A -- I have been warned by some to avoid both you and your teaching

because you do not, as did the early church, `continue stedfastly in the

apostles' doctrine' (Acts 2:42).

B -- This is certainly a serious charge, but it strikes me as being

somewhat biased, for these very same teachers who are now so zealous for the

`apostles' doctrine' did not spare these same apostles over the appointment

of Matthias.

A -- That is so, but possibly this is the exception that proves the

B -- Let us `search and see'.  After forty days' instruction from the

risen Christ, with special emphasis upon the teaching of Moses, the Prophets

and the Psalms concerning the Lord Himself, and moreover with the inspired

statement that these same apostles Understood these same Scriptures (Luke

24:45), the `apostles' doctrine' is expressed in the question which was the

outcome of such teaching and such understanding:

`When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him, saying,

Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?'

(Acts 1:6).

This restoration of the kingdom to Israel we accept as an integral part

of the `apostles' doctrine': those who have the temerity to warn you as to

our attitude, have also the audacity to teach that this question, in spite of

its context, is the result of Jewish prejudice, and that the apostles should,

instead, have been found asking about the church!

A -- But may it not be that after the descent of the Spirit at

Pentecost the scales would fall from their eyes?

B -- Yes, it may, but the question for us is, Did they alter their

doctrine, and announce teaching concerning the church?

A -- Yes, I believe they did, for it is universally accepted that the

church began at Pentecost.

B -- I will not quarrel with your word `universally', but would rather

direct you to the attitude of Paul when opposed by sheer numbers (2 Tim. 1:12

-15).  As to the change of doctrine which takes place in Acts 2, that I

believe is a tradition foisted upon an undiscerning people.  Let us `search

and see'.

In Acts 2, Peter declares that `Pentecost' is the fulfilment of that

which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and he has no reason, by any supposed

change of doctrine, to hesitate in quoting the words:

`I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath;

blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into

darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of

the Lord come' (Acts 2:19,20).

A -- Perhaps Peter felt that he ought not to break off in the middle of

a quotation.