(Continued from 2/5/23…) Concerning the written word of God, Paul put the Thessalonians under an oath before the Lord Jesus Christ to read his letter before the assembly (1 Thess 5:27). Paul’s command to publicly read this letter implied that this letter was Scripture (cf. 1 Tim 4:13). By binding his readers with an oath before the Lord Jesus indicated that Paul spoke for Christ. Thus, Jesus Himself commanded them to read this letter in the assembly. Though written by Paul, this was Christ’s word to the Thessalonians and is still His word to us today.

Paul certainly wrote other letters to edify the churches, letters that were not Scripture (e.g., 1 Cor 5:9; Col 4:16b). What makes 1 Thessalonians (or any other book of the Bible) Scripture is that the Spirit carried the author along in the writing process (2 Pet 1:20–21), producing Scripture, the written and inspired word of God, that which makes one wise to salvation and is profitable to equip him for every good work (2 Tim 3:15–17). Like other Scripture, God has providentially preserved the truth of 1 Thessalonians over time because of its necessary instruction (2 Tim 4:2; cf. 1 Tim 3:15), ongoing authority (John 10:35), and promised permanence (Matt 24:35). Paul consciously knew what words were from the Spirit through him to others, and thus he could forcefully bind his readers to an oath before the Lord to read his letter. Others recognized his letters as Scripture as well (2 Pet 3:15–16).

Can We Speak or Write the Word of God Today?

As we have seen, in the exercise of their apostolic office, Paul and the other apostles could perfectly verbalize the word of God to others as Christ revealed foundational truth through them for the establishment of His church. Something foundational happens but once, and given the historically-conditioned requirements for apostles (cf. Acts 1:22–26; e.g., seeing Christ during the ministry of John the Baptist), we have no more foundational figures today (either apostles or prophets; Eph 2:20; 3:5). We can verbally preach and teach the written word of God, even accurately so (cf. 2 Tim 2:15), but this is different from perfectly orating the very word of God as the apostles did long ago.

As to writing the word of God, again, the apostles (and others) gave us the foundation and tradition in the Bible that we teach today. And as their role was qualified by history, so also was the New Testament era of writing God’s word. We can reflect something of God’s written words in writing (e.g., a biblical commentary), but this is infinitely different from revealing new words from God in written form today. Ever since the apostle John penned the “Amen” of Rev 22:21, no one has written new words from God for us today.