As I promised, I will use the quote below as a basis for this piece.
I was shocked to read what a well known Christian Author wrote; here is
the quote again:
The word alone, as
unveiled in the Pauline Revelation is the only safe guide. Don’t misunderstand
me. You cannot be guided by the teachings of John the Baptist and of Jesus as
recorded in the four gospels in regards to any experience, unless that teaching
of the four gospels is confirmed, explained, elucidated in the Pauline
revelation or with Peter’s and John’s unveiling in their epistles.
He goes on to say:
In the four gospels,
Jesus is dealing almost exclusively with the Jews, the first covenant people,
who were natural men, spiritually dead. In the Pauline revelation, he is
dealing almost exclusively with the new creation folks.
First of all the position held by the above writer that what Jesus
said, He spoke to almost exclusively
to the Jews, is not correct. His life and ministry extended to the entire
mankind. In fact what he taught would
have been extremely difficult for any natural man to keep.
For example, under the law, Moses spoke about committing fornication as
a sin but when Jesus came on the scene He elevated this sin to include looking
at a woman lustfully.
The
writer of Hebrews also disagrees with this writer’s position too, hear him:
Heb 1:1- 2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Notice the emphasis I added to the US?
Unlike the writer quoted, the author of Hebrews does not express any
concerns that some of what Jesus will not apply to him now that he is a new
creature.
That “us” means that the writer included himself as one of those that
God was speaking to through his son, Jesus.
We can safely deduce that the writer of Hebrews was not a natural man or
spiritually dead, yet in his comment he did not deny any part of what God said
through Jesus as not being almost exclusively referred to him. He says clearly
that God has spoken to us, the writer inclusive, without any almost exclusive
statement as used by the writer above.
Also with this claim that some things Jesus said as not almost
exclusively to us, we are then left with the difficult choice of discovering which
statement of Jesus should we discard as not referring to us and which should we
accept? The writer of Hebrews clearly tells us that such a choice is not for us
to make, because God hath spoken to us through his son.
I will show the error in this position quoted above by admitting to
evidence the testimony of several very credible witnesses.
First witness: The witness of
God the Father.
My first witness against the position above is the testimony of God
Himself on the mount of transfiguration
To subject Jesus teachings to be validated by the Pauline and other
epistles is, in my opinion, equivalent to making the same grave mistake that
God intervened in order to stop Peter from making, on the mountain of
transfiguration.
Peter sought to create 3 tabernacles, One for Jesus, One for Moses and
one for Elijah. This would have made it needful for those who sought to hear
the perspective of the law to have the Law giver available to consult and those
who sought after the prophetic to find Elijah available.
Luk 9:35-36 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved
Son:
hear him. And when the voice was past, Jesus was found
alone.
And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those
things which they had.
God had to interrupt this
heavenly vision and withdraw his delegates in order to present Jesus as the
only one they should pay attention to. God made it clear that Jesus was his
approved voice to be heard. God says …. Hear Him!
Moses represented the law and
Elijah represented the Prophets but God points us to His Son and declares His
approval of him, instructing us to hear Him. Hallelujah!
to be continued...
