Parent: JesusWordsOnly
Jesus: Our Sole Teacher
Now we are prepared to receive Jesus' doctrine on the centrality of His message. This is the meaning of Jesus ' Words Only - it is a doctrine actually taught by Our Lord. This doctrine made His commandments the sole focus for the church. He will teach us that His commandments are necessarily diminished when we treat as inspired every word of any apostle (including the one we added by tradition as a thirteenth). Jesus clearly did not intend to impart such an authority to every word of any one of the individual twelve apostles merely because spoken by them. Because Jesus never extended such authority to any of the twelve, we have utterly no justification extending such authority to someone who was not even among the twelve, namely Paul.
This doctrine begins with Jesus' teaching that we have one Rabbi, one Teacher. We were not to call anyone in the church, even an apostle, a teacher. Speaking to both the apostles and the crowds, Jesus said:
"Don't let anyone call you Rabbi \i.e., Teacher] for you have only One
Teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters."
(Matt. 23:8 NLT.)
"And don't let anyone call you Teacher, for you have only One
Teacher, the Messiah (Christ)." (Matt. 23:10 NLT.)
Jesus was thereby admonishing the Apostles to not assume any authority above His message. As Matthew Henry explains this passage:
The disciples must not assume the authority and dominion implied
in those names [i.e., teacher]; they must not domineer over their
brethren, or over God's heritage, as if they had dominion over the
faith of Christians.
Furthermore, because Jesus was addressing both apostles and the crowd, His remark that all in attendance were "equal" as brothers has a key significance. Yet, it is often overlooked. Jesus meant all Christians are equal "brethren" with a perfectly equal authority. In this sense, no one believer is higher in position or importance than any other believer. Any sense of superiority or sense of inferiority among believers is to be avoided. None are to be masters or teachers in the church of Christ. We are all disciples of the same Master. Thereby, Jesus remains always and forever The Teacher, The Master, solely and uniquely.
Yet, as we shall see, the twelve apostles were commissioned to teach something. Thus, while they were to teach something, they still were not to be called teachers. In other words, they did not have the authority of a teacher apart from the message they were to teach. They held no unique superiority over anyone else merely because they had the function of teaching a certain message. Rather, the message that they carried from Jesus was what was superior to any other message. We miss this point because we do not have the immediate recognition as first century Christians would that the word apostolos means messenger in Greek. Thus, the apostles had no independent authority to teach apart from carrying the message of the words of Jesus.
This was in keeping with how Jesus explained the Holy Spirit would work in the New Testament church. The Holy Spirit will not say anything to us other than what the Spirit already heard from the Lord. The Spirit does not speak from within Himself anything ! In other words, no inspired words will come directly from the Spirit unless the Spirit already heard it from the Lord. Please listen attentively to our Lord explaining this:
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you. (John 16:13-14 ASV.)
Clarke says this bolded language means "He shall teach nothing contrary to what I have taught you."
Thus, the Holy Spirit would do three things: (a) guide them in all truth; (b) provide prophecy of future events, as John later received in Revelation; (c) but otherwise, only repeat what the Spirit already heard from the Lord Himself (thus never contradicting Jesus' words). Jesus tells us why! Because this would glorify Jesus.
Later, Jesus gave a contrast in John 7:18: "He that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory." Thus, if anyone spoke new principles different than what Jesus already said, they actually were speaking for themselves alone. Their words would be to "seek their own glory."
Jesus helps us understand this in another passage. He says to the twelve that the Holy Spirit will bring "remembrance" of Jesus' words and "teach you all things."
But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all that I said unto you. (John 14:26) ASV
Thus, combining John 14:26 and 16:13-14, it means the Holy Spirit "shall...bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." But the Holy Spirit will not cause a recollection of any words contrary to what Jesus said in the hearing of the twelve. This is so because the Holy Spirit does not speak of itself. Clarke explains John 14:26 thusly: "Here Christ promises them that inspiration of the Holy Spirit which enabled them not only to give a true history of his life and death, but also gave them the most perfect recollection of all the words which he had spoken to them...."
