Red-Letter Christianity: Did Jesus Give Us Permission to Ignore His Apostles?
Red-Letter Christianity: Did Jesus Give Us Permission to Ignore His Apostles?
Why Following Jesus Means Taking Seriously the Scriptures and Apostles He Authorized
When the Red Letters Become the Only Letters That Matter
There is something appealing about the call to return to the words of Jesus. In a Christian culture frequently distracted by political battles, denominational divisions, financial scandals, and cultural controversies, the invitation to refocus on Christ's teachings is both understandable and necessary. Churches should take seriously his warnings about greed, religious hypocrisy, pride, and the neglect of those in need. His commands to love enemies, forgive others, practice generosity, and seek God's kingdom deserve far more attention than they sometimes receive.
But a legitimate concern can lead to a serious theological mistake. Some Christians argue that if Jesus did not explicitly address a subject in the four Gospels, the Church has little authority to teach about it. Others suggest that Paul's letters or other New Testament writings may be disregarded whenever they appear inconsistent with Jesus' recorded statements.
This approach is sometimes associated with red-letter Christianity, named after Bible editions that print Jesus' words in red ink. Yet emphasizing Jesus' teachings and treating everything outside those teachings as less authoritative are two very different things. The first is entirely appropriate. The second creates a contradiction: Jesus himself authorized the apostles to teach, promised them the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and commissioned them to carry his message to the world.
If we insist upon following the words of Jesus, shouldn't we also follow what Jesus said about the authority of those he sent?
Red-letter Christianity is not a single denomination or unified movement. The organization Red Letter Christians, associated with Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne, emphasizes Jesus' teachings concerning poverty, justice, peacemaking, and compassion while affirming the whole Bible as God's Word. That position should not be confused with rejecting apostolic authority.
Some progressive Christians appeal to Jesus' apparent silence on particular controversies to question teachings elsewhere in the New Testament. Certain Hebrew Roots interpreters challenge traditional understandings of Paul because they believe Christianity has departed from its Jewish foundations. A smaller number reject Paul's authority outright, although many Torah-observant Christians accept his writings. Others are simply seeking distance from institutional religion after experiencing hypocrisy or manipulation.
Their concerns deserve consideration. But when the conclusion becomes that only Jesus' recorded words carry binding authority, the question remains: Does Jesus himself support that approach?
Jesus Promised That His Teaching Would Continue
Perhaps the strongest argument against red-letter exclusivism comes directly from Jesus.
In John 14:26, Jesus promised his disciples that the Father would send the Holy Spirit, who would teach them and remind them of everything he had said. In John 15:26–27, he explained that the Spirit would testify about him and that the disciples would also testify because they had been with him from the beginning.
Then Jesus made an extraordinary statement:
"I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." (John 16:12, NASB 1995)
He continued by promising that the Spirit of truth would guide them into all the truth (John 16:13).
Consider the implications. Jesus acknowledged that his earthly instruction to the disciples was not the entirety of what they would subsequently receive. The Holy Spirit would continue teaching them after his departure.
This was not permission to invent doctrines or contradict Christ. Jesus explained that the Spirit would glorify him and communicate what belonged to him (John 16:13–15). Apostolic teaching was to remain rooted in Christ's revelation.
Following his resurrection, Jesus declared that all authority had been given to him and commissioned his disciples to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe everything he commanded (Matthew 28:18–20). In John 20:21, he sent them as the Father had sent him.
These promises were given in a particular apostolic setting. They do not make every modern pastor or self-proclaimed prophet infallible, nor do they automatically establish that every writing later attributed to an apostle is inspired Scripture. Those questions require further examination.
What these passages establish is the distinctive responsibility of Jesus' commissioned witnesses to preserve and transmit his teaching.
The problem with accepting only the red letters is that Jesus' own words promise further instruction through the Holy Spirit. To dismiss apostolic teaching simply because Jesus did not personally deliver it during his earthly ministry is to disregard something Jesus explicitly said.
The Apostles Did Exactly What Jesus Commissioned Them to Do
The earliest Christian community did not possess a completed New Testament. It possessed the Jewish Scriptures and the teaching of those who had witnessed and proclaimed the risen Christ.
Acts 2:42 describes believers as devoted to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. Apostolic instruction was foundational to the Church's life from its beginning.
Acts 15 provides an especially important example. The apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem to address whether Gentile Christians must be circumcised and observe the Mosaic Law. Peter testified, Paul and Barnabas described God's work among the Gentiles, and James interpreted the situation through Scripture.
