Listen:  91 Question 4

In the New Testament, there are 27 books.  Of these 27 books, the Apostle Paul wrote 13 of them, possibly 14.  There is some disagreement about who wrote the book of Hebrews, but I believe there is enough evidence to show that Paul wrote this book, so I would say that Paul wrote 14 of the New Testament books.  That means Paul wrote more than half of the New Testament.  The Apostle John wrote five books; Peter wrote two books, and Luke wrote two books.  No one else wrote more than one book of the New Testament.

The term, “Pauline doctrine” refers to the truths that we get from the writings of the Apostle Paul.  It is important to realize that although we get truths from Paul that we don’t get anywhere else; his writings never contradict the other scriptures.  In fact, they enhance the Old Testament by his application of Old Testament scriptures.  In his writings, Paul quoted the Old Testament at least 267 times.  In the book of Romans alone, Paul quoted the Old Testament 84 times.  There are only two books in which he did not directly quote any Old Testament passages:  Philemon and Titus.

Let me show one example of Paul enhancing other scriptures by expounding upon them.  Let’s read Matthew 16:13-18, “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  Here, the Lord spoke of his church.  He spoke of it as a future entity.  The Apostle Paul in his inspired writings expounded upon the truth of what the church is.  Speaking of the Lord Jesus, Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:22-23 that God, “…put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”  Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:25 that, “…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”  The proper order for the functioning of the church is given to us through the writings of the Apostle Paul.  It was Luke that teaches us the only way to gain entrance into the church.  He wrote in Acts 2:47, “…the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”  So, the only way to become part of the church is by being saved.  While we can join any so-called church group, the only way to be a part of the true church of God is by accepting Jesus Christ as your savior.

Paul’s writings are critical; they give us proper church truths.  They are part of the inspired writings of God.  It is through Paul that we learn of the imminent return of the Lord to rapture all believers to Heaven.  It is through Paul’s writings that we learn of the many gifts the Lord has given to the church so that it might function properly.  It is through Paul’s writings that we learn of the importance of Christian baptism.  Indeed, the Word of God is not complete without the epistles of Paul.  (91.4)