But what about the Holy Spirit's teaching and guiding in all things? What does this mean? Because the Holy Spirit would not speak from itself, and not speak anything other than what Jesus already said, we know the teaching and guiding would itself not involve distinct new commands or doctrine. Rather, to keep the glory of God focused on Jesus, its teachings would be solely explanation. It would be teaching the meaning of Jesus' words. As Gill explains: the Holy Spirit would "explain all things which Christ had said to them; to make them more plain and easy to their understandings."
Moreover, we know Jesus was not implying this teaching operation of the Holy Spirit effected an instantaneous infallible understanding in the apostles, let alone anyone else who enjoys the Holy Spirit. Why is this?
First, because the function of teaching and guiding has always been a work of the Holy Spirit in all who have received it. As MacDonald comments on this part of the verse: "But it is, of course, true in all ages that the Spirit guides God's people into all the truth." (MacDonald, Believer s Bible Commentary .)
And the Holy Spirit did not uniquely belong to the apostles in the New Testament era. Peter says the "Holy Spirit God has given to them that obey Him." (Acts 5:32.) Peter said the Holy Spirit would be received by a crowd of 3,000 if they " repented and [were] baptized" in the name of Jesus. (Acts 2:38.) 23
-
As Wesley comments on John 14:26, Jesus' promise of a teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit applied to "the apostles, and their successors in the faith...."
-
Jesus tells us how to receive the Holy Spirit. He does so in a story about the persistent widow. Jesus says we should follow her example, and persistently ask God to give us the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:10-13. Using the continuous present tense verb, Jesus says, "everyone who keeps on asking receives...." (Luke 11:10.) Then Jesus says "how much moreso shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13.) Thus, it appears our "repentance" unto salvation and receipt of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) is not necessarily a quick process. Yet, we are promised by Jesus if we are persistent, God will answer, forgive, and give us His Holy Spirit.
Thus, if the Holy Spirit did not uniquely belong to the Apostles, then Jesus could not possibly mean the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit implied instantaneous infallible understanding. If instead He did mean this, then all who "obey Him" and have "repented and been baptized" would have infallible identical understandings of church doctrine. Alas, no such miracle has yet happened.
Furthermore, Jesus' choice of words appears intended to confirm there is no infallible result guaranteed by this work of the Holy Spirit: "He (the Holy Spirit) shall guide you into all the truth...." (John 16:13.) When you are guided to something, it means you can be at the wrong point of understanding along the way. The Guide here is never wrong. Yet, the guidee might be. As Clarke says, Jesus' terminology is "as a father leads a child by the hand." The Holy Spirit is teaching you the path; you are a child; your understanding may be imperfect along the path even as you hear and try to apprehend your teacher. Your teacher is infallible; you are not.
In similar fashion, Jesus compares the Spirit's guiding role to that of a teacher. "He shall teach you all things...." (John 14:26.) Again this does not guarantee that the student will correctly get every lesson. The Teacher here is never wrong. But Jesus did not say the student will always correctly understand the teacher. The student can be wrong or growing in his or her understanding. Thus, all who have the Holy Spirit will be guided and taught by the Holy Spirit, but it does not mean any Christian can affirm they have an infallible understanding. This is true whether they are an apostle or the comer grocer.
Thus, the metaphors of guiding and teaching that Jesus used when the Holy Spirit operated in them was different than how Jesus described the Holy Spirit's work in the apostles which He said will assuredly "bring to your remembrance" the words of Jesus. Their remembrance was guaranteed to be accurate. However, whether they (or any Holy Spirit-filled Christian) would understand the Spirit's teaching or guidance infallibly was not guaranteed. This understanding was to grow from the Holy Spirit's guiding and teaching assistance in understanding the infallibly-recollected words of Jesus.
