Parent: JesusWordsOnly
Chapter 10 Conclusion
None in Acts. None in John's letters. Never in Paul's letters. None certainly in Revelation. Not in any apostles' letter. Nor even in the pseudograph Second Peter." (Rev. 2:2) must therefore be talking about Paul. Jesus commends the Ephesians for finding someone lied when he said he was an apostle and was not. Paul was someone whom the Bible reveals told the Ephesians that he was an apostle, was not, and thus must be untruthful in this respect. Insert these facts about Paul into (Rev. 2:2). One clear answer emerges: Revelation 2:2 identifies Paul. This means Jesus called Paul a liar. It also means Jesus commends the church for making this kind of evaluation. It proves we cannot shirk our duty to test the uncorroborated claims of Paul.
Note: Bonhoeffer - Modern Proponent of JWO
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran Pastor, wrote a book in 1937 entitled Cost ofDiscipleship. Bonhoeffer writes an entire book on salvation-principles that ignores Paul's doctrines. Bonhoeffer then expounds Jesus' principles on salvation and the Law. By doing so, Bonhoeffer subtly outlines what Jesus' Words Only means in terms of renovation of our doctrine: Preach and teach from Jesus' words alone.
24 .Most Christian scholars of every stripe, including Calvin, agree Second Peter is a false addition to scripture. See "The Special Question of Second Peter" on page xix of Appendix B. Even if written by Apostle Peter, it does not help Paul's case. Second Peter does not describe him as an apostle. While Second Peter does imply Paul's writings are "Scripture," that does not mean what one might suppose. The word Scripture corresponds to the Hebrew for Writings. The Bible of that era was: Torah (Law), Prophets and Writings. The Writings section meant the book was not yet recognized as fully inspired. Thus, Daniel was kept in the Writings not the Prophets section as of Jesus' day. It was not yet recognized that Daniel's prophecies had come to pass. Thus, even if Peter implied Paul's writings were scripture, this does not carry with it the connotation we give the word scripture
Did Jesus Applaud the Ephesians for Exposing Paul as a False Apostle?
First, Bonhoeffer concludes that Jesus has every intention that the Law (the Ten Commandments) survive in the New Testament. Bonhoeffer comments on (Matt. 19:16-24). There Jesus answers on how to have eternal life by telling the young man "if you would enter life, obey the commandments." Bonhoeffer says Jesus, by quoting the Ten Commandments, has made a call "to a simple obedience to the will of God as it has been revealed." (Cost, id., at 72.) Jesus reaffirms the Ten Commandments "as the commandments of God." (Id., at 73.) Jesus is saying we must "get on with the task of obedience" and it is "high time the young man began to hear the commandment and obey it." (Id.)
Bonhoeffer then excoriates Christians who use Paul's attack on legalism to undermine Jesus' message:
We are excusing ourselves from single-minded obedience to the
words of Jesus [to the young rich man] on the pretext [that this
endorses] legalism and a supposed preference for the obedience 'in faith.
(Id., at 80.)
As to faith-and-works, Bonhoeffer ignores the dialectic of Paul. Instead, Bonhoeffer pits cheap grace against costly grace. Bonhoeffer says contemporary Christian churches which teach free grace engage in a "deliberate rejection" of Christ's teachings of the personal costliness of salvation. (Id. at 36.) Jesus' message of a costly grace has been overlaid with "the superstructure of... doctrinal elements" in modem preaching that destroys the cost-element Jesus demanded. (Id.) Bonhoeffer discusses several parables to prove obedience to the Law and repentance from sin are key.
As a result, Bonhoeffer envisioned an entire renovation of the Christian church. He believed that cheap grace had infected all our doctrine. We were a "Christianity without Christ." (Cost ofDiscipleship, supra, at 39.) Bonhoeffer had some even tougher words. He says of the cheap grace gospel that "Christ is misunderstood anew, and again and again put to death." (Bonhoefffer, Christ the Center