Over the last decade we have witnessed a virtual flood of publications dedicated to promoting some version of what has come to be called “Red Letter Christianity”. Some of the authors and proponents seem only to be suggesting a shift in the ratio of attention and study while others seem to be arguing for a stratified canon with the actual words of Jesus being treated as more authoritative then the words of the Apostles and specifically the words of the Apostle Paul. At first glance, any effort to “promote Jesus” seems innocent enough and even praiseworthy, but upon further inspection it appears to be in opposition to what Jesus himself said about the foundation of the church and the progress of revelation. In addition, this sort of thinking usually terminates in a reductionist view of authority that is particularly hostile to justification by faith, gender complementarity and church discipline, all doctrines generally rooted in the Pauline corpus of letters.
Can a person be considered authentically Christian if they have a different view of Scripture then did Jesus himself? More specifically, can a person be considered a Christian if they reject the authority of the Apostles and disagree with the Apostle Paul on issues of doctrine, ethics and ecclesiology?
This issue is not merely an academic one, rather it is live and in play within the larger body of CBOQ churches. Over the next 10 days I am planning, God willing, to release two articles intended to help resource pastors and members of CBOQ churches grappling within the issues under discussion in the Norfolk Association. If you are unfamiliar with those issues, see the article here for a first hand summary by Pastor Marc Bertrand. Once you are familiar with the issues, you will understand why these Biblical concerns deserve our focused attention. This first article will deal with the issue of Apostolic Authority and particularly, the matter of our attitude towards the Apostle Paul. The second article, hopefully available next week, will be entitled “The DNA Of Authentic Christian Repentance”; both articles will draw heavily on 2 Corinthians and Paul’s dispute with the Corinthian church.
Apostolic Authority (And Problematic Paul)
Part of the fallacy of the whole “Red Letter Jesus” approach is that often, those who espouse it, do not pay close attention to the very things Jesus said in those wonderful Red Letters. In particular they seem to ignore the things he said about the Old Testament (for more on that see here) and the things he said about continuing revelation. Consider for example,
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26. ESV)
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13-14. ESV)
This is why the New Testament consists of the writings of the Apostles[1]. Jesus did not say everything directly that he intended to say, rather, he appointed authorized spokespersons and he inspired their writings through His Holy Spirit. That is why Paul says:
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17. ESV)
Peter likewise understood that when the Apostles speak, Jesus speaks. He said in 2 Peter 3:2:
2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, (ESV)
Peter happily includes Paul among the number of the Apostles and specifically refers to Paul’s writings as Holy Scripture.
15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:15-16. ESV)
There is one foundation for the life and doctrine of the church and that foundation is described in the Bible in terms that seem to go beyond what is allowed by the Red Letter advocates:
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, (Ephesians 2:19-20. ESV)
It would be hard to imagine a clearer way of speaking comprehensively about the authority of the whole Bible than to say “prophets and apostles with Christ as cornerstone”; what does that leave out? Old Testament, Gospels and Letters together seem to be described as constituting the foundation and authority for all life, doctrine and practice within the Body of Christ.
Jesus said to the Apostles:
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. (Matthew 10:40. ESV)
The Red Letter Jesus draws a straight line from the Apostles, to himself, to the Father. To receive the word of Peter or John or Paul is to receive Christ is to receive the Father. This is the understanding the Apostles themselves demanded of their churches. Listen to how the Apostle Paul commends the church in Thessalonica:
13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (1 Thessalonians 2:13. ESV)
Paul expected churches to receive his word as the Word of God; there is simply no way to deny that as an honest reader of the Bible. Jesus said his Apostles would speak his Word; Paul is an Apostle, therefore, Paul’s Word is Jesus’ Word. To make a distinction between Paul’s Word and Christ’s Word and God’s Word is to make a fundamentally erroneous and unbiblical distinction.
