Do the teachings of Jesus carry more authority than the teachings of the apostle Paul or other NT writers? (In some Bibles, the words of Jesus are printed in red so that they stand out and are often called “red-letter Bibles.”) The answer would seem obvious, for Jesus was God in the flesh and perfect in every way. After all, the apostle John, writer of the Gospel According to John, three NT letters, and the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, firmly believed and taught that Jesus was and is God:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14)

The apostle Peter, who wrote two NT letters and whose teachings about Jesus are thought to be the source for Mark’s gospel account, agreed when he wrote:

For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.” (2 Peter 1:16–17)

Paul, the apostle, writer of thirteen NT books, wrote about Jesus this way:

For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him [Jesus Christ] … For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form … (Col. 1:19, 2:9)

The Book of Hebrews eloquently extolls the person of Jesus Christ in its opening statement:

And He [Jesus Christ] is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high … (Heb. 1:3)

So, of course, if we believe the testimony of these inspired writers, we must conclude that the teachings of Jesus Christ carry greater authority than any and all human writers or teachers. But wait a minute, the case is far from settled. Consider the following:

• Jesus did not leave us any personally written books, documents, or sermon notes. We can only know what He taught through the testimony of the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So the words of Jesus were written down for us by humans, including the so-called red letters.
• It is only because we believe the NT human writers were inspired by the Holy Spirit that we believe the direct quotations of what Jesus taught are accurate. But this depends on the writers being inspired.
• The Scripture records that right after the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, the earliest believers began their Christian life and community “continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). Why the apostles’ teaching and not the Lord’s teaching? The answer is simple: it was only by the apostles’ teaching that they knew about what the Lord taught.
• The apostle Peter taught that Paul’s writings were inspired as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16).
• The apostle Paul taught, “All Scripture is inspired by God,” not just the Gospel record of Jesus’ teachings (2 Tim. 3:16, emphasis added).
• The same Holy Spirit inspired the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the apostles (Isa. 11:2, John 3:34, 2 Peter 1:20-21). Therefore, the teachings of both Jesus and the NT writers are equally authoritative.

So we err if we claim the recorded words of Jesus’ teachings in the Gospel accounts are more authoritative than the rest of the NT Scripture. The black letters and the red letters are all inspired by the Holy Spirit and carry divine authority. The NT writers built their teachings on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ; they also included instructions that Jesus did not utter. John records Jesus preparing them for carrying on after He left:

“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 said to you.” (John 14:26)

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16:13)

Paul acknowledges that Jesus did not mention some of the things he [Paul] wrote about (1 Cor. 7:10-12). But the apostle didn’t see his teachings as less authoritative, for he wrote as Jesus’ appointed representative. He introduced his letter as “Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God” (1 Cor. 1:1). He was divinely appointed to write this letter.

Heavenly Father and Holy Spirit, thank You for the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles who carried His teachings forward so that we would become well equipped to live for and to serve You.