People like Ehrman can put together historical evidence that Christianity was a mixed bag even during the Apostles’ time–the New Testament indicates as much.
No. To say that “Christianity was a mixed bag” is the same as saying that Jesus gave confusing teachings, and that He did not really do what the NT says He did by making sure they understood everything, or investing them with the power to preserve what He had taught. The NT indicates that there were heresies from the beginning, but that the unified Church, by the authority invested to the apostles by Christ, defeated them consistently.
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But the idea that there never was any core Christianity is strictly speculation, since the New Testament clearly indicates that Jesus ordained Apostles, and they were, in the main, united in their message.
Now you are contradicting what you wrote above.
So if we take the NT at face value, we have the Apostles and their followers, along with a number of groups (Judaizers, proto-gnostics, antinomians, etc.) that resisted their authority. Looks like an apostasy in the making to me.
Apostasy refers to those who have embraced the truth, then turned from it. Splinter groups and resisters are not apostates, but unbelievers.
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During the NT period, more apostles than the original 12, like Matthias, Paul, and Barnabas, were called, and they exercised authority over the churches in various localities. (Just read Paul's letters.)
After around 110 A.D., somehow there were no Apostles left, and only local leaders like bishops and presbyters in place. There is no indication that any of these bishops exercised any authority outside of their own areas.
Does that mean you admit that they did exercise authority insid their areas?
Do you agree that the Apostles had authority over all areas?
Clement of Rome is the probable author of a letter to the Corinthian church, in which he exhorts them not to kick out their local leaders, but he doesn’t claim any sort of apostolic authority over them.
I bet you wish that were the case. On what basis does he exhort them, then?
Because nobody at the time seemed to realize that the Roman bishop inherited Peter’s primacy. Nobody started saying that until the mid-third century.
Clearly the historical record indicates that your statement here is false.
So the sequence of events the historical documents give us is this:
- A centralized leadership with the Apostles.
- More Apostles were ordained from time to time.
- Lots of dissenting groups within Christianity opposed the Apostles.
The “dissenters” you have cited above were not “within Christianity”. However, I will agree that there were also dissenters that were corrected by the Apostles.
- Somehow, new apostles stop being ordained, and eventually only local leaders are left.
This is because no one else could meet the requirements for an apostle. However, it is good that you recognize that ordination to office did occur.
- There is a power vacuum, with no centralized leadership for at least a century or two.
This statement contradicts what you have posted previously also. You have conceded that there were local authorities that exercised in their regions. You have conceded that ordination happened. You have conceded that local leaders were left in office after the death of the apostles. There was no “power vaccuum”. This is carnal /secular thinking.
- The Roman church starts making claims of primacy 1-2 centuries after the fact.
The Primacy of the Roman Church is based on the solid foundation of teaching laid there by Peter and Paul. Unity emerges from Truth, and the degree of apostolic teaching there from the two of them was far more than any other city.
Personally, I think the Mormon interpretation of this historical progression makes a lot of sense.
Maybe it is because your history is warped?