The controversies surrounding the doctrine of sola Scriptura highlight a fundamental difference in the way that Protestants and Catholics think about a basic question: what is the nature of Christian authority?

In their many years as Evangelical Christians, Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley both assumed that the Bible alone was the sole and sufficient infallible rule of faith. But as they studied the New Testament, they saw other ways that authority functioned in Scripture: through councils, and through the people appointed and sent by the apostles.

Ultimately, both Matt and Ken realized that sola Scriptura could only be true if the Church described in the New Testament no longer existed. But what does Scripture actually say about the way the Apostles exercised and preserved the gifts that had been bestowed on them personally by Christ? And how do we see them passing on that authority in the New Testament?