Apostolic Authority

It’s impossible to set the words of Jesus in opposition to the writings of Paul. Today, R.C. Sproul reminds us that the Apostles taught by Christ’s authority.

We must remember that we have no writings that have been passed down to us in the Christian community today that come directly from the pen of Jesus. The inscripturating of the teaching of our Lord was entrusted to the Apostles. And so, when we want to place Jesus against Paul or Paul against Jesus, what we’re really doing in essence is trying to pit Paul against Luke, or Paul against Mark, or Paul against Matthew. Because all that we know of the teaching of Jesus comes to us through the Gospel writers. And it’s because of their delegated authority that we trust that we have knowledge of the actual teaching of Jesus Christ.

And I remind you that in our day, it has become a very serious matter, where we have seen a wholesale pervasive disintegration of confidence in the church itself over Apostolic authority. And Christianity, from its very foundation, beloved, is Apostolic. And it still holds true today that if we reject the authority of the Apostles, we reject the authority of Christ. And if we reject the authority of Christ, we reject the authority of God Himself.