The Jesus of the Bible, the Bible of Jesus

The claim to disregard the statements of Scripture on certain topics because “Jesus didn’t say anything about it” is illogical, illegitimate, and shows a willful ignorance even of what Jesus said. “But He [Jesus] answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD’” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3. Those who reject Scriptures inconvenient to their accommodation of the sinful behavior of human beings in a theoretical preference for a simple “what Jesus said” model ignore the fact that Jesus Himself quoted the Scriptures of the Old Testament as authoritative. Often.

Further, any claim to accept Jesus’ words but reject the words of the rest of the New Testament ignores one important fact: Jesus’ words are recorded for us by the Apostles (who wrote the rest of the New Testament often rejected by this false-confessing crowd).

Jesus Himself acknowledges and endorses the fact that His disciples would go on to carry forth and apply His teaching: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word” (John 17:16-20). To believe in Jesus is to accept the teaching of His Apostles as recorded in the New Testament.

“And [Jesus]...said, ‘Have you not read that He Who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate’” (Matthew 19:4-6). Two things:

• Turns out He did say something about the definition of marriage.
• The Lord quotes from Genesis 1:27; 2:24. If He doesn’t throw out ancient Scripture because it’s inconvenient to “the truth of our day,” neither can we (and still claim to follow Him).