The pattern principle means no more than going to the Bible to discover what God wants His people to believe, to be and to do until Jesus returns. The pattern embraces what men are to believe and do in order to be saved, it embraces the Christian lifestyle, it embraces certain elements of corporate worship in the church's assemblies as well as an individual's daily worship for God's Glory and our spiritual benefit, it embraces the work of the church and the organizational structure of both the universal church and the local congregations. The pattern principle implies that what God revealed to the apostles to be preached, believed and obeyed in the apostolic age can be identified in the New Testament, and that God intentionally made that clear in New Testament writings so that this same message would be reproduced in proclamation and practice throughout history until Christ returns. The New Testament pattern principle insures the identity of the body of Christ as God purposed it from eternity.
Not only, then, was the church in the first century ordered after divine pattern, but the church throughout history is to be ordered after the same pattern to the extent of our ability to recognize and reproduce it (II Timothy 2:2).
The following demonstrates that there is a pattern of teaching in the New Testament after which Christianity, and consequently the church, is to be ordered.
A. The Eternal Purpose of God
Back of the church in the Bible and in history lies the eternal purpose of God. The Bible teaches that God's purpose in Christ for our salvation includes the church wherein we are to glorify him throughout history (Ephesians 1:9-11; 3:10-11; 20-21). This purpose is referred to as the wisdom of God which he "ordained before the ages for our glory" (I Cor. 2:7). From this purpose, as revealed in the New Testament, emerges the pattern of God's own making after which the apostolic church was originally constructed.
B. The Apostles' Pattern
Jesus prayed for the unity of all who believe in him, saying, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who believe in me through their word; that they all may be one" (John 17:20-21). Clearly, the ground of belief in Christ and the unity of all believers is the word of his apostles. Their word, therefore, necessarily becomes the pattern of belief and resultant unity for all who would follow Christ. Consider these examples of the pattern principle:
1. Acts 2:42 -> In the beginning the church "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine." Jesus' prayer for the unity of the church as based on the apostles' word is realized here at this earliest moment in the history of the church. The church had a distinctive teaching from the apostles and continued steadfastly in it. This same teaching was the pattern of instruction for the early church.
2. I Corinthians 4:17 -> "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." Paul's teachings were to be maintained in perpetuity inasmuch as the preacher was to remind the churches of Paul's original teaching. Obviously the Holy Spirit intended the apostles' teaching to be the universal pattern of instruction since they taught the same thing among all the churches. That pattern of teaching constituted the basis of the early church's belief and consequent unity and identity.
3. I Corinthians 7:17 -> "And so I ordain in all the churches." In context there was a particular practice to which Paul directed all the churches. all the churches of Christ come under a common obligation to observe whatever apostolic authority directs. From this we perceive a pattern of teaching.
4. I Corinthians 14:34-37 -> "Let the women keep silent in the churches... If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord." A universal practice to be observed among the churches is clearly taught. Paul undergirds the importance of retaining the practice of women keeping silent in the assemblies by insisting that Christians acknowledge his writings as the very commandments of Christ.
Paul grounds this teaching not in cultural practice but in accordance with the law of Moses. In agreement with this exposition Paul also grounds this same instruction in the creation as he reveals God's original intent for men and women regarding particular areas of human activity from the beginning (I Tim. 2:1-15).
5. II Timothy 2:2 -> "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." Paul's commission to Timothy to pass along his teaching to others who will pass it on to yet others is reminiscent of Christ's commission to the apostles to make disciples of all nations, "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20). The teachings of Christ through his apostles are to be passed along in perpetuity.
6. I John 4:1, 6 -> "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world... We are of God; he who knows god hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." In this context the spirits seem to be different teachings, those that are different from the teachings of the Holy Spirit through the apostles. We are not told to test the teachers but their teachings. The standard for the test is the apostles' teachings. By comparison with their teachings we can know the truth or the error of another's doctrine.
"Pattern theology" is a term expressing the belief that the apostles' teachings for the first-century church are to be reproduced and observed until Jesus comes. By this means the uniqueness of the original Christian faith and the consequent unity of the body of Christ can be achieved and maintained not only in theory but also in reality.
- taken from "The Church of Christ: The Distinctive Nature of the New Testament Church" by Edward C. Wharton
