Are Jesus’ Words Supreme?

Christian fundamentals are simply the teachings (doctrine)

of Jesus Christ. 1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his [Jesus]
word [doctrine], in him verily is the love of God
perfected: hereby know we that we are in him [Jesus]. 2
John 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the
doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 1
Timothy 6:2-4 These things teach and exhort. If any man
teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even
the words [teachings] of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the
doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud,
knowing nothing. 1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and
unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou
shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

So if certain Christian thinkers today are correct, then

the words "that are difficult to be understood" from Paul,
as Second Peter 3:15 says about Paul's words, are of equal
weight to those from "THE Prophet" as Peter calls Jesus in
Acts 3:22, quoting Deuteronomy 18:18-19.

But if that were true, then why did John the Baptist -- the
greatest prophet who ever lived prior to Jesus (Matthew
11:11) -- believe he "must decrease" so that unfettered
acceptance of Jesus' doctrine would "increase" (John 3:30-
31)?

In the Deuteronomy passage which Peter quotes in Acts 3:22,

God tells Moses that "every word" of a special prophet
called "the Prophet" will be from Jehovah, and God will
hold every man "to account" who does not follow what "the
Prophet says." (Deut