Reviving Focus on Jesus' Words Alone
Our mission is to proclaim our Lord Jesus' doctrine that He was the "sole teacher" (Matt.23:8-11). He sternly told the apostles they were not to call themselves or anyone else a "teacher"! (Id.) Jesus explained why when He insisted that the "aspotolos is not more important than the one who sent him." (John 13:16.) The Greek word apostolos means either the title of Apostle or messenger or one that is sent. Here Jesus meant He was more important than any Apostle or messenger.
Even John the Baptist realized that despite knowing he himself was the greatest prophet who ever lived prior to Jesus (Matt.11:11), yet he "must decrease" so that unfettered acceptance of Jesus' message would "increase." (John 3:30-31.)
Competing Love For Paul / Pauline Doctrine
The Modern Church has instead fallen in love with Paul, or, more correctly, the points in Paul's writings that soften the requirements of costly grace which Jesus taught. This causes a vying for control over the church. Either Paul and his Dispensation of Grace applies, or Jesus and His costly grace gospel applies, as Bonhoeffer highlighted. We have developed two masters. Mainstream Christian theologians largely defend dismissing Jesus' words as applicable only to a prior dispensation of Law. Sometimes this is called Dispensationalism or Covenant Theology, but it all ends up the same: marginalizing Jesus' words. The famous theologian Rudolf Bultmann even claimed Paul teaches us in 2 Cor. 5:16 that it is necessary to treat Jesus's teachings pre-resurrection as irrelevant.1
This proves the danger of two masters as Jesus said: you will love the one and hate the other. (Matt.6:24.) This is where the church is today--having been wooed from its first love for Christ.
To avoid making any apostle a competing master, we must remember the apostles only had one inspired function -- that is when they served to carry Jesus' words (John 14:26), that is, they serve the role of a "messenger" -- the meaning of the Greek word apostolos. Otherwise, they are at best edifying.
Growing Realization Of This Truth In The Church
This message of focusing only on the words of Jesus as the NT inspired scripture appears overdue. The hunger for this information is testifed to by the number of visitors. Since January 2008, there have been over 76,000 visitors. Dozens of true Christians have written positive emails and book reviews on Jesus' Words Only and Jesus' Words On Salvation. (See "Review" Tab.) These two books are available here free for download in PDF. (The chapters also have been converted to html.) These books can also be purchased from Amazon and major online retailers.
Other works by other authors are highlighted here because they too draw us to trust only Jesus as our true sole teacher and our divine Lord. For more information on general church topics, including articles and books critical of Paulinism, see the popular "Further Reading" tab.
The links below lead you to this book series free for download:
NEW ADDITIONS
5/29/2010 - added " Benjamite Wolf" chapter from Jesus' Words Only in html version. 4/27/2010 - an html-based " Quiz" on 18 topics from Jesus' Words Only suitable for Bible studies.
|