How did Christians learn doctrine before they had complete Bibles?
Question 0037
This question helps us appreciate both the remarkable providence of God in preserving His truth and the reality of how the early Church actually functioned. It also reminds us not to take for granted the complete Bible we hold in our hands today.
The Situation of the Early Church
When the Church was born at Pentecost, believers had what we now call the Old Testament—the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus Himself had taught that these writings testified about Him (John 5:39) and that everything written about Him in “the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). The early Jewish believers knew their Scriptures well. The Bereans were commended precisely because they “examined the Scriptures daily” to verify what Paul taught them (Acts 17:11).
But the New Testament didn’t exist yet as a collected whole. The books were written over a period of roughly fifty years, from the late 40s AD (likely James or Galatians) to the 90s AD (Revelation and possibly John’s letters). During that time, churches might have one or two apostolic letters, perhaps a Gospel account, but not the full New Testament we possess today. So how did they learn and preserve sound doctrine?
Apostolic Teaching and Presence
The primary means of doctrinal instruction was the living voice of the apostles and those they commissioned. Luke records that the early Jerusalem church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). This was oral instruction, face-to-face teaching from those who had walked with Jesus or, like Paul, had received direct revelation from Him.
Paul spent eighteen months in Corinth (Acts 18:11), teaching them. He spent three years in Ephesus, during which he declared “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). When he wrote to the Thessalonians, he reminded them: “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).
Notice that oral teaching (“spoken word”) and written teaching (“letter”) carried equal authority—both came from apostles speaking under the Spirit’s guidance. The Greek word for “traditions” here is παραδόσεις (paradoseis), meaning “things handed over” or “things transmitted.” This wasn’t human tradition opposed to Scripture; this was apostolic teaching delivered by word of mouth.
The apostles didn’t make it up as they went along. They had received a body of teaching from Jesus during His earthly ministry and through post-resurrection appearances, and they transmitted this faithfully. Paul speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 15: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The verbs “delivered” (παρέδωκα, paredōka) and “received” (παρέλαβον, parelabon) are technical terms for the transmission of authoritative teaching.
Creeds and Confessional Statements
Within the New Testament itself, we can identify what appear to be early creedal or confessional statements that circulated among the churches. These were memorised summaries of essential doctrine.
The passage just quoted from 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 has all the marks of such a formula—the introductory phrase “I delivered…what I received,” the structured format, the archaic language. Scholars widely agree this represents a very early creed, possibly dating to within a few years of the resurrection itself.
Philippians 2:6-11, the great passage about Jesus emptying Himself and taking the form of a servant, is often identified as an early Christian hymn. Whether Paul composed it or quoted something already in use, it served to encode essential Christological truth in memorable, poetic form.
1 Timothy 3:16 appears to quote another early confession: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” These short, memorable statements allowed believers to carry essential doctrine in their hearts even without access to written texts.
The Reading and Circulation of Scripture
As apostolic letters were written, they were read aloud in the churches and then copied and circulated. Paul explicitly commanded this: “And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea” (Colossians 4:16).
Public reading was essential because most people couldn’t read, and even those who could didn’t have personal copies of Scripture. The scrolls or codices were expensive and time-consuming to produce. Paul instructs Timothy: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13). The Greek term ἀνάγνωσις (anagnōsis) refers to the formal reading of Scripture in the assembly.
This practice continued the synagogue pattern, where Scripture was read and then explained. Justin Martyr, writing around AD 150, describes the Christian gathering: “And on the day called Sunday…the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs.”
Churches didn’t each have a complete Bible, but they had some books, and over time the core writings became widely distributed. We have papyrus fragments from the second century showing that the Gospels and Paul’s letters were being copied and spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
The Role of Bishops and Teachers
As the apostles aged and died, they appointed trustworthy men to continue their teaching ministry. Paul instructed 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” (2 Timothy 2:2). This is four generations of transmission: Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others. The chain of teaching was to be protected and preserved.
This is not apostolic succession in the Roman Catholic sense—the authority lay in the message, not in some mystical transmission of power. But it does show that trained teachers were essential for preserving sound doctrine. The office of bishop or overseer (ἐπίσκοπος, episkopos) included the responsibility to “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9). Teachers in the church were guardians of the apostolic message.
Early Catechetical Instruction
New converts received systematic instruction before baptism. The Didache, a document probably from the late first century, provides an early example of such teaching—covering ethical instruction, the proper way to baptise, and how to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. While we don’t treat the Didache as Scripture, it shows us how the early Church handled the instruction of new believers.
Hippolytus of Rome (c. AD 215) describes a three-year catechumenate—a period of instruction for those preparing for baptism. They were taught the essentials of the faith systematically, examined on their understanding, and only then admitted to baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
The Rule of Faith
Early Church fathers like Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen speak of the “rule of faith” (Latin: regula fidei; Greek: κανὼν τῆς πίστεως, kanōn tēs pisteōs). This was not a written creed but a summary of essential apostolic teaching passed down in the churches. Irenaeus describes it in Against Heresies (c. AD 180): “The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world…has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit…”
This rule of faith served as a measuring stick for evaluating new teachings. When heretics like the Gnostics came along with their strange doctrines, the churches could test these claims against what had been consistently taught everywhere by the apostles and their successors.
Conclusion
Several things become clear from this history. First, God preserved His truth even before the New Testament was fully written and compiled. The apostles’ teaching was authoritative from the start—whether spoken or written. The same Spirit who inspired the writing of Scripture guided its transmission.
Second, we should thank God for the complete Bible we possess. Early Christians didn’t have what we have. They couldn’t pull out a pocket New Testament or search a Bible app. They depended on the community of faith, on trained teachers, on memorised creeds and hymns.
Third, this history doesn’t justify adding to Scripture. The early confessions and rules of faith were summaries of Scripture, not additions to it. They pointed people to the apostolic message, not away from it. The Reformers rightly insisted on sola Scriptura—Scripture alone as our final authority—precisely because they could see that human traditions had been added that contradicted the apostolic teaching.
Finally, this reminds us of the value of systematic teaching, memorisation, and faithful transmission. We have advantages the early Church lacked, but we also face dangers they didn’t face—the danger of assuming everyone has access to the Bible and knows how to read it, the danger of thinking we don’t need teachers and structure, the danger of biblical illiteracy even with Bibles everywhere. The early Church shows us that sound doctrine must be carefully taught, faithfully transmitted, and zealously guarded.
“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude 3
