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Disassociating Paul From Jesus: Breaking Down the False Dichotomy

That Paul regards his written word as invested with divine sanction and authority is placed beyond all question in this same epistle (1 Cor. 14:37, 38). In the context he is dealing specifically with the question of the place of women in the public assemblies of worship. He enjoins silence upon women in the church by appeal to the universal custom of the churches of Christ and by appeal to the law of the Old Testament. It is then that he makes appeal to the divine content of his prescriptions. “If any man thinketh himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandment of the Lord. And if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” Paul here makes the most direct claim to be writing the divine Word and coordinates this appeal to divine authority with appeal to the already existing Scripture of the Old Testament.”

While so much more could be said, of this much we should be assured: All attempts to contrast and dissociate the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of Paul will end in a bifurcation of the canon itself. Adversely, this will inevitably lead on to the undermining of both the apostolic teaching on redemption, as well as the apostolic ethic for the life of the members of the New Testament church. Far from helping those who are uncomfortable with the apostolic teaching on such things as homosexuality and gender relations in the church, such a bifurcation will ultimately serve to undermine the entire revelation of God in Scripture.

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