Bulletin Articles
How Authoritative are the Letters of the Apostle Paul?
It’s not uncommon when discussing a passage in one of the Apostle Paul’s epistles for someone to say, “But that’s just the Apostle Paul. Jesus didn’t say that.” While some conclude that Paul’s writings are not as authoritative as Jesus’ words in the Gospels, here are a few reasons why that should not be the case:
1. The Holy Spirit guided the apostles. Jesus did not reveal everything He wanted before He was crucified, so He promised His apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth: “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:12-15). We see the Holy Spirit being sent to them in Acts 2.
2. Jesus handpicks Paul to be an apostle (Acts 9:15), which is why Paul can say: “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” (1 Corinthians 9:1). Because Paul is an apostle and is inspired by the Holy Spirit, his preaching and writing are considered to be from God: “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:37).
3. The Apostle Peter refers to Paul’s writings as Scripture: “And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15-16).
In summary, all of the apostles had the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Jesus picked Paul to be an apostle, therefore his preaching and writings are also inspired by God and should be considered just as authoritative as the Gospel accounts (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
