All Scripture Quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95), published by The Lockman Foundation

In my last article, I gave a brief overview of the ways in which the official apostles of the Lord Jesus learned the meaning of the Old Testament. The first, and primary, way this was accomplished was by learning from Jesus personally, both before and after His resurrection. Although He didn’t reveal everything to them, He gave them a thorough understanding of the meaning and fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. Only He was able to do this, since He was the perfect, sinless, man, and had no misconceptions, false beliefs, sinful motives, or anything else hindering Him from comprehending the whole of Scripture’s teaching, and its fulfillment through Him. In this way, He served as the perfect spokesman for the Father, and taught His message perfectly, even as He represented Him perfectly. This is why Scripture calls Jesus “the Word,” “the exact representation of [God’s] nature,” “the image of the invisible God,” and so on (Jn. 1:1; Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15). As part of Jesus’s prophetic service, He not only taught God’s message, but He also displayed God’s message in His character and deeds. And the most important parts of this message were His life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit. This is why we possess four Gospels, and one historical record of the early work of the Spirit through the apostles.

But why was most of the New Testament authored by eyewitnesses of the resurrected Lord, and by those who were personal friends of them? The answer is that God not only wanted His message of Jesus to be spread in all the world, but also the men of Jesus to demonstrate through their lives that they had indeed seen, and lived with, the resurrected Lord of the universe. It was therefore necessary that the beginning of the gospel’s proclamation be accomplished by men who had been in close, physical, and loving, contact with the Lord.

This provides us with one of the pillars of our own understanding, and teaching, of the Lord’s message today. Our understanding of all reality doesn’t just come from some ancient documents that we’ve decided best fits our common experience, and provides us with the best way of obtaining happiness. Rather, the source of the truth we believe is a collection of historical documents which most significantly contain eyewitness accounts of the life, death, resurrection, and work of the Lord Jesus. The apostles didn’t just claim to have lived with the man who demonstrated Himself to possess the nature of God. They actually lived as if this was true, and proved through their lives and teachings that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by trusting in Him, people receive peace with God, and eternal life.

Therefore, in our study of Scripture, it’s essential that we grasp the nature and significance of the testimony of the apostles. Whenever we read the New Testament, we must keep in our minds that the realities it speaks of are realities that the apostles, and other authors, experienced for themselves. Having recognized this, we also can experience the life, glory, peace, and joy that they enjoyed, as we follow their teachings and example.

In order to get a clear view of the nature and implications of the apostles’ witness, we will examine several key passages in which the apostles describe their experience of seeing and hearing the Lord Jesus, and the truths that they learned from this revelation.

The Word of Life and His Message of God’s Light

To begin his first letter that we have, John the apostle affirms that he’s an eyewitness of God’s message in human form, and that his own message to his audience is directly from this “Word.” Thus he begins:

“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with out hands, concerning the Word of Life – and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us – what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ . . . This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 Jn. 1:1-3, 5)

In this self-attestation, John doesn’t simply claim that he saw Jesus, but that he ”looked at and touched” Jesus. In other words, he lived with him. But he claims more than having interacted with a man – he calls Him “the Word of Life,” “the eternal life,” and the Father’s “Son.” Thus, he’s implying that through his interaction with Him, he discerned that God’s new, eternal life was the essence of Jesus’s character, and that He reflected God perfectly as His Son.

Second, notice that it’s the eternal life that was manifested in Jesus that John “proclaimed” to his audience, in order to “testify” about it (v. 2). In verse 3, he explains the purpose of this proclamation of Jesus as being his students’ “fellowship,” or “sharing” in the life of “the Father” and “His Son Jesus Christ” (v. 3). To summarize, John, and the other apostles, physically experienced the eternal life in Jesus to have fellowship with the Father, so that they would be able to testify about Jesus to those who, through this testimony, would also come to have fellowship with God.

Finally, based on John’s personal knowledge of Jesus on earth, he described one of the themes of Jesus’s teaching. He begins the main body of the letter by asserting that “the message we have heard from Him and announce to you” is “that God is Light” (v. 5). Note again the source of John’s message – he heard this message from Jesus. And the message, which could be said to sum up the gospel, is that God is Light, or the source of all truth, goodness, and righteousness. Of course, relating this to John’s Gospel, this Light of God is perfectly manifested in Jesus Himself, since he calls Him “the Light” (Jn. 1:9, etc.).

The Lord’s Majesty and Prophetic Word

Moving now to Peter’s testimony about Jesus, we’ll begin with his account of his experience of the Lord’s divine light at The Transfiguration, and its relationship to the Old Testament Scriptures, found in his second letter:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased’ – and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain . . . We have the prophetic word . . . more sure,  to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is . . . of one’s own interpretation . . .” (2 Pe. 1:16-20)

Here again, an apostle provides his claim of seeing the divine nature of Jesus, and then relates it to the message that he proclaimed. However, in this instance, Peter recounts a specific event – namely, what’s called The Transfiguration. This event is recorded in the first three Gospels, and consisted of Jesus’s form being changed into that of a blinding light, while Moses and Elijah appeared in conversation with Him. While this happened, as Peter recalls, God the Father, called “the Majestic Glory,” spoke to the apostles that were there, and identified Jesus as His “beloved Son” (v. 17). Peter describes this experience to confirm to his audience that he both saw and heard the truth of who Jesus is – the divine Son of God.