What confirms that teachings had to be measured for accuracy against the words of Jesus is that Apostle John understood it this way. He is the one writing these words in John chapters 14 and 16. Therefore, his personal understanding speaks volumes. John said anyone whose teachings "go beyond" or "overstep" the " teachings of Jesus Christ doesn't have God." (2 John 1:8-11.) This means the Holy Spirit is not present (note the verb is has, have) in anyone when such a person insists the church follow doctrine that goes beyond or oversteps the teachings of Jesus.
John's lesson paralleled precisely Jesus' lesson that the Holy Spirit would not go beyond what Jesus ever said to the apostles: "for he [the Spirit] shall not speak from himself but what things soever he shall hear." (John 16:13-14.) Thus, anyone who comes with a teaching that goes beyond Jesus' teaching is speaking "from himself' and not for Jesus' glory, and hence without the Holy Spirit. Such a speaker does not have God at that moment or in those teachings. Their teaching can and must be ignored.
Thus, whether one's teaching really reflects the teachings of the Holy Spirit depends crucially upon whether one's words are truly compatible with the words of the Lord Jesus (both given to the twelve apostles and the prophets that preceded them).
If, however, anyone insists Jesus intended instead that the apostles could each be individual oracles of God on every teaching they uttered, and this was beyond testing by the words of Jesus or the Law and the Prophets, Jesus would Himself become a false prophet. He would be giving the apostles an authority that God previously said no prophet can have. Even a true prophet, like Balaam and the Old Prophet of (1Kgs. 13:1), had to be tested by their consistency with what had been revealed first to Moses and then by the words delivered to every verified prophet thereafter. Balaam and the Old Prophet failed the test later. Jesus cannot establish a new group of super prophets whose words we are not pennitted to test for consistency with what preceded without Jesus Himself contradicting the word before Him. Thus, Jesus could never have intended any such class of super prophets.
Accordingly, we know instead that Jesus was telling us about the limited speaking authority of the Holy Spirit so we would know the legitimate and limited sources for church doctrine. It starts and finishes with Jesus' words. The Holy Spirit will help teach their meaning. But the Holy Spirit is not going to add as inspired canon anything apart from Jesus' words any more. The only other thing the Holy Spirit will do (and did do in Revelation) is give a message about things that are to come to pass.
In fact, the Book of Revelation is a perfect picture of how the Spirit was operating in this seif-limited way after the Ascension. This book John calls the "Revelation of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 1:1.) John summarizes up front what His sources are: he "bare record of the word of God, the testimony of Jesus and all things that he saw." Nothing is spoken doctrinally that does not come from Jesus. The Lord Jesus is present throughout, talking to John directly just before the visions and just after they finish. (Rev. 1:8,11,17-20; 2:1-29; 3:1-22; 21:5-8; 22:12-13,16.) The angel explains the context of the various visions with Jesus present at all times. This is similar to what happened with the Prophet Daniel: the Son of Man (Jesus) tells the angel Gabriel to make Daniel understand the visions. (Dan. 8:15-16).
Thus, here we see the Holy Spirit is giving all glory to Jesus. Apostle John hears nothing but Jesus' words and things to come. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit is relaying visions to John while Jesus is present observing everything. This tracks the Holy Spirit's role that Jesus explained in (John 16:13-14).
The Importance of John The Baptist's Actions
John the Baptist is placed in the New Testament by God partly to demonstrate to us the sharp break off of the work of the Holy Spirit once Jesus' ministry began. As we all know, John the Baptist was the "greatest prophet" of all the prophets (Matt. 11:11). John had been preaching and teaching prior to Jesus' ministry. Yet, John saw that once Jesus arrived on the scene, John's prophetic ministry had to recede away. The Teacher and The Prophet had arrived. John then only gave a message that insisted everyone turn to Jesus to hear His doctrine. John's independent message was to decrease. John explained why:
He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above
is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the
earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
(John 3:30-31) ASV.