Their decision did not require Gentile believers to become Jews through circumcision and full Torah observance. Instead, they communicated instructions they understood to reflect the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Their letter declared:
"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us..." (Acts 15:28, NASB 1995)
The connection with Jesus' earlier promise is significant. In John 16, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide his apostles into truth. In Acts 15, the apostles and elders understood the Spirit to be guiding their response to a major doctrinal controversy.
This does not grant every subsequent church council the same authority. Acts 15 describes the foundational apostolic Church addressing a question central to the inclusion of Gentiles in God's people.
The apostles were exercising the responsibility Jesus had entrusted to them: teaching, interpreting Scripture, and applying the gospel as the Church expanded. Their conclusions were not dismissed because Jesus had not explicitly addressed every detail during his earthly ministry.
Christianity was already an apostolically taught faith long before its writings were gathered into a completed New Testament.
Did Paul Invent a Different Christianity?
Criticism of apostolic authority frequently centers on Paul. Some portray him as a religious innovator who transformed Jesus' message into an entirely different system of beliefs.
Paul occupied a distinctive position. Unlike the Twelve, he did not accompany Jesus throughout his earthly ministry. His calling followed an encounter with the risen Christ, described in Acts 9 and defended in Galatians 1:11–12 and 1 Corinthians 9:1.
This raises a legitimate objection: If Jesus promised the Spirit's guidance to the disciples who accompanied him, how does that establish Paul's authority?
It does not do so automatically. Paul's claim to apostleship must be examined through his encounter with the risen Christ, his ministry, and his relationship with the recognized leaders of the Jerusalem Church.
In Galatians 2:1–10, Paul describes meeting with those leaders. James, Peter, and John acknowledged his ministry among the Gentiles and extended fellowship to him. Acts 15 likewise portrays Paul and Barnabas participating in the Jerusalem Council, whose decision supported the inclusion of Gentiles without requiring full conversion to Judaism.
Acts 21:17–26 records another meeting between Paul, James, and the Jerusalem elders. Although tensions existed concerning Jewish observance and Paul's reputation, the passage does not portray James rejecting Paul's gospel.
This does not mean the apostles always agreed. Paul describes confronting Peter over his conduct toward Gentile believers (Galatians 2:11–14). But disagreements over conduct do not establish that they preached fundamentally different religions.
An especially important piece of evidence appears in 1 Corinthians 15:3–11. Paul recounts the resurrection message he had received and passed on, including Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and appearances to Peter, the Twelve, James, and others.
He concludes:
"Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed." (1 Corinthians 15:11, NASB 1995)
Paul explicitly identifies the central resurrection proclamation as shared between himself and the other apostles. This also preserves evidence of an early Christian tradition that preceded the completed New Testament.
Paul understood his teaching as carrying authority from Christ (1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). Additionally, 2 Peter 3:15–16 discusses Paul's letters and associates them with the other Scriptures. Although modern scholarship debates the authorship of 2 Peter, the passage remains an important witness within the received New Testament to the scriptural standing of Paul's writings.
The cumulative evidence is difficult to reconcile with the claim that Paul invented Christianity in opposition to Jesus and the Jerusalem apostles. His ministry was recognized within the wider apostolic movement, and the earliest Christian sources testify to a shared proclamation centered on the risen Christ.
The Church Existed Before the New Testament Canon
There is an even deeper historical problem with red-letter exclusivism. The Christian Church existed before the New Testament was collected into its present twenty-seven-book form.
The earliest believers received apostolic preaching, read the Jewish Scriptures, and circulated writings connected with the apostolic generation. Paul's letters were written before at least some of the canonical Gospels, demonstrating that Christianity's written testimony developed within an already-existing community of faith.
The Gospels themselves belong to that apostolic tradition. Matthew and John have traditionally been associated with members of the Twelve, while Mark and Luke have traditionally been connected with Peter and Paul respectively. Their precise authorship remains a subject of historical scholarship, but their reception as authoritative witnesses to Jesus developed within the early Church.
This raises a fundamental question: How do Christians know which words Jesus spoke?
Through the Gospel accounts preserved and transmitted by the early Christian community.
Jesus did not personally write the four Gospels. Their authors preserved and presented his teachings and deeds as testimony to his identity and mission. The very words being elevated above the rest of the New Testament come to us through the apostolic witness whose authority is being questioned.
Printing Jesus' words in red is also a modern convention. Louis Klopsch introduced the modern red-letter New Testament in 1899, followed by a complete red-letter Bible in 1901. Christians had read the New Testament for centuries without this visual distinction.
The red ink may be useful, but it was never intended to establish a separate canon within Scripture.
