In so many ways, the Apostle Paul mirrors the heart of Christ. Where can we find a better example of a transformed follower of Jesus who suffered so much, and worked so tirelessly for the growth and perfection of “the Body” (i.e. 2Cor 11:23-31)? Who else can we point to who so faithfully speaks in behalf of “God in the flesh”?

Yet as some have read and listened to Paul, they have been struck by what he doesn’t say.

Have you ever noticed that, even though the Apostle Paul confesses Jesus as Lord, God, Messiah and Savior, he hardly ever quotes Jesus word for word in his letters?

Neither does Paul make a practice of retelling the stories his Lord told.

Peter and James follow the same pattern. They declare Jesus as Lord but don’t quote him the way we quote authorities. Neither did they repeat the words of Jesus the way first century rabbis memorized and rehearsed the words of their trusted teachers. Yet Jesus was Rabbi of rabbis (i.e. Teacher of teachers).

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John quote Jesus at length. But again, in all that Paul wrote (and as the major NT author), he quotes Jesus only occasionally (i.e. 1Cor 11:24-25; in retelling how the resurrected Christ changed his life and told him what to do; and–as Luke quotes Paul in Acts saying, “Our Lord said, “that it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

Any idea why the New Testament letters of the apostles don’t have more “red letter” sections?

did paul know anything about jesus? not really.

he never met him.

did jesus preach he was God? not the All Powerful God.


can God be All Powerful as a fact and at the same time became a prophet and declared he was unable to do anything of his own power, instead pointed to another God as the One Who is now All Powerful?

tell me, is the first God who is a prophet above the real God, or the other God that he pointed to is the Real God?


the above is similar to false prophet and True Prophet if you apply the test of how to know false Gods, you will know the One True God to be completely separate from the many false Gods.

I don't know what bible you have been reading, but Paul quotes Jesus several times in his writings and practically all his writings are based on the teachings of christ. You cannot compare the writing style of matthew, mark, luke and John(gospel books) to paul's writings cos the gospels are an historical account of the life of Jesus whereas paul's letters were addressed to different groups of early christians to teach them and address specific issues the early church had problems with.

Paraphrased,Gal 2:20 goes this way, I am crucified with Christ yet I live,yet not I,the life I live in the flesh is lived in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The fact of christianity is that when a man gives up his self life of flesh to God through Christ in sacrifice,such individual doesn't need to quote the letter(bible) continually even though it is the authority because Christ will be the one speaking through the person. Remember that the Word of God is God,His name is Jesus. He is the one that gave the letter (the bible) but He is the Spirit that dwells and speaks through the believer,even NEW things. But the 'new' thing MUST be in concord with the letter(bible). That is why Jesus said that the flesh count for nothing,this word I speak unto you are spirit and life. So it was the indwelling Christ that spoke through paul because his flesh(self life) had been crucified with Christ. It has been the trend through the church age. Even now,any believer that heeds this words in Rom 12:1-2,will experience the same Christ formed in their lives,that scripture says,brethren,in view of God's mercies offer yourselves as a living sacrifice,holy and acceptable to God. This is your eternal act of worship. The essence of christianity is that God (Christ) be formed in man . It means that God became a Man (Christ) for man to become like God (Christ). This is the new creation and why the Lord,through Christ said in Rom 6 that just as Christ was raised from the dead by that glorious demonstration of the Father's glory,so we also ought to walk in the newness of life. This new life is what made paul an oracle,not speaking his own words most of the time,but the words of the living Christ.
Peace!

There is an interesting parallel between paul's writings and that of other great christians throughout the church age. Try reading the writings of great followers of Christ such as Watchman Nee,Charles Spurgeon and even our contemporaries Miles Munroe and Gbile Akanni. You can't help the feeling that such writing are not from men but from God. The similarity is in the concord with the words of Christ and expounding it as authority. There messages were all the same theme; the crucified Christ and its meaning and benefit to man.

parallel preaching is not the same as quote

1. One possible reason that the letters of Paul do not have more “red letter” sections is date. How could he have quoted the Gospels when he was writting before they were penned?

2. Another possible reason that Paul does not quote Jesus word for word, is that he did not have the same eyewitness exposure that the Gospel writers had to the life of Christ. However, this can not explain the lack of quotes in Peter and James.

