The Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth

This article was guest authored by: 

In the controversy over “Pauline truth,” many Fundamentalists have joined Modernists in attempting to exalt “the teachings of Jesus (of Nazareth)” (on earth) above “the Word of God” through Paul. They ask, “Which should bear the greater weight with us, the words of Jesus, or the words of Paul?”

But do they ask this because they truly desire to obey these “words of Jesus of Nazareth” and to see them obeyed? No! They flagrantly disregard and disobey those words Jesus spoke only to and for Israel (Matt. 15:24), this includes from the Sermon on the Mount to the Great Commission.

With regard to the Sermon on the Mount:

  • they don’t subject themselves to “the law of Moses” (Matt. 5:17-19) that Jesus endorsed;
  • they do not bring gifts to altars of sacrifice (5:23-24);
  • they don’t give freely to all who ask of them (5:42; 10:8,9);
  • they do not refrain from laying up treasures on earth (6:19,25-26);
  • they do not sell what they have and give alms (Luke 6:30; 12:33).

And while professing obedience to the so-called “Great Commission” as “the Church’s marching orders,”

  • they do not proclaim faith plus baptism as Jesus of Nazareth for salvation (Mark 16:16);
  • they do not--they cannot--perform miraculous signs (Mark 16:17,18);
  • they do not give the Jew first place in their ministry (Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8),
  • and they certainly do not teach others to observe all things that Messiah on earth commanded (Matt. 28:20 cf. 23:1-3).

So, why the contradiction between their claim and what they do?

The answer is that they set “the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth” (on earth) over against “the teachings of Paul,” not because they are determined to obey the words Jesus of Nazareth, but because they are determined to minimize that which God has “magnified”-- the authority of Paul as “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13).

They seek to exalt the teachings of the earthly Jesus above those of Paul because they have closed their ears to the oft-repeated and Spirit-inspired claims of Paul that the glorified Lord spoke again from heaven, to and through him, committing to Paul “the dispensation of the grace of God” and the program for the day in which we live. (Acts 20:24; 22:6-10,17-21; 26:12-18; Rom. 11:13; 15:15,16; 16:25,26; I Cor. 3:10; 11:23; 15:3; II Cor. 5:16; Gal. 1:1,11,12; 2:7-9; Eph. 3:1-4,8,9; 6:18-20; Phil. 4:9; Col. 1:23-27; I Thes. 4:15; II Thes. 3:14; I Tim. 2:5-7; II Tim. 2:7-9; Titus 1:2,3, etc.).

They have forgotten the stern rebuke the Galatians received for failing to recognize Paul’s teachings as a message from the risen, exalted Christ (Gal. 1:6-12). They have taken lightly Paul’s words to the Corinthians:

“…if I come again I will not spare: since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me…” (II Cor. 13:23).

They have distorted Paul’s inspired admonition as to Paul’s writings comcerning the words of the Lord Jesus Christ spoken through him.

“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing…from such withdraw thyself” (I Tim. 6:3-5)

“If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I (Paul) write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 14:37)

- As Adapted from Cornelius Stam -