The Source of Apostles' Teaching

[Mary Naeem]

The Source of Apostles' Teaching

If the apostles taught their own human opinions, then of course their teachings would be inferior to those of Jesus. But what was the source of the teachings the apostles revealed, as compared to the source of Jesus' teaching?
A. The Source of Jesus' Teaching

Jesus received His teachings from God.

Hebrews 1:1,2 - Before Jesus came to earth, God spoke through Old Testament prophets, but now God speaks through His Son.

John 12:49,50 - Jesus spoke exactly what the Father commanded to be spoken.

[John 7:16; 8:28; Acts 3:20-23; 10:38; Luke 4:1,14,17-21]
B. The Source of the Apostles' Teaching

Their teachings were also from God, given them through the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26; 16:13 - Jesus promised the apostles that the Holy Spirit would come and teach them all things, guide them into all truth, and remind them of Jesus' teachings.

Matthew 10:19,20 - When they taught, they were not teaching from themselves, but the Spirit of the Father spoke through them.

[2 Timothy 3:16,17; Acts 1:5,8; 2:1-4,33; Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Peter 3:2; Revelation 1:1]

So the apostles' teachings came from the same source as did Jesus' teaching. All of them spoke the will of God as revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. The apostles' teaching was as accurate and as authoritative as was Jesus' teaching. All spoke with the infallible authority of God.

If this is not so, then in fact we do not even really know what Jesus Himself taught, since He never wrote any of the Bible. All we have are records which apostles and prophets wrote of what He said and did. If we accept what they record of Jesus' teachings, why not accept the other teaching that the Spirit guided them to write?
C. The Source of Paul's Teaching

What about Paul? Did His teaching come from the same source as did the teaching of Jesus and other apostles?

1 Corinthians 2:10-13,16 - The Holy Spirit revealed the things of God to Paul, so He taught in words the Spirit gave Him, just like the other apostles did. As a result, he knew the mind of Christ. [2:1-5]

1 Corinthians 14:37 - What Paul taught, therefore, were the commands of the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 - The teaching people received from Paul was, in truth, the Word of God, not the word of men.

2 Peter 3:15,16 - The apostle Peter classified Paul's epistles as "Scripture," right along with "other scripture." But "Scripture" is inspired by God and provides to all good works - 2 Timothy 3:16,17. Hence, Peter here confirms Paul's claim to be an inspired author of God's word.

The teachings of Paul came from the same source as did those of Jesus and of the other apostles. Therefore, they were equally as authoritative.

[Galatians 1:11,12; Ephesians 3:3-5; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; Romans 1:15,16; 15:15-19; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Acts 13:12; 16:32; 1 Cor. 11:23; 2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 5:27; 4:8]