3. A final reason may be concerning the purpose of the different texts. The purpose of the epistles are clearly different from the Gospels. For instance, while John does quote Jesus in his Gospel account, John’s epistles (1,2,3 John) do not contain one “red letter” section. The purposes of each are different.


Still Thinking,

Why are you wasting your time and energy on this?

This is the same book that many have operated on, served God using, and found their way to heaven.
The time you're spending questioning the believability of the bible is the time you could be spending "running the race", if you really are interested in the race.

bobbyray:

parallel preaching is not the same as quote

1. One possible reason that the letters of Paul do not have more “red letter” sections is date. How could he have quoted the Gospels when he was writting before they were penned?

Still Thinking,

If you are looking for direct quotes, Paul surely quoted the gospel of Luke who quoted the words of Jesus and calls it scripture.  He also quoted Moses in the verse below:

"For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.  And, The labourer is worthy of his reward." -- 1 Tim. 5:18,

"And the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. . . " --Luke 10:7

"You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn." -- Deuteronomy 25:4

@OP
Think no further, you already answered your question. The words we call 'the words of Paul' are actually the words of Jesus.

OLAADEGBU:

If you are looking for direct quotes, Paul surely quoted the gospel of Luke who quoted the words of Jesus and calls it scripture.  He also quoted Moses in the verse below:

"For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.  And, The labourer is worthy of his reward." -- 1 Tim. 5:18,

"And the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. . . " --Luke 10:7

"You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn." -- Deuteronomy 25:4

Please sir, could you kindly furnish us with the chapter and verse of Luke that paul quoted. Where did Paul make the quote?

KunleOshob:

I don't know what bible you have been reading, but Paul quotes Jesus several times in his writings and practically all his writings are based on the teachings of christ. You cannot compare the writing style of matthew, mark, luke and John(gospel books) to paul's writings cos the gospels are an historical account of the life of Jesus whereas paul's letters were addressed to different groups of early christians to teach them and address specific issues the early church had problems with.

Where did Paul quote Jesus several times in his writings? Could you give us a specific instance?

chyke27:

There is an interesting parallel between paul's writings and that of other great christians throughout the church age. Try reading the writings of great followers of Christ such as Watchman Nee,Charles Spurgeon and even our contemporaries Miles Munroe and Gbile Akanni. You can't help the feeling that such writing are not from men but from God. The similarity is in the concord with the words of Christ and expounding it as authority. There messages were all the same theme; the crucified Christ and its meaning and benefit to man.

I'm afraid Nee, Spurgeon, and Munroe and Akanni are not Jesus and the topic is 'where did Paul quote Jesus?'. Please don't give ammunition to those people that say Men of God is now equal to God of Men.

bobbyray:

parallel preaching is not the same as quote

1. One possible reason that the letters of Paul do not have more “red letter” sections is date. How could he have quoted the Gospels when he was writting before they were penned?

Yet the teachings of Jesus were being passed orally amongst christians. so Paul ought to have been familiar with them since he became a christian.

Pastor AIO:

Please sir, could you kindly furnish us with the chapter and verse of Luke that paul quoted. Where did Paul make the quote?

Here it is in the verse I posted below, let's see whether you can solve this puzzle.

OLAADEGBU:

If you are looking for direct quotes, Paul surely quoted the gospel of Luke who quoted the words of Jesus and calls it scripture. He also quoted Moses in the verse below:

"For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward." -- 1 Tim. 5:18,

"And the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. . . " --Luke 10:7

"You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn." -- Deuteronomy 25:4

Thank you for that. I was not even aware of that. I know the ox muzzling quote from corinthians. It gave me plenty of laughs especially when considered in light of the greedy pastors we have. You had better not let Joagbaje be aware of the quote, the next thing you know he'll say that you're muzzling him and God said he shouldn't be muzzled.

Pastor AIO:

Thank you for that. I was not even aware of that. I know the ox muzzling quote from corinthians. It gave me plenty of laughs especially when considered in light of the greedy pastors we have. You had better not let Joagbaje be aware of the quote, the next thing you know he'll say that you're muzzling him and God said he shouldn't be muzzled.

Pls don't muzzle me .

Joagbaje:

Pls don't muzzle me .

