Christ and the New Testament – Part three

That the New Testament writings are reflections on the teachings of Jesus, no sane person would deny The first five books of the New Testament are historical in character (Acts being a continuation of the gospel of Luke), and relate to us certain aspects of the Lord s life—some in great detail—and the account of the rise of Christianity after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ The importance of these documents cannot be overemphasized They form the basis up on which the ecclesia of Christ stands, without which, the twenty one letters and the book of Revelation which follow would lack any authority, and would long ago have been consigned to the archives of profane uninspired writings Before considering the manner in which the Lord Himself directed the writing and

compilation of the New Testament docu­ments, let us look briefly at His own source of knowledge—for here, and here alone, do we find true origin of Divine revelation.

The Prophet like unto Moses

From the moment of His baptism in the River Jordan, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the figure of Jesus, the Lord preached and taught only those things which were communicated to Him by God. To the Son, the Father gave not the Spirit by measure”, thus assur­ing that He whom He sent would speak only the words of God (Jo. 3:34). Jesus made constant allusion to this fact during His ministry, disclaiming any credit what­soever in respect to His teachings. “My doctrine (teaching) is not mine, but his that sent me”, declared the Lord when the Jews marvelled at His vast knowl­edge. (Jo. 7:16) Never before had any single person been so gifted in his under­standing of the divine oracles. But, never before had God bestowed His Spirit in such great abundance upon a human. Jesus recognized from the very beginning of his existence from whence came this wisdom, and when, after His baptism, He was led of this power into the wilderness to be tempted, He was careful not to abuse or misuse the Holy Spirit. When others marvelled at the wondrous deeds He performed, He humbly confessed, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things so-ever he doeth, these also doeth the Son.” (Jo. 5:30)

Since God, who in ages past spoke to the fathers by the prophets, was now to reveal Himself through His beloved son, it would require the Son’s complete obe­dience to Him. Jesus would have to “empty himself”, and exhibit only those qualities which are characteristic of the Eternal God. This total surrender of his life to God and the dedication such a surrender demanded, necessitated the Lord’s possession of that form of wis­dom that comes only from God. This was supplied Him in the presence of the Holy Spirit, through which He performed

miracles and signs among the people, and “spake” as no other man before Him ever did. Thus, the Lord could say, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh pro­fiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (Jo. 6:63) They were spirit, be­cause they came from God, who is a Spirit; they are life because they will confer immortality upon all those who believe and obey them. So complete was the embodiment of the Spirit word within Jesus, that those who rejected His coun­sel would themselves be judged and re­jected by that very word. “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (Jo. 12:48) The power behind the spoken word of Jesus, of course, lay in their being sent from God: “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say. and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” (Jo. 12:49, 50) He had come in His Father’s Name, bearing His message, and was to be received and believed upon, even as God, who had sent Him. He was truly the prophet like unto Moses, in whose mouth the Lord had declared, “I will put my words”. (Deut. 18:18)

The Promise of the Comforter

There was much yet to be said and elaborated upon for the formation and sustenance of His church. His apostles, though devoted to Him and firm believ­ers in His Messiahship, could not absorb nor comprehend the depth of His teachings. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now,” (Jo. 16:12) said Jesus to His disciples. The time for their enlightenment would have to wait until after the death and ascension of their Lord. Their misunderstanding of the immediate purpose of Christ, and their failure to grasp the truth concerning His impending death ill suited them to comprehend the deeper fundamentals of Christian discipleship. However, though it was true that they could not then “bear” the glorious truths which their Lord had for them, the time would short­ly come when there would be conferred upon them a power that would dispel all doubts, all misapprehensions, and which would enlighten, guide and properly equip them for the task of witnessing on behalf of the Truth. “Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (Jo. 16:13) This “Spirit of truth” promised by Jesus was to take the place of the Master upon His ascension to the Father’s right hand. Earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus had referred to this power as the “Comforter”, a term which carries the idea of one who is along side. John Carter, in his “The Gos­pel of John”, very clearly describes the purpose of this comforter in the follow­ing words: “There are two sides to cooperation: obedience is the condition on the part of the believer; and then Jesus for His part ‘will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever’ (verse 16). ‘Another’ Comforter suggests that they had one already. So they had; Jesus had been their Comforter and is so called by John in his first epistle: ‘If any man sin we have an Advocate (Comforter, R. V. margin) with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous’ (2:1). This is the only occurrence of the word outside John’s Gospel, where we find it four times (14: 16, 26; 15:26; 16:7).

“A comforter is ‘one who is called to the side of another to aid in a court of justice; one who pleads, instructs, and reasons with them; one who advocates. The Comforter took the place of Jesus with them, guiding and instructing them.” (page 162)

Though it was true, as Jesus related to His disciples in John 16:7, “It is ex­pedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you”, the subsequent gift of the Spirit was a further manifestation of Jesus in their midst. The Master hinted at this earlier in His discourse when he declared, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever . . . I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (Jo. 14:16, 18) The same guidance and instruction given the apostles by Jesus would be continued through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; it would be in this sense that Je­sus would come to them. “But the Com­forter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

A more sure word of Prophecy

The miraculous outpouring of the Spir­it power on the day of Pentecost was the beginning of the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise. The signs and wonders which accompanied the preaching of the gospel was an overwhelming witness that God was with them. Many were converted to the faith upon seeing the miracles; as, for example the Samaritans at the preach­ing of Phillip (Acts 8:6, 12) It was, of course through this special power that the New Testament writers were enabled to accurately record the events of Christ’s life, and the growth of the Truth as out­lined in the book of Acts. The various epistles, written under the direction of Christ through the Spirit, gave direction and encouragement to the infant church. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Where­fore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some apostles, and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” (Ch, 4: 8-12) No other conclusion can reason­ably be reached from these words of Paul, other than the fact that the Lord did indeed direct, control and promote the New Testament documents which are included in the canon of sacred writings.

Paul, in writing to the believers in Corinth, reminded them that his manner of speech and preaching “was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of pow­er.” The revelation of the purpose of God and the unsearchable riches of His grace, having been hidden from “the princes of this world”, have been revealed to the Holy apostles, Paul included, through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit. “God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit” is the affirmation of the apostle. Paul’s own experience was a case in question. His knowledge of the “mystery of Christ” and the fellowship of that mystery in relation to the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles was the direct result of divine revelation. “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mys­tery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;” (Eph. 3:2-5) It was further revealed by Paul, that this proficiency in the knowl­edge of Christ was not due to his having been instructed by the twelve, but rather to a special revelation communicated to him in the desert region of Sinai immediately after his conversion. “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusa­lem to them which were apostles before me: but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.” (Gal. 1:15-17)

Having thus been instructed by the Lord, and having been commissioned by Jesus Himself to “bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15), it is not strange to us that Paul should make the magnanimous claim recorded in 1 Cor. 14:37: “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the com­mandments of the Lord.”

The Lord’s guidance of the records of New Testament writers is not always so pronounced as it is in the case of Paul. The Apocalypse, however, is an unusual exception to this. Its opening words clearly attest to their having originated with God and communicated to John through the Lord Jesus Christ: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.” (Ch. 1:1)

The conclusions reached in this article are the only ones that reason and logic would demand, if we are to believe in God and His purpose. Since the New Testament has truly brought about that condition whereby “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”, it is obvious that God has taken the nec­essary steps to see that the knowledge which is able to make us wise unto sal­vation has been preserved virtually intact. How fitting therefore that we should conclude this first section with the words of Peter, as he reflects upon the vision of the coming in power and great glory, granted him and two other apostles on the mount of transfiguration: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” (2 Peter. 1:19)