We Are Apostolic: Anchored by the Word, Aligned to Christ

In an age where spiritual novelty is everywhere and doctrinal drift feels normal, it's worth stopping to remember something ancient, something steady: the Church is apostolic.

Not in the sense of ongoing apostolic office. The apostles were eyewitnesses of the risen Christ and commissioned by Him for a foundational role in redemptive history. That office is complete. But in the truest and richest sense, we are apostolic because we are built on their witness, their gospel, and their Scriptures, with Jesus Christ Himself as our Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20).

To be apostolic, then, is not about flashy titles or spiritual hierarchy. It’s not about mimicking the first century or looking for signs and wonders. It is about a settled, joyful, and whole-hearted submission to the Word of God written, the teaching of the apostles, preserved for us in Scripture, breathed out by the Spirit.

But there are also dangers on either side of the path. Some, like the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, have taught that being apostolic means tracing a direct line of ordination back to the apostles, as if grace and authority are transmitted biologically or institutionally. Others, like those in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), try to reinvent the apostolic office entirely, claiming fresh authority, new revelations, or spiritual rank. Both are errors. Christ’s apostles were unique: eyewitnesses of the resurrection, commissioned to lay the once-for-all foundation. We do not continue their office, we continue their message.

Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 350 AD) warned the church not to be swayed by titles or rhetoric, but to test all things by Scripture:

"For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tells you these things, give not absolute credence, unless you receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures." (Catechetical Lectures, 5.12)

And Irenaeus (c. 180 AD), defending the gospel against early heresies, rooted the church’s authority in the apostolic message recorded in Scripture:

"We have learned from none other the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us… they first preached it, and then, by the will of God, handed it down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith." (Against Heresies, 3.1)

Some point to early lists of bishops, especially in Rome, as evidence of apostolic succession in office. But the Reformers were clear: succession of office without succession of doctrine means nothing. Calvin wrote, “They [the Fathers] did not say that the bishops succeeded Peter or Paul to show that whoever sat in the chair must be holy or orthodox, but to show that the doctrine had not changed” (Institutes, 4.2.2). Luther was even more blunt: “Even if the pope and his followers could prove that all their predecessors were genuine apostles, it would still not follow that they are true bishops or that their teaching is correct” (Against the Execrable Bull of Antichrist, 1520). Apostolicity isn’t in the chain of hands, it’s in the truth of the message.

As we continued our Who We Are & What We Do series this past Sunday, we opened Acts 2:42–47 to see what this means for us in practice. What does it look like to be an apostolic church in Burlington in 2025?

It begins with the same posture found in verse 42: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching." These earliest Christians weren’t giving themselves to religious hype, political power, or emotional highs. They were building their lives on a message, fixed, received, and powerful, because it came from Christ through His appointed servants.

And when a church actually lives that way, Acts 2 shows us the results:

• A hunger for truth as reflected in the Apostle’s teaching
• A fellowship that shares deeply
• A worship that stretches from prayer to praise
• A generosity that reflects Christ’s own self-giving
• A public witness marked by clarity and beauty

This is not dry traditionalism. It is radiant life. It is the church as it was meant to be, not because of sentimentality about the "early church," but because the same Spirit is still at work, building on the same foundation.

Jon English Lee puts it well: "The church is apostolic because it believes, teaches, and guards the apostolic faith that has been passed down through the centuries."

That’s our calling. Not to reinvent, but to receive. Not to drift with the cultural tides, but to anchor ourselves to what has always been true. Not to build on personality, preference, or pragmatism, but on Christ alone.

And here is the joy: the same Christ who spoke through the apostles still speaks today, through their words. The same gospel that spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth is still saving sinners. The same Spirit who knit that first fellowship together still dwells in us.

To be apostolic is to say: "We will not build on sand. We will not move the foundation. We will not preach another gospel. We have all we need in the once-for-all message entrusted to the saints."

We are apostolic.
And that is very good news.