The apostles were given the authority to speak in the name of Jesus, an authority that came with a special blessing of the Holy Spirit. And they used this apostolic authority to preach, apply, and unpack all that Jesus had taught.

ABSTRACT:

During the time that elapsed between Jesus’s ascension and the writing of the Gospels, the apostles faithfully taught the early churches all that Jesus had commanded. A careful reading of the Epistles reveals that Jesus’s teaching was not ignored but shaped the life and doctrine of the spreading church, such that when penning letters the apostles could frequently assume familiarity with Jesus’s words. Examining select texts from 1 Corinthians, James, and 1 Peter demonstrates the fundamental unity between the teaching in the apostolic letters and the teaching of the Lord Jesus.

The New Testament as a whole is the teaching of Jesus, and yet it also records specifically what Jesus said during his earthly ministry. The words and works of Jesus before his ascension have come to us in the four Gospels, but these Gospels were written after the events they record. The Gospel of John contains the testimony of a disciple who saw all the things he wrote down, but he suggests that considerable time elapsed between the events and the writing (John 21:23–24). Likewise, Luke 1:1 mentions “the things that have been accomplished among us,” suggesting that Luke could include himself among those who experienced the ministry of the Lord firsthand, but he also notes that the testimony of these things had come to him by means of those who “were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” (Luke 1:2). And though Matthew and Mark do not address the time of their writing directly, it stands to reason that they too may have taken some time, possibly even decades, before writing down the teaching of Jesus.¹

This timeline raises a question: What happened to the teaching of Jesus between the ascension and the writing of the Gospels? Did the newly founded churches know the things Jesus had done and taught? Do we find any references to what Jesus taught in the letters of the apostles? How do the apostolic letters and the written Gospels relate to another?

When we read the New Testament carefully, the broad outline of what happened with Jesus’s teaching during the early decades of the church becomes clear and helps us see the fundamental unity between the apostolic letters and the teaching of the Lord Jesus.

The Master Plan

Jesus told his disciples that after the resurrection he would leave them to go back to the Father, though with the promise that he would return. He did not mention for how long he would be absent. He did make clear, however, that going to the Father was to their advantage (John 16:7) and that his absence implied a specific task (see Matthew 25:14–30): the proclamation of the gospel throughout the whole world (Matthew 24:14). This would require perseverance (Matthew 24:9); believers would die before the end. Jesus even told Peter that he would die a martyr’s death when he was old (John 21:18–19; 2 Peter 1:14). Thus, the broad outline of what needed to be done was clear before Jesus’s departure. But along with this outline, Jesus also gave detailed instructions.

In his final words recorded by Matthew, Jesus instructs the apostles to “make disciples” while “baptizing” and “teaching” (Matthew 28:19–20). What is it that the disciples are to teach? The answer is simple but broad in scope: “all that I have commanded you.” To be frank, that is a lot. Jesus had taught the disciples much over the course of the preceding few years. Can we be more precise about what “all that Jesus commanded” comprises? And, if it is a large amount of material, how could they remember it all?

The first part of the question is the easiest to answer. Since Matthew uses these words of Jesus to conclude his account of who Jesus is and what he has done, the most straightforward answer to the question “What is all that Jesus had commanded?” is “Everything we find in this Gospel.” Here (and in the other Gospels), we find what Jesus had instructed his disciples to keep and to do.

But what about the second half of our question, about how they were to remember? Matthew’s Gospel is of course a sure way to transmit the teaching; yet this was not the first thing Jesus had in mind. After he commands them to teach “all that I have commanded you,” he promises, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). This promise of the Lord’s presence does not mean that he would not go to the Father (and Matthew assumes that none of his readers would draw such a faulty conclusion); rather, it means that Jesus would be with them in a different, permanent way, one that would guarantee that they remembered all his words and that they could fulfill their task. Jesus promises to dwell in their hearts through the Spirit.

The Role of the Holy Spirit

In John’s Gospel, Jesus unpacks the role of the Holy Spirit in connection to the teaching task of the disciples. In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus explains that he is going to the Father but that he will also come to his disciples, though he will be with them in a different way: They will be in him and he in them (John 14:12, 18, 20).

Jesus then explains that this “dwelling” occurs in the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will teach them “all things” and “bring to [their] remembrance” everything Jesus said (John 14:26). Here we have the answer to the questions we raised earlier. The Holy Spirit is the one who reminded the disciples of all that Jesus commanded them. And it is indeed through the Holy Spirit that Jesus fulfilled his promise to be “with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Holy Spirit, who came once Jesus was glorified, reminded and taught the disciples afterward. Earlier in the Gospel, John gives a concrete example of how the Holy Spirit would do this. John comments in connection with the triumphal entry,

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. (John 12:16)

John admits that they did not understand the events of the triumphal entry but that afterward they “remembered.” Why did they remember only after Jesus was glorified? We’ve already seen the answer: The Holy Spirit came after Jesus was glorified, and then he taught and reminded the disciples (John 14:26).² The apostles’ task to teach everything Jesus commanded was possible only after the ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Teachings of Jesus in Acts

The book of Acts reminds us frequently that the apostles taught the church (Acts 2:42; 5:42; 11:26; 15:35; 18:11; 20:20; 28:31) and also that they used their teaching to evangelize (Acts 4:2; 5:21, 28, 42; 13:12). Though every believer had received the Spirit, the main teaching came to the church not directly from the Spirit but mediated through the teaching of the apostles, who had been taught themselves by the Spirit in a special way. So, what was the content of their teaching about Jesus? Did it resemble what we find now written in the Gospels?

When Peter is preaching the gospel to the willing audience gathered in the house of Cornelius the centurion in Caesarea, he starts laying out the message that God had sent to Israel. Peter does not dwell on what Jesus taught or commanded; instead, he gives an overview of the events that happened over the course of Jesus’s ministry, beginning from Galilee after John the Baptist’s ministry (Acts 10:36–42).³ Peter explains why Jesus is called the Christ (“anointed one”), since God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit. He says that Jesus did good deeds, performed miracles, and finally accomplished his work in Jerusalem. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to those who believed and who would receive the task of testifying to these events.

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