“I don’t find Paul’s writings very authoritative,” were the words from a coworker years ago regarding the topic of whether the Bible endorses capital punishment (as it does in Romans 13:1-6). Paul claimed his writings were from God. First Corinthians 14:37 states, “If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.” Yet, some deny Paul’s apostolic authority wherever he wrote about things that they consider offensive, such as what he commanded about marriage (Ephesians 5:23-28; 1 Corinthians 7), women’s role in worship (1 Timothy 2:8-12; 1 Corinthians 14:34) and even about various sins (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Romans 1:18-32).
In order to be consistent, to deny that these passages are from God, one must deny the entirety of the letters in which they are contained are also from God. To deny these letters are from God is to deny all of Paul’s writings to be from God. To deny that all the apostle Paul wrote in Scripture is from God is to disregard almost half of the New Testament, since Paul authored thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament.
Furthermore, to dismiss Paul leads to the dismissal of the writings of the apostle Peter, for Peter acknowledged Paul’s writings were from God (2 Peter 3:15-16). If Peter was not able to detect that Paul’s writings were not from God, how can it be said that Peter was inspired of God himself?
To dismiss Paul also leads to the dismissal of the writings of Luke who was a traveling companion of Paul (2 Timothy 4; Colossians 4) and who wrote the Gospel of Luke and Acts. In reading Acts 14-28, one will see repeatedly that Luke acknowledges Paul as an authoritative apostle.
Since rejecting Paul implicitly dismisses Peter, this calls into question the inspired authority of Matthew and his Gospel account, for he wrote about Peter as an authoritative apostle (Matthew 10:1-20). This same line of reasoning can be applied to the apostle John who acknowledged Peter to be an apostle (John 1:42; 21:15-25) and who authored the Gospel of John, 1-3 John and Revelation. Likewise, John-Mark, who wrote the Gospel of Mark, acknowledged Simon-Peter to be an inspired apostle (Mark 1:16-19; 3:16).
As one can see, the books of the New Testament are interlinked like a chain. To dismiss one is to essentially dismiss them all. The kind of approach to Scripture that rejects as inspired passages what one does not like and dismisses their human penman results in idolatry – a remaking of Christ and Christianity according to one’s own image, likeness and desires. Faithful followers of Christ receive the books of the New Testament, not as the words of men, but as they are in truth, the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
