Modern critical scholars suggest that what we call 'orthodoxy' was not the original starting point, but rather the winning faction in a highly diverse early Christian marketplace. In the first three centuries, various groups—Gnostics, Marcionites, and Ebionites—all claimed apostolic authority. The victors labeled their rivals as 'heretics' and systematically suppressed their writings. What survived was not necessarily the only original tradition, but the one best suited for political and organizational survival.