cor 7:25, 40

If Paul believed every line he wrote was automatically “new Scripture,” he could never speak like this.

And N.T. Wright notes the same:

“Paul never suggests that every opinion he offers is revelation.

He distinguishes between the teaching of Jesus and his own apostolic judgment.”

— Paul and the Faithfulness of God, p. 674

4. Apostolic Authority Was Real — Just Not What Modern Christians Assume

The apostles had unique authority:

• commissioned by Jesus (Matt 10:1–8)

• empowered by the Spirit (Acts 2)

• authenticated by miracles (2 Cor 12:12)

• entrusted to establish churches (Eph 2:20)

But their mission was to preserve and teach what Jesus revealed, not replace Him with a new scriptural deposit.

This is why early Christian writers like Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp all treat the apostles as witnesses, not replacement prophets:

• Clement: “The apostles received the gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Clem.42.1–2)

• Ignatius: “I do not command you like Peter and Paul; they were apostles.” (Ign. Rom. 4.3)

• Polycarp quotes Jesus’ sayings as Scripture, but never his own.

The earliest Christians saw Jesus as the revelation,

the apostles as the witnesses,

and the writings as faithful preservation — not prophetic expansions.

5. Canonization Was Recognition, Not Promotion

When the early church eventually formed the canon, they weren’t “raising” apostolic writings to inspired status.

They were recognizing that:

• these writings preserved Jesus’ teaching,

• carried apostolic authority,

• were used universally in worship,

• and faithfully transmitted the revelation given once for all (Jude 3).

Canonization was essentially an act of preservation:

“These writings faithfully preserve the message of Christ and the apostles.”

Not:

“The apostles meant to produce new Scripture equal to Torah.”

6. Why Modern “Prophets” Don’t Understand Their Own Claims

Let’s be honest:

If someone today gives you any version of,

“God told me to tell you…”, or any illusion of speaking directly from and for God

They are — by definition — claiming prophetic status.

And prophetic status means every word is new Scripture.

That’s literally how Scripture was formed:

• “Thus says the LORD” → prophetic utterance

• preserved → transmitted → Scripture

Our idea of a closed canon is a wise, necessary boundary, but it isn’t a divine “God can’t speak anymore” rule.

If God wanted a new prophet, He would make one.

If He wanted new Scripture, nothing could stop Him.

But every modern “prophetic” claim collapses under the weight of what a prophet actually is in biblical terms (Deut 18:18–22).

Most people want the aura of prophecy without the responsibility or consequences.

So What Actually Is Scripture?

Here’s the Ancient, Apostolic Answer

Scripture is whatever faithfully preserves God’s voice, God’s actions, and God’s revealed will.

Everything else — scrolls, translations, canons, traditions — exists to carry that revelation, not redefine it.

• God speaks → Revelation

• Prophets and Jesus act/speak → Scripture

• Apostles witness and teach → Authority

• Church preserves → Canon

• We receive → Faithfulness

Scripture is revelation preserved, not a human system invented.

And that ancient view still changes lives today.