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The Red Letterists


The Red Letterists believe Jesus’ actual quoted words in red in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Revelation are the most authoritative, and surpass in importance the epistles of Paul, Peter, John, and James.  This means when Jesus says, “But you are not to be called rabbi (teacher), for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.  The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” (Matthew 23:8-11), but the apostles chose to separate people into teachers and servants / deacons, “So the Twelve summoned all the disciples and said, “It is unacceptable for us to neglect teaching the word of God in order to wait on tables.Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint this responsibility to them and devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word,” (Acts 6:2-4), the Red Letterist chooses To live Christ’s words over the apostles. To be clear, all scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), but the apostles admit that at times they decided things for themselves instead of waiting on the Lord, “It seemed good to us,” (Acts 15:28) and “Paul decided in his spirit.” (Acts 19:21). The apostles admit at times they chose their will over the Holy Spirit’s Will.  

The truth is the New Testament is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:26, 2 Peter 1:20-21), but at times the apostles make their own free will decision and admit when this happening in the words of Scripture. The Red Letterists choose to stick with Jesus’ quoted words, but I argue this requires some discernment. There are times when Jesus says things just for that person like the man who he told to sell all he had (Rich Young Ruler, Mark 10:17-21), or when he tests the apostles, “Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:24-27). We have to understand that in certain scenarios Jesus was addressing the hopeless state of man without salvation, and He had not yet died for sins on the cross, nor rose from the dead. So we must sift thru the words of Christ to find the universal words for all Christians  like John 3:16, John 10:27-30, and John 17:20-23, or those that were specific for an individual and that time such as the rich young ruler, because Christ did not ask rich Zacchaeus to sell all he had (Luke 19:1-10) and our Lord was supported by the rich women of Galilee (Luke 8:1-3). So the Monastic movement that believed poverty was necessary go follow Christ took the Rich Young Ruler out of context. 

I admire the Red Letterists, but I argue their downplay of the Pauline epistles is dangerous. Paul confronts many false gospels (Galatians 1:4-9), and urges a pure and simple devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 13:2) and to count all lost but Christ (Philippians 3:8). What I do agree with is if there is deviation, like the comparison of what Jesus commanded about taking no titles, “But you are not to be called rabbi (teacher), for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.  The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” (Matthew 23:8-11), and the apostles creating titles and removing the need to serve for teachers, “It is unacceptable for us to neglect teaching the word of God in order to wait on tables.Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint this responsibility to them and devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word,” (Acts 6:2-4); then you stick with what Christ said.  


I admire the Red Letterists, but I believe the other epistles are divinely inspired and equally God Breathed too. But I totally get making red letters important, because they are the words of Jesus, our God Incarnate quoted and written down. Amen. 


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