The formation of the New Testament canon was a historical process. Early Christians considered writings' apostolic connections, consistency with the received faith, and recognition among the churches. The four Gospels and major Pauline letters gained widespread recognition relatively early, while several other writings remained disputed in some communities.
Athanasius' Festal Letter of AD 367 provides the earliest surviving list corresponding exactly to the twenty-seven books of the present New Testament. Subsequent regional councils reflected and reinforced this developing consensus.
From the perspective of historic Christianity, the Church did not manufacture inspiration by voting books into existence. It recognized writings understood to carry divine authority. Nevertheless, the process was gradual, and agreement about every book was not immediate.
Christianity was not founded upon a completed New Testament that suddenly appeared in the fourth century. The New Testament emerged from the apostolic faith already being proclaimed, taught, and practiced within the Church.
This historical argument does not mean that accepting the Gospels as reliable automatically requires accepting every Pauline letter as inspired. Historical reliability and scriptural authority are related but distinct questions.
Nevertheless, the same early Christian communities that preserved the Gospels also received Paul's letters and other apostolic writings. Anyone who accepts the Gospel testimony while categorically rejecting apostolic teaching must explain that distinction rather than assuming it.
Jesus commissioned his witnesses. The earliest Church received their teaching. Over time, the Church recognized writings understood to preserve authoritative apostolic testimony. Together, these developments provide a substantial foundation for Christian authority that cannot be reduced to selected quotations of Jesus.
Christ-Centered Interpretation Is Not Selective Interpretation
None of this means that Jesus should be treated as merely one biblical teacher among many.
Christ is central to the Christian faith. Luke 24:27 describes Jesus explaining how the Scriptures pointed to him. Hebrews 1:1–3 presents God's revelation through the Son as climactic, while Colossians 1:15–20 describes Christ's supremacy.
Jesus is the interpretive center of Christianity, but that does not mean his recorded sayings are the only authoritative portion of Scripture.
The New Testament itself explains the relationship between the Old and New Covenants. Jesus announced the New Covenant in his blood (Luke 22:20). Hebrews 8–10 develops its significance, Acts 15 addresses Gentile obligations, and Romans and Galatians explain the relationship between faith, the Law, and life in the Spirit.
These teachings cannot be adequately understood by isolating selected sayings from the Gospels.
The solution is not to elevate Paul above Jesus or to use Jesus against Paul. It is to read the whole New Testament faithfully, recognizing the distinctive contributions of its authors within their shared witness to Christ.
The legitimate concerns behind red-letter Christianity should not disappear beneath theological arguments. Churches must examine whether their priorities reflect Jesus' teachings. A congregation more devoted to political influence than proclaiming the gospel should reconsider its direction. Ministries that continually solicit money while neglecting Jesus' warnings about greed deserve scrutiny. Christians who condemn outsiders while neglecting mercy, hospitality, reconciliation, and generosity have missed essential aspects of discipleship.
Yet the apostles reinforce these same concerns.
Paul warns against the love of money (1 Timothy 6:6–10), emphasizes generosity (2 Corinthians 8–9), and calls believers to humility and selfless love (Philippians 2:1–11). James condemns favoritism toward the wealthy (James 2:1–9) and identifies caring for orphans and widows as an expression of pure religion (James 1:27). Peter commands hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), while John insists that love must be demonstrated through actions rather than words alone (1 John 3:16–18).
These are not competing versions of Christianity. They are complementary expressions of the life Jesus called his followers to live.
Correcting selective emphasis within the Church is necessary. Correcting it through selective Scripture only creates another problem.
Conclusion: The Cornerstone and the Foundation
Ephesians 2:19–22 describes God's household as built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
The imagery is significant. The cornerstone determines the building's alignment, but the foundation is not therefore disposable. Christ remains supreme, while the apostles serve as his commissioned witnesses.
Their authority was never independent of Jesus. It came from him.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would continue teaching his disciples, commissioned them to proclaim his gospel, and entrusted them with teaching future generations. The earliest Church devoted itself to their instruction, and the writings received as New Testament Scripture emerged from that apostolic witness.
Christianity is not founded upon a modern publishing convention distinguishing certain sentences with red ink. It is founded upon Jesus Christ, proclaimed by his apostles, and preserved in the Scriptures received by the Church.
The words of Jesus deserve our fullest attention. But listening to Jesus also means taking seriously what he said about those he sent.
We should never use Paul to silence Jesus, nor should we use Jesus to silence Paul. Both must be understood within the whole counsel of Scripture.
The answer to selective Christianity is not another form of selective Christianity.
Jesus did not give us permission to stop reading when the red letters end.
