Written on the canvas of Paul's heart

Question: “Why are the words of Christ according to the Gospel records any more the words of the Lord Jesus than those recorded in Paul’s epistles?”

So asks Bible scholar C.R. Stam in his 1963 classic The Controversy. He answers, “Christ Himself left no writings behind. Does not Paul say again and again that his teachings are the words of Christ?"

Stam continues, “Our opponents’ quotation of I Timothy 6:3-5 to prove that we should put greater emphasis on the words of the Lord Jesus than on the words of Paul act as a boomerang for this passage is but another proof that the words of Paul were the words of the Lord Jesus. Referring to his own instructions to Timothy, the apostle says:

“ ‘If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing . . . ’

Stam laments, “. . . So deep is the antipathy of some religious leaders toward the Pauline message and those who proclaim it that they will simply lie low each time their falsehoods are exposed and await an opportunity to strike again. This is Satan’s strategy, for it is easier to believe a lie one has heard a thousand times than to believe a truth he has never heard before.”

*****

In II Corinthians, Paul is put in the position of having to defend himself when the Believers in Corinth conclude he’s an illegitimate fraud. He argues in II Corinthians 3:2, "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men."

“The people are saying, ‘Prove it, prove it, prove it,’ and Paul says, ‘You’re it! You’re the letter of authenticity!’ ” explains Preacher Alex Kurz. “Verse 3:3 says, ‘Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.’

“Paul is the canvas but who is the author of this particular letter? Jesus Christ, as the Author, has written something upon the canvas of Paul’s heart, which demonstrates the Corinthians are literally the letter of authenticity!

“Do you know when you write a letter, the author actually bears the character of the writer? Do you understand why Paul says Christ is the one who is manifestly declaring something? When Jesus Christ uses Paul’s heart, Christ is inscribing His own character upon the canvas of Paul’s heart.

“You know what Paul’s saying? ‘You read my life and my ministry and you will see the reflection of the character of Jesus Christ. You will see born upon my life the very thinking that Jesus Christ has toward you. That’s the letter of authenticity.’

“The issue isn’t the outward appearance. The issue is what Paul is doing and putting up with and sacrificing for a group of ungrateful Believers. The stamp of Christ’s hand, the finger prints of Christ’s ministry, the proof that Jesus Christ is working in Paul’s ministry is stamped on Paul’s heart.

*****

“God wrote on tablets, walls, in the ground--but did you know God also writes in the heart? There is a fascinating parallel in Jeremiah 17:1: ‘The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars.’

“What does it mean for God to inscribe? The point of a diamond can cut glass, but do you know what a pen of iron does? This is a description of God permanently inscribing and engraving the sins of a nation on their heart.

“Verse 13 says, ‘O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.’

“In John 8 we cannot say with absolute certainty what the Lord Jesus is writing on the ground, but if we look at the context in chapter 7, we know what the Lord Jesus is trying to do. He’s constantly looking for faith in His messiahship. In Jeremiah 17, this might be the clue that could shed light on what Jesus Christ is writing on the ground.”

*****

Stam writes, “Those who would join with the Modernists in following the earthly Jesus should listen to the inspired apostle when he says: ‘Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.’ (II Corinthians 5:16)

“It is the message of the exalted Lord through Paul himself to which he refers when he says: ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16).' "

(new article tomorrow)