Are Christ’s Words Greater Than Paul’s?
The argument of Christ’s teachings on forgiveness
versus the apostle Paul’s teaching on the same subject once came up in a
conversation I had with someone.
Apparently, it is a common understanding among some Christians that
Christ’s words are greater than Paul’s or any other biblical author. I have a few objections to this line of
thinking.
First, all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim
3:16-17). From the Old Testament to the
New, all of the books of the Bible are uniquely inspired by God. Now, some books or portions of books may be
more edifying to Christians than others, but all Scripture is inspired and
authoritative over our lives.
Second, we affirm that all 66 books of the Bible
are Scripture, and we even have internal evidence to this fact. The apostle Peter refers to Paul’s writings “Scripture”
(2 Pet 3:15-16). So then, the great
apostle Peter confirms that what Paul writes is from God.
Third, Christians have held for centuries that the
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9; 2 Cor 3:17; Gal 4:6; 1 Pet
1:11). This is the great mystery of the
Trinity. This is Christian
doctrine. The presence of the Spirit is
the presence of Christ (even Christ taught that He would come again to the
disciples by means of the Spirit [John 14:15-18]). The work of the Spirit is the work of
Christ. Jesus also promised that the
Spirit would come to teach (John 16:13-15).
We know that the Holy Spirit is the One who moved the prophets of old to
write Scripture (2 Pet 1:21), and, based on the passages just seen in John, we
believe that the Spirit of Christ inspired the New Testament authors to write
Scripture as well.
Therefore, the whole Bible is authoritative because
the whole Bible is the Word of God. The
whole Bible has been inspired by Christ.
Thus, Christ and Paul do not contradict one another. They cannot contradict one another. There is no scenario where one should say,
“I’m taking Jesus’ word on this over Paul’s.”
The two always agree. Paul, as an
apostle, fully represents Christ. Paul,
inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes Christ’s words. The whole Bible fits together into a
beautiful revelation of God’s will for this world and our lives.