Jesus’ Words in the New Testament

2020-08-08

There are people out there that think that Jesus’ words in the New Testament (quotations of Him while He was here in the flesh) are more important than other parts of the Bible. This is not true. Consider the following:

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) (Galatians 1:1)

This is the beginning of the greeting to the book of Galatians. Paul writes this to establish his authority because the churches in Galatia were questioning his authority and the Gospel he preached. However, we see a few things here:

  1. Paul was an apostle. This was a position of authority. An apostle must have seen the risen Christ (1 Corinthians 15:7). Many of these were the men that wrote down the words of the New Testament.
  2. His authority did not come from men. He did not give himself authority. A group of revered men did not get together and choose to give him this authority.
  3. His authority came from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave Paul the authority to be an apostle and to author much of the New Testament.
  4. His authority came from God the Father. If it were not enough to say that Jesus gave Paul this apostolic authority, the Father also gave him the authority.

Concerning the Gospel, Paul also received the message from Jesus Himself:

But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-12)

Two major things to note:

  1. The Gospel is not from man. Paul did not make up the Gospel he preached. He was not instructed by another man. Another person would have given us the Gospel at some time in the past. It may have been one-on-one, or in a church or Bible college somewhere. This was not the case with Paul.
  2. The Gospel is from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ revealed the Gospel to Paul directly. Note the phrase, “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (cf. Revelation 1:1).

The summary of the matter is clear: Jesus Christ Himself chose both Paul as an apostle and the message that he preached. The words of Paul here are also the words of Jesus.

Now you could argue that I am quoting something other than four Gospels. But here is the catch: Either these things here are true or they are false. If they are true, then Paul’s message is Jesus’ message. If they are false, the Pauline epistles should be removed from the canon immediately. You cannot exalt a select group of words in the Bible. It is a unit. It is either all equally the Word of God, or none of it is. Since Jesus is the Word (John 1:1), the entire Bible is His word.