Abeg dey wack your corn dey go jare, I will not muzzle you!!

@Bobbyray

Paul wasn't a disciple in Jesus lifetime, but he received direct teaching and instruction from christ which he makes references to from time to time

Galatians 1:11-12
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

bobbyray:

parallel preaching is not the same as quote

1. One possible reason that the letters of Paul do not have more “red letter” sections is date. How could he have quoted the Gospels when he was writting before they were penned?

2. Another possible reason that Paul does not quote Jesus word for word, is that he did not have the same eyewitness exposure that the Gospel writers had to the life of Christ. However, this can not explain the lack of quotes in Peter and James.

3. A final reason may be concerning the purpose of the different texts. The purpose of the epistles are clearly different from the Gospels. For instance, while John does quote Jesus in his Gospel account, John’s epistles (1,2,3 John) do not contain one “red letter” section. The purposes of each are different.


Still Thinking,

makes sense.

also, Paul quoted the old testament, which Jesus himself used in his teachings.

back then, books werent mass produced like they are today and not everyone had easy access to them.

Joagbaje:

@Bobbyray

Paul wasn't a disciple in Jesus lifetime, but he received direct teaching and instruction from christ which he makes references to from time to time

Galatians 1:11-12
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Well that's a sure sign of divine intervention if Paul quotes Jesus verbatim in the 'worker deserves his wages' quote yet was never taught the teachings of Jesus by any of his disciples.
I wonder why Paul called it scripture when they were only oral sayings of Jesus. That is a sure sign that the gospels were considered scripture even before they were written.

Pastor AIO:

Well that's a sure sign of divine intervention if Paul quotes Jesus verbatim in the 'worker deserves his wages' quote yet was never taught the teachings of Jesus by any of his disciples.
I wonder why Paul called it scripture when they were only oral sayings of Jesus. That is a sure sign that the gospels were considered scripture even before they were written.

Peter, James, and John follow the same pattern. They spent 3 years with Jesus, yet their letters reflect almost no specific mention of what they heard their Teacher say. None of them referred to their Teacher’s now-famous words about the kingdom of God, the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the poor, the sick, or the oppressed.

By Jewish standards, this lack of direct mention is unusual. Students of rabbis were known for memorizing and quoting their teachers.

So why don’t the letters of Jesus’ disciples give more attention to His stories or sayings? Some critics suggest that Paul didn’t write more specifically about Jesus because he came later and didn’t know enough about the Rabbi from Nazareth to do so.

But if Paul could only speak personally of his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, that doesn’t explain the silence of Peter, James, and John.

John, in turn, did have personal contact with Jesus. He quotes Him at length in his Gospel but only once in his three letters (1 John 3:23). Even though Paul follows a similar pattern in his letters, his credibility is questioned. So it’s important to understand the distinct roles of the New Testament Gospels and letters.

My Verdict
The Gospels and letters have different purposes. The Gospels provide a record of what Jesus said and did. The letters of Paul and the apostles explain the meaning and practical implications of who Jesus was and what He did for us.

Jesus granted paul the deep revelation of who the christian man (new creation) is. Some Christians only dwell in the OT.while some others only dwell on the gospels , but if a man must grow to maturity he need to eat into the deeper revelations of Paul

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [Quote]but if a man must grow to maturity he need to eat into the deeper revelations of Paul[/Quote]Who is the boss; Jesus a prophet of God, or Paul who said he received 'revelations' from Jesus?


The master of the christian is no one else but Paul.

authentic revelation is from God to His Prophet [as]. it can't be authentic if its from Prophet [i am powerless of my own strength] to a person who follows those who followed the said prophet.

bobbyray:


My Verdict
The Gospels and letters have different purposes. The Gospels provide a record of what Jesus said and did. The letters of Paul and the apostles explain the meaning and practical implications of who Jesus was and what He did for us.

That begs the question, didn't Jesus say or teach anything that had any 'meaning or practical implications of who he was and what he did for us'? What then is the import of what Jesus said and taught?

2buff:

Why are you wasting your time and energy on this?

This is the same book that many have operated on, served God using, and found their way to heaven.
The time you're spending questioning the believability of the bible is the time you could be spending "running the race", if you really are interested in the race.

How are you sure of this please?