The mission of the Church given by Jesus in the Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations,”1 cannot be separated form receiving, preserving, and proclaiming the Gospel in its authentic form.

In the article below I will briefly show that this has been an assignment which, from the very beginning, required vigorous defence against errant teaching. We can trace this in the New Testament by observing the early creedal formulas used by the Apostles and their emphasis on what became known in the generations of the church that followed as the “rule of faith.”

Receiving the Apostolic Faith

In the climactic passages of Matthew’s gospel Jesus does not merely send his disciples to make converts or to gather crowds. He commands the apostles to baptize and make disciples “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”2 This defining aspect of his commission binds disciple-making and the life of his church to a definite body of teaching, one the apostles themselves received during the time of Jesus ministry to them. The mission they are charged with is to proclaim his gospel while recounting everything Jesus commanded them. This instruction forms the basis of all good instruction for the mission of the church.

New Testament writings show us that this was understood and that an authentic apostolic teaching existed from the formation of the first church communities. In his first Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul notes that the gospel message he delivers is “of first importance what I also received.”3 He then recites a kind of creedal summary to highlight this, writing “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, he appeared to Cephas then to the twelve and to more than five hundred brothers at one time.”4 Since many of these eyewitnesses were still alive at the writing of his letter, this summary probably dates to within just a few years of the resurrection.

From this we can be confident that the early church handled a recognizable gospel summary that was spreading before any New Testament writings were circulated. Indications of this appear elsewhere. In Acts of the Apostles, it is recorded that the earliest disciples in Jerusalem “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.”5 Similarly, in his Epistle to the Romans, Paul commends his readers for being “obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were delivered.”6 The Greek word behind “standard” is typos, emphasizing a recognizable mold or pattern. This is a defining feature of the body of doctrine preserved about Christ’s death and resurrection, faith, repentance, and the Kingdom of God. From these examples and many others we can be confident that long before the canon of the New Testament was authenticated, the church already possessed a measurable “rule of faith” handed over by eyewitnesses of the risen Lord.

Preserving the Apostolic Faith

At the very same time that New Testament scripture was being written, counterfeit gospels were already present and spreading fast. In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul is astonished that his readers are “so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”7 He then pronounces an anathema or curse on anyone who teaches counter to the genuine articles of the faith that were entrusted to the apostles. The threat appears so severe in Paul’s thought that he suggests such offenders should emasculate themselves. This is not the language of a disagreement on mere nuance. It is one of the clearest places in the New Testament where Paul reminds us that any addition to the core tenets of the gospel distorts the gospel into no gospel at all.

This pattern of urgency is observed across the whole of Paul’s preserved writings. In his second Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul warns against those who proclaim “another Jesus than the one we proclaim” and admonishes those who “receive and accept a different gospel from the one you accepted.”8 Similarly, Paul warns the Ephesian elders that “fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things.”9

Beyond Paul’s ministry, other apostles in the early church can be observed working equally diligently to protect and defend sound doctrine. Jude begs disciples to “contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”10 Noticeably, the central purpose of his letter is to defend the articles of faith from false teachers that have secretly infiltrated the community he’s writing to. Elsewhere, the apostle Peter also highlights the persistent problem of false teachers and wayward doctrine which “secretly brings in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them.”11 In the Epistles to Timothy these same concerns form the basis of a repeated charge to the gospel minister Timothy to ensure that “certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,” to “guard the good deposit,” and to “preach the word in season and out of season because the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but will accumulate teachers to suit their own passions.”12

Proclaiming the Apostolic Faith

From these exhortations we can be confident that the Great Commission perseveres when disciples are baptized and instructed in everything Jesus taught. The mission of the church is sustained or continued when such individuals then -in time- teach others on the same foundation, according to the same body of revelation. This is in view when Paul instructs Timothy, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”13 A number of living generations are in Paul’s scope here as he describes the mission to proclaim the gospel authentically. This is defined in a number of summary statements that later generations of church teachers came to reference as the “rule of faith.” These passages together represent a kind of litmus test for sound teaching and theology. One of the clearest examples appears in the Epistle to the Philippians, when Paul confesses, in compact form, the core truths the church has always believed,

Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus
who, though he was in the form of God
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped
but emptied himself
by taking the form of a servant
being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow
in heaven and on earth and under the earth
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.14

Textual study of this passage reveals its poetic structure and balanced stanzas. This was typical of early Christian hymns or confessions used in worship or catechism. Additionally, this passage’s vocabulary does not appear common in Paul’s letters, suggesting he may be quoting material familiar to the Philippians. Similar summaries appear in 1 Timothy 3:16 and Romans 1:3-4. These show us that the church proclaimed a coherent teaching about Christ long before theologies became necessary to further articulate. And this portrays a clear pattern. As the Great Commission began to unfold, reception of the apostolic deposit was paired with guarding it against every distortion that emerged. In light of this, we can understand Paul’s urgency in exhorting the Thessalonians to “stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.”15

It is important for us to recognize that the mission of the church in these passages is linked to apostolic authority. This is rooted in the apostles’ eyewitnesses testimony of the risen Jesus and of the events of his ministry. For example, John writes in his First Epistle, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life; the life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us; that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us.”16

Similarly, in John’s Gospel there appears to be an editorial addition in its epilogue (possibly added after his death or prior to its dissemination) which reads, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.”17 Taken together with other similar examples like 1 Galatians and 1 Corinthians 15, these passages were deeply impressed upon the generation of later church fathers. They upheld that authentic apostolic teaching was based on direct, physical encounter with the incarnate and risen Christ. And this eyewitness standard is the bedrock of receiving, preserving, and proclaiming the only legitimate apostolic gospel along with the authority to define sound doctrine. For this reason, the “rule of faith” as it became known in the generations of the church that followed was closely tied to the apostolic witness and the task of pastoring the church.

Conclusion

The Great Commission is not an ambiguous charter for the church to reimage or repurpose her message for every age. From the moment Jesus spoke these words on the Galilean mountain, the mission of the church in making disciples has been anchored in sound teaching. The good news of the church’s message was delivered first by those who heard Jesus’ voice directly, saw his glory, and touched his risen body. They received his teaching and testified to it most authentically. John, the last living apostle, sealed this witness with the same urgent claim represented by the whole; we have seen, we have heard, we proclaim to you what we received. They handed this eyewitness deposit to the church as a treasure to be guarded at all costs. As false gospels spread, they were met with a consistent pattern of rebuke. The church today fulfills the Great Commission in exactly the same way, by receiving the faith once and for all delivered to us from the eyewitnesses, preserving it against every counterfeit, and proclaiming it without addition or subtraction. Where that testimony in truth is believed and confessed, disciples are baptized and made, and the mission endures.