Can We Trust That Christian Orthodoxy Got It Right? – Part 2
How the Early Church Guarded the Gospel.
Christian orthodoxy didn’t begin in a council chamber.
It began with Jesus Christ himself.
The gospel was proclaimed by His disciples—not as theory, but as eyewitness testimony. The Apostles, entrusted with His words and commissioned by His Spirit, became the first guardians of Christian orthodoxy. Their central claim was clear: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, and He is the Son of God.
This wasn’t abstract theology. It was lived reality.
And it demanded clarity.
Apostolic Foundations
The earliest Christian communities didn’t gather to speculate. They gathered to remember, proclaim, and preserve. The letters of Paul, the sermons of Peter, the epistles of John—all echo the same gospel: one God, one Lord Jesus Christ, one Spirit, one baptism, one hope.
Even before the last Apostle died, the church had already begun organizing itself to carry on the tradition. A succession of church fathers emerged—not as inventors, but as stewards. They guarded the gospel, clarified doctrine, and defended the faith handed down from the Apostles.
Orthodoxy wasn’t a late invention. It was an early inheritance.
️Heresy and the Need for Clarity
As the church grew, so did the rival claims. Gnostics, Judaizers, and speculative theologians offered competing visions of Christ—some denying His divinity, others His humanity, still others redefining salvation altogether.
The church didn’t respond with suppression. It responded with clarity.
Councils like Nicaea (325 AD) and Chalcedon (451 AD) weren’t power plays. They were theological reckonings. Their aim wasn’t to silence dissent, but to protect the gospel. They asked:
- What have we always believed?
- What did the Apostles teach?
- What does Scripture affirm?
The creeds that emerged didn’t add to Scripture. They clarified it. They preserved its meaning. They eliminated ambiguity—not to control minds, but to safeguard truth.
The Creed as Compass
The Nicene Creed wasn’t philosophical indulgence. It was theological precision.
When the church declared that Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,” it wasn’t inventing doctrine. It was defending the confession that had been sung, preached, and suffered for since the first century: Jesus is Lord.
Orthodoxy, then, is not a relic. It’s a compass.
It points us back to the gospel.
It reminds us what’s worth defending.
It tells us who we are.
What’s Next
In the next post, we’ll tackle one of the most persistent critiques:
Who chose the Bible—and why?
We’ll explore how the canon was formed, what was included (and excluded), and whether we can trust that the Scriptures we have are the ones God intended.
Because if orthodoxy is rooted in truth, then the Bible isn’t just a book.
It’s the foundation of our belief.
Apologetics in the Lion City 