But the apostles’ testimony isn’t all that Christians have, since Peter next explains how that testimony relates to “the prophetic word” (v. 19). What is this prophetic word? Since he immediately goes on to describe the “prophecy of Scripture,” he must have at least mostly in mind the prophetic word of Scripture. But this “word,” or message, concerns primarily the message of Jesus and His work. And how is it “more sure?” The prophecy of Scripture is more sure because it has been fulfilled by Jesus, and witnessed to by the apostles. This is why Peter encourages his audience to “pay attention” to Scripture “as to a lamp shining in a dark place” (v. 19). Since they’ve received the eyewitness testimony of the apostles, they can now understand the meaning of the message contained in the Old Testament Scriptures.

By calling the prophetic message of Scripture “more sure” because of the apostles’ testimony of Scripture, Peter is implying that the Old Testament Scriptures, and any other Scripture, must be understood in the light of the apostles’ testimony and teaching. Not only does their testimony sure up, or confirm, the prophecy of the Old Testament, but it also does so by interpreting it. Thus, the testimony and gospel of the apostles is the key to understanding all of Scripture. As a result, Peter follows his appeal to attending to Scripture by declaring that “no prophecy of Scripture is . . . of one’s own interpretation” (v. 20). That is, no message of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own thinking, but from God’s. Therefore, we must be careful to interpret Scripture, and especially the Old Testament, based on God’s other revelation.

The Predicted Sufferings and Glories of Christ

In Peter’s first letter, he makes a clearer connection between the message that the apostles preached, and the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. In the seminal passage concerning this, he contrasts the knowledge of the OT prophets with that of the first Christians, and the gospel-preaching apostles. His point is to highlight the central importance of Christ’s salvation that was being proclaimed and received throughout the Roman Empire at that time. This is what he says:

“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven . . .” (1 Pe. 1:10-12)

Although he doesn’t explicitly say that the apostles were eyewitnesses of the things that the prophets predicted, Peter still implies this witness through the gospel preachers mentioned. But what’s most significant in this passage is the relationship of the apostles’ gospel to the messages of the prophets in the OT. We know that these prophets were living in the time before Jesus, since what they predicted were “the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow” (v. 11).

But what are the exact contents of what Peter calls “the glories to follow?” Does this merely refer to Jesus’s resurrection and ascension? These glories are far more than those events. First, Peter describes the prophets’ message to be “the grace that would come to you,” the audience (v. 10). Second, he encompasses all of the prophets’ message by referring to “these things which now have been announced to you” in “the gospel.” (v. 12). Therefore, the predictions of the prophets weren’t only about Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension, but also about the grace of salvation that was first bestowed on the disciples through the Holy Spirit, and then announced to the known world through the apostles. So then, the “sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow” that the apostles witnessed were some of the very things that the OT foretold through its prophets. In other words, what was only predicted in unclear terms was physically perceived by the apostles, and then proclaimed to those who hadn’t known Jesus in the flesh.

The Lord’s Message Confirmed with Miracles

The next passage we’ll examine is found in the letter to the Hebrews. In this letter, the author is warning his audience to refrain from abandoning Christianity for Judaism. He begins by saying that Jesus is God’s ultimate, and perfect, Messenger, since He shares God’s nature. Then, in chapter 2, he urges his congregation to more diligently remember and study the message of the gospel. He motivates them to do this by explaining how it was delivered to them in these words:

“. . . how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles . . .” (Heb. 2:3-4a)

First of all, we know that the message he’s referring to is that of “salvation” (v. 3). And he goes on to describe how it was delivered to his audience. The original preaching of the gospel is identified with its utterance “through the Lord,” meaning Jesus. Then, the author tells us that the message was “confirmed to us by those who heard.” These people who “heard” the gospel from Jesus clearly include the apostles, since God “testified” with them “by signs and wonders” (v. 4). It was mainly the apostles who performed miracles in order to confirm the truthfulness of the gospel they preached. This is similar to how the apostles’ witness confirmed the truthfulness of the OT, as we saw in 2 Peter 1.

Yet take note of the fact that it wasn’t just Jesus Himself that the apostles testified to, but also His message of salvation. They had not only seen this salvation provided through His death and resurrection, but they had also heard Him preach it. Therefore, in essence, the gospel that Jesus preached and taught was the same gospel that the apostles preached and taught.

This unity of Jesus’s message, His redemptive work, and the apostles’ message, is conveyed simply in the Gospel of Luke. Speaking of Jesus’s earthly and resurrected deeds, Luke introduces his Gospel by describing the transmission of these accounts like this:

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word . . .” (Lk. 1:1-2)

To begin, we must pay attention to the fact that Luke says the events “accomplished among us” (the first Christians) were “handed down” to them. The phrase “handed down” is the verb form of the Greek term used for “tradition.” And this tradition was usually communicated by mouth. Hence, not only did the first Christians learn the truth about Jesus, but they heard it from His eyewitnesses.