What then do we do when a church or a pastor refuses to honour the Apostle Paul’s Word as God’s Word? Thankfully, we have 2 Corinthians to serve us in this regard. While some of the particular details of the dispute in Corinth are debated by scholars, the general consensus is fairly straightforward. Paul confronted the Corinthian church, in person, for ongoing sexual immorality, largely but not exclusively related to their participation in the local cults and the associated ritual prostitution. It seems that Paul’s call for separation and sanctification was actively and publicly resisted by a member of the congregation, perhaps even by a recognized leader. While the majority of the membership agreed with Paul, the leadership refused to actively censure the individual resisting Paul’s authority. This created a rupture in his relationship with the church that was further exacerbated by some changes in Paul’s travel plans and by the arrival of some false teachers who appear to have poured flames on the fires of division and dissent. Paul wrote what has come to be known as “The Severe Letter” which rebuked the church for failing to discipline the rebel and for tolerating false teaching and sexual deviance in the church. The Corinthians appear to have been shocked and jolted into repentance and Paul writes what we refer to as 2 Corinthians to acknowledge their repentance and to take up his instruction on this and several other issues[2]. What is interesting, for our purposes is the extent to which Paul understands their salvation as being inseparable from the issue of his own Apostolic authority. He seems to suggest that if they had rejected his authority, they would have rejected the Gospel. If they had rejected Paul as Apostle, they would have placed themselves outside of the Kingdom of God. Consider for example Paul’s description of his Apostolic preaching ministry in 2 Corinthians 2:15-17:
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (ESV)
Paul Barnett comments on this passage saying:
“The present tenses for “being saved” and “perishing” – used in identical terms as in 1 Corinthians 1:18 above – point to the dynamic character of the gospel of Christ, the Word of God. It is not that “being saved” or “perishing” are themselves processes but that the message borne by the apostle as he is led about by God dynamically divides the hearers into one of two groups.”[3]
Paul understood his preaching as dividing people into two groups; “the saved” and “the perishing”; no third group is imagined. The Apostle cannot conceive of a group of people who are embracing of the Gospel but resistant to his own preaching. No such group exists in Corinth, in Orillia, or in Simcoe Ontario.
Consider as well Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 7:8-12:
8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.
9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.
12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. (ESV)
Again Barnett comments:
“Significantly, the Corinthians’ reaction to Paul in this matter is inextricably connected with their relationship with God and his salvation. To have rejected Paul’s authority in this matter would have been, in an ultimate sense, to reject their salvation.”[4]
If we are to take the testimony of 2 Corinthians seriously then there are two things we must not say about what is going on down in Simcoe, Ontario:
1. We must not say that Jesus did not address the issue of homosexuality, therefore, we have no authoritative teaching on the matter. If Jesus is God then Jesus was speaking in Leviticus 18:22 and if Paul was an apostle then Jesus was speaking in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
2. We must not say that this is not a Gospel issue. According to 2 Corinthians, to reject the authority of the Apostle Paul is to place yourself in the camp of the perishing and outside the kingdom of God. That is a Gospel issue by any reasonable standard.
If you are wondering why this discussion is being conducted in public, rather than in private as per Matthew 18, it is because Pastor Elaine is a Pastor and the error in question was spoken publicly. The Scriptures offer specific guidelines for cases such as this:
17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. (1 Timothy 5:17-20. ESV)
Public error, unrepented of, is to be rebuked publicly for the benefit of the entire flock. Therefore, in fear and trembling, with profound awareness of my own shortcomings and frailty, I call on Pastor Elaine to repent of her statement that the Apostle Paul was just a man with ordinary bias and therefore not infallible and not authoritative for the church today. I call on Pastor Elaine to immediately acknowledge the authority of the Apostle Paul to speak to all issues of Christian life and practice, including the exercise of human sexuality. I further call on FBC, Simcoe to repent of not defending the authority of the Apostle Paul by immediately disciplining Pastor Elaine. Churches are responsible for the teaching they permit in their pulpits and support through their payroll.
9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,
11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. (2 John 1:9-11. ESV)
Under the authority of these Scriptures, I will pray for the repentance and restoration of Pastor Elaine and FBC, Simcoe and call on all the readers of this article to do the same. We do not wish any harm or hurt to Pastor Elaine or the good members of FBC, Simcoe, rather we seek their spiritual well being. May God be glorified through this process and it’s outcome.
SDG
Paul Carter
[1] See Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishers, 1994), 60-69. In the footnote on page 60 Grudem acknowledges that not every letter or book in the New Testament was directly authored by an Apostle but rather some were written by others under Apostolic oversight or were directly authorized by an Apostle.
[2] For a far more detailed summary of these events see Paul Barnett, The Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 9-14 and 370-382.
[3] Paul Barnett, The Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 155.
[4] Ibid.; 372.