John knew if he continued his own message distinct from that of Jesus, John would necessarily diminish from the centrality of the message Jesus was now bringing. To allow emphasis and allegiance to switch to Jesus and His doctrine, John the Baptist was willing to let the focus on himself decrease. In the above speech, John the Baptist gives a long explanation of why Jesus is now the focus. Had John lived past the ascension of Jesus, no doubt John would still have had a ministry that focused now on the centrality of Jesus and His words. That's why John the Baptist preached in John 3:36 that "all who keep on disobeying the Son, the wrath of God continues to remain on him.' John understood the gospel very well and repeated it. Teaching the nations to "obey all that Jesus commanded" (Matt. 28:20) was all that now mattered.
- This is the literal Greek, reflecting correctly each present participle as a continuous tense. For an explanation, see Appendix A. JWO/JWO_19_01_GreekIssues_0111
Jesus' Warning Of Treating An Apostle On Par With Him
Jesus likewise warned us to not let any apostle's importance grow to the point the apostle's words were on par or greater than words from Jesus. Jesus said this plainly enough in John 13:16 but this is obscured in the KJV translation. Jesus said:
I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their
master. Nor is the Apostolos (messenger) more important than the
One who sends the message. (John 13:16) NLT with Greek AposLolos
revealed. 25
Thus, if we put greater emphasis upon the words of an apostolos than Jesus' words, we commit the error identified in John 13:16. For example, if we dismiss Jesus' words as applicable only to a supposedly defunct dispensation, preferring some competing doctrine we like in a presumed apostle's letter, we would violate John 13:16. Yet, this is what a large segment of modem evangelical Christianity has opted to do in the doctrine of Dispensationalism. This doctrine gives a current validity to Paul's teachings while blatantly claiming any of Jesus' teachings to the contrary are defunct. 26
However, to give any equal or superior authority as a teacher to any of the apostles when they were not quoting Jesus would be to allow the apostle to assume a role exceeding the bounds of their apostleship - their role as messengers. To allow an individual apostle to assume such a role in the church would permit focus on that apostle's doctrine apart from the lessons of Jesus. The Lord wanted us to have one Master, one Teacher: Himself. This was to protect His glory.
25.This is a paraphrase of (Isa. 6:8). Notice the difference in the King James of John 13:16. It has the effect of obscuring needlessly Jesus' message is about apostles. The KJV reads: "The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him." However, 'he that is sent' is wholly incorrect. It is a noun nominative singular masculine, apostolos. How can this be read "he that is sent"?
26.See "Dispensational Strategy To Avoid Jesus" on page 387 et seq.
Thus, Jesus intended His message was what gave the apostles any cause to be a teacher. They were not authorized to be teachers in their own right, with their own unique doctrines. This is why the fact Paul barely mentions even one sentence from Jesus, and paraphrases very few of Jesus' words, makes his doctrine completely his own.
As a result, we must reject Paul's statement in (2Thess. 2:15) that we are to "stand fast and hold the traditions you were taught... by our epistle." Such a doctrine makes Paul's epistles on par with Jesus' words. If Paul were construing Jesus' words, it would not be so serious a problem. But Paul never mentions any specific doctrine of Jesus (except the smallest snippet). And Paul has doctrines so contrary to Jesus that most evangelicals have made up the fiction of separate dispensations containing contrary salvation principles to rationalize the differences. Thus, when Paul invites us to elevate tradition, including Paul's own epistles, to the point we should remain "steadfast" in them, we must reject that idea. Only Jesus' doctrine is something to remain steadfast in.
27.See page 328 et seq.
28.lt is a unique attribution of words to Jesus: "it is better to give than receive." (Acts 20:35). Other than this, no attribution of words from Jesus on doctrine are ever given by Paul.
29.The Dispensationalists concede the Covenant of Moses did require obedience for imputed justification. (Deut. 6:25.) However, we are supposedly in a new dispensation. We are told by Paul we are justified by faith apart from any need to obey. (Eph. 2:8-9); (Rom. 4:3-5). However, it is never explained why (Deut. 6:25) is abrogated when God declared repeatedly the Law given Moses was "eternal for all generations." See Ex. 27:21; 30:21; Lev. 6:18; 7:36; 10:9; 17:7; 23:14, 21,41; 24:3; Num. 10:8; 15:15.