This leads us into Luke’s description of these transmitters of history. He says that “from the beginning” they were “eyewitnesses and servants of the word” (v. 2). That is, the men who preached the message of Jesus had seen Him from “the beginning” of His public service after His baptism. But notice also that the thing that they saw was not just “Jesus,” but “the word.” In other words, they saw the message that they handed down in Jesus, who is the Word of God. And from the beginning of their time with Him, they were “servants,” or “servers” of the message of Jesus. From this fact, we find the apostles’ preaching didn’t begin after the ascension, but before. And, much like we saw in Hebrews, this preaching was a direct imitation of the preaching of Jesus Himself.

The Lord’s Conversion of the Gentiles

The final description of an apostle’s witness of Jesus that we’ll study is that given by Paul in Luke’s account of him giving his testimony to King Agrippa in Acts 26:12-18:

“’While so engaged [in arresting Christians] as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’”

Although Paul’s witness of Jesus was different from all the other apostles, he still physically saw the resurrected Lord, and was directly commissioned by Him to be a preacher of the gospel. In fact, Jesus explains the purpose of His appearance to Saul as being “to appoint [him] a minister and a witness . . . to the things which [he has] seen” (v. 16). Then, He defines the goal of Paul’s witness and service to be for both the Jews and Gentiles, to enlighten them so they “may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins . . .” (v. 18). Hence, Jesus revealed Himself personally to Paul to first appoint him as a witness, and then to empower him to use his witness of the Lord to persuade sinners to turn from their rebellion, and towards Christ through faith.

From the Lord’s purposes for Paul in this account, we see the ultimate reason that He appointed eyewitnesses of Himself to preach the gospel. The apostles’ eyewitness testimony wasn’t an end in itself, but is meant to persuade people that the good news of Jesus is indeed true, and that He’s worthy of trust and worship. This is how the Lord first began to rescue sinners “from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God” (v. 18). Therefore, the testimony and teaching of the apostles is the Lord’s instrument in bringing the “light” of the new creation, and of His kingdom, to rebels against Him.

The Authority of the Apostles’ Teaching

Arguably the most important implication of the fact that the New Testament writers were either eyewitnesses of Jesus, or students of these eyewitnesses, is that this eyewitness testimony provides a solid basis for believing and practicing all of their teaching as authoritative. The very term, “apostle,” gives us an indication of this. The Greek word behind it, apostolos, literally means “sent one.” In the Jewish world of that time, it was given to those who served as official representatives of a leader, and spoke on his behalf. Such was their authority in their representation, that what they taught in place of their sender could be received as if the sender himself had taught it. This is why the apostles’ teaching isn’t their opinion, but the very message of Jesus Himself. They spoke, and wrote, with His authority, not their own.

But how did the Lord bestow His authority on them? First of all, by living closely with them, and leading them, for several years. The authority granted to them through this personal mentorship was put on display before their enemies after some of them had preached the gospel to those who were in the Jerusalem temple. Luke records this event in this account in Acts 4:13:

“Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”

This evaluation takes place when these two apostles are standing trial before the Jewish rulers for preaching the gospel in the temple, and giving their defense. From hearing their defense, the rulers perceive that they possess unusual confidence in their explanation of their actions, and in their proclamation of the gospel to the rulers. They already know that Peter and John haven’t been formally trained in the knowledge of Scripture, and its message. Thus, the only explanation of their confidence is that they have “been with Jesus.” This truth reveals to us one of the keys of the apostles’ authority – they had lived with Jesus, and learned the truth personally from Him, for the whole duration of His public service on earth.

Second, as we saw with Paul, the apostles received Jesus’s authority through His promise of it to them, and His power in them, which enabled them to exercise it. The best example of this promise is the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20. This commission was first given only to the eleven remaining apostles. Thus, in the beginning, it only gave them the authority to make disciples, and to teach them to obey the Lord. In this capacity, they were the official representatives of Jesus. But Jesus also gave them the power to exercise their authority on the Day of Pentecost, when He put the Holy Spirit into their hearts, and gave them the power to preach, and to perform miracles to confirm the truthfulness of their preaching.

Given the eyewitness authority of the apostles, some implications follow:

  1. The teaching of the New Testament is the teaching of the Lord Himself.
  2. The New Testament’s teaching is based on the lifestyle and teachings of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, much of the teaching of the letters can be traced back to the Lord’s actions and words that are recorded in the Gospels.
  3. The example of the apostles’ lifestyles, as well as their teaching, are based on the example of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, the way they led their lives gives all Christians for all time principles for living their own lives in imitation of the Lord.
  4. The apostles personally learned from Jesus how to understand the Old Testament. Therefore, we ought to follow the principles they give us in the New Testament for understanding and applying the Old Testament.
  5. Since we have the privilege of preaching the gospel today, we can be confident that the things we describe about Jesus are perfectly accurate, since we have eyewitness documents for our sources of truth. The gospel isn’t our experience, but the experience of the apostles who witnessed the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And all of these things perfectly fulfilled what the Old Testament predicted would happen.