Don Stewart :: Jesus' View of the New Testament

Chapter 13 – Jesus’ View of the New Testament

He Confirmed It Ahead of Time

This is the final chapter in which we present new material; our next chapter is merely a summary of what we have learned in the entire book.

In this chapter, we look at how Jesus confirmed the New Testament before it was written. He not only gave His approval to the Old Testament as the Word of God, and His own teachings as the last word on every matter, He also pre-approved the contents of the New Testament.

We show that Jesus hand-picked certain disciples to continue on with His ministry. These disciples were given special promises that applied to them and them alone. Jesus told them that the Holy Spirit would come and teach them. He would lead them into “all truth.” Furthermore, He promised that the Holy Spirit would bring back to their remembrance all things which Jesus said or did. Thus, when they spoke about Jesus, or put in writing their teaching and preaching, they were guaranteed complete accuracy. This means that the final result, the New Testament, has had its contents guaranteed ahead of time by Jesus.

Therefore, we can read and study the New Testament with confidence since it gives us an accurate record of the words and deeds of Jesus.

When we put this together with what Jesus taught about the Old Testament and His own teachings, we can thus conclude that the entire Bible is the divinely inspired, inerrant Word of God.

Thus far we have seen that Jesus taught that the Old Testament was divinely inspired of God, and that His own teachings were absolutely authoritative. We now come to Christ’s view with respect to the New Testament. We will discover that He pre-authenticated it ahead of time so that we can be assured that it too, is the Word of God.

Jesus Hand-Picked His Disciples

Jesus selected and trained certain disciples that would be the authorized teachers of His New Covenant. He chose well the men who would be His disciples and who would pass on His teachings to us—particularly the men whom He chose to record the account of His life.

There Is an Old Testament Precedent for Written Scripture

There was already the precedent of written Scripture (the Old Testament) that would have been available to the disciples. Since God had given a written account of His words and deeds before the time of Jesus, it makes perfect sense that He would continue with a written account of the One to whom the Old Testament looked forward.

Jesus’ Words Were Considered Authoritative on Every Issue

As we have also seen, since Jesus’ words were considered by Him to be absolutely authoritative on whatever issue in which He spoke, there would have been the need to eventually see them in some permanent form.

He Made Special Promises to His Disciples

Jesus made some special promises to His disciples which deal directly with this issue of the divine inspiration and authority of the New Testament. John records Jesus saying the following:

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:26, 27 NRSV)

Jesus promised that after He left this world, the Holy Spirit would come in His place and teach His disciples. We note specifically the promise of Jesus with respect to what the Holy Spirit will do. He will teach them all things and bring back to their remembrance all things that Jesus said and did. What we have is a promise from Jesus, to His disciples, of a supernatural gift of total recall. Everything that Jesus said and did would be brought back to them in a miraculous way. Therefore, we can be assured that the final outcome of their teaching and eventual writing (the New Testament) would be correct in all that it said.

The Disciples Would Bear Witness of Jesus

The Bible also says that the Holy Spirit, and the disciples of Jesus, will bear witness of the Lord. We read the following in the Gospel of John. Jesus said,

“But I will send you the Counselor—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me. And you must also tell others about me because you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26, 27 NLT)

Those who had been with Jesus from the beginning would bear witness of Him.

The Holy Spirit Will Guide Them into All Truth

There is another promise from Jesus that was given to His disciples. John records Jesus saying the following. He said,

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13 NRSV)

This has to do with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It will be into “all truth” that He will “guide” Jesus’ disciples.

The Things Jesus Promised His Disciples

When we consider these verses, we have the following promises from Jesus:

1. Jesus is going to leave His disciples.
2. Yet, He will not leave them without a Teacher or Helper. He will give them the Holy Spirit.
3. The Holy Spirit will be sent by God the Father to remind them of all things that Jesus both said and did.
4. This contains a promise of total recall of all the words and deeds of Jesus which they personally experienced.
5. Both the Holy Spirit, and the disciples, will testify about Jesus.
6. These specific disciples will testify about Jesus because they had been with Him from the beginning of His ministry.
7. In addition, the Holy Spirit will guide these disciples into “all truth” when they preach the message about Jesus.
8. This will continue when their preaching and teaching is recorded in a more permanent form (the New Testament).

In a sense, Jesus authenticated the New Testament ahead of time by the various promises that He gave His disciples. Therefore, we can have confidence in what the New Testament says. Our confidence is based upon the promises of Jesus.

We now move to our last chapter—a summary of the things we have studied so far in this book.