Common Sense
A New Approach to Understanding Scripture
David W. Bercot

Common Sense explains Bercot’s approach to making ambiguous passages less tricky by using early Christian writings. His theory is the early Christian authors (outside of the Bible) were either mentored by someone from the apostolic period or by someone who was trained by someone from the apostolic period. Their proximity to the apostles (and to orthodox doctrine and practices) would produce doctrine and practices closely resembling those of the first century church.

Although David Bercot elevates the early writings, he is quick to point out that one can be saved with the Bible alone. Mr. Bercot is non-judgmental in his tone concerning those who do not agree with his position and very reasonable in his logic. The post apostolic letters and apologetics are there to help us better understand what early Christians believed without the influence of our contemporary backgrounds.

I have used the techniques Mr. Bercot describes in his book and have read other works of his which rely on using early church letters. It is an approach which generally works. One must be on guard against elevating the writings to be on the same footing as scripture. Beyond this caveat, the apologetics and correspondence of the post apostolic period are revealing and fascinating and a good source for understanding some of the details not found in the Bible.