This survey of history now enters the period of time after Jesus and His first followers. Leadership passed from the Spirit-inspired apostles and prophets of the New Testament to the next generations. The Lord had prepared well by laying His solid, unchanging foundation for all future generations. God’s family, the church, was “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20 cf. Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 3:5; 4:11; 2 Peter 3:2). Foundational teachings were preserved in the New Testament Scriptures so that Christ continued to build His church in His way.
However, this next phase of the church ran risks. If some showed signs of abandoning the truth even while the apostles were alive (Galatians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 11:4; 1 Timothy 1:19; 6:21; Revelation 2:4, 14-15, 20; 3:1, 16), how much more after they died? Would future leaders stay in the Lord’s way as revealed to His apostles and prophets? Would they stray, building instead for themselves on the shifting sands of their own authority and desires?