New Testament churches were sometimes troubled places, and we might be forgiven for wondering why an all-wise God should allow problems and difficulties to arise so early in church history without giving His people much time to adjust. Had He done so, the apostles, men eminently qualified and authoritative to deal with those problems and difficulties, would have passed on, leaving His people ‘exposed to the wiles of the devil’, but in His marvellous wisdom, God allowed the storms to come so early in order that His people then, and ourselves today, often facing the same pressures, would have teaching to help them. He had in mind, not only first-century believers, but all believers in the ‘church age’, including ourselves.