As we read the New Testament epistles, we find that the apostles’ teachings for one church did not differ from the teaching to another one. Paul did not preach one doctrine in Ephesus, another in Philippi, another in Colossae, and another in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 4:17, Paul says, “For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” As he indicates to the Corinthian church, Paul’s ways are actually Christ’s ways and these are consistently taught everywhere in every church.
We can discover another proof of Paul’s uniform teaching in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”
He tells the Corinthians to make their contributions on the first day of the week as he had previously told the church at Galatia. There was no difference in what he told to the two churches.
From his teaching, we discover that there is uniformity to the teaching of the New Testament. The doctrine of Christ is one. As we observed, Paul did not teach different conflicting doctrines. When the word “doctrine” is used, it is always singular, as in John 7:17, Acts 2:42, Romans 6:17, and others. When the plural word “doctrines” is used, it always refers to the teaching of men, as in Matthew 15:9, Hebrews 13:9. There are many misleading doctrines of men but there is one true doctrine for all.
For the elders, Tony Williams