With the death of the apostles, the early church faced with enhanced concern the questions of unity, authority, persecution and the measure of truth. The New Testament books had not yet been collected. Various interpretations of the apostles’ teaching and the Old Testament were rampant and in some cases were seductive and dangerous. False teachers continued to threaten the faith of believers as they had done in the days of Paul, Peter and John (1 Tim 1:3–7; 2 Pet 2:1–3;