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Bible Question:
Are Paul's teachings equal to Jesus' teaching? To make the Epistles
of Paul equivalent to scripture requires a leap of faith for
there is no biblical basis to equate the words of Paul with
the words of Jesus.
Bible Answer:
I have a Bible that I use every Sunday and read from throughout
the week. In this Bible there are some words printed in the
color red and other words printed in black. The red letters
mean the actual words Jesus spoke. I understand what the colors
mean, but I object to the colors because all the words in the
Bible are Jesus' words. The Bible does not contain the words
of God. The Bible is the Word of God.
That is the meaning of the following verse.
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All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness
. . . 2 Timothy 3:16
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What Is Scripture? But now someone will say, "That
verse is talking about the Old Testament scriptures being inspired"
and they would be correct. That means that God wrote the Old
Testament scriptures. He did this by moving and influencing
prophets, kings and saints in their writing. The Bible is the
Word of God. These are Jesus' words.
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But know this first of all, that . . . no prophecy was
ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the
Holy Spirit spoke from God. (NASB) 2 Peter 1:20-21
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But what they have missed are several other very important passages
in the New Testament. Here is the first one.
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. . . just as also our beloved brother Paul, according
to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all
his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which
are some things hard to understand, which the untaught
and unstable distort, as
they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
(NASB) 2 Peter 3:15-16
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Paul Wrote Scripture. In this passage the Apostle
Peter is talking about the letters the Apostle Paul wrote and
he says that Paul writes scripture.
We must remember that Jesus said He would build the church upon
Peter and the other apostles.
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And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this
rock I will build My church . . . (NASB) Matt. 16:18
. . . having been built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,
(NASB) Ephesians 2:20
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Paul's words are just as authoritative as the words Jesus spoke
since Paul's writings are equal in authority to the Old Testament
and God says He wrote the Old Testament. The apostle Peter also
says that no one writes scripture on their own. The Holy Spirit
guides them. He "moves" them.
Conclusion:
The Bible - Old Testament and New Testament - are the very words
of God. The Bible does not contain the words of God along with
errors, mistakes, and uncertainties. The Old Testament and New
Testament authors wrote God's Words. Since
Jesus is God
they recorded Jesus' Words. The whole Bible should be filled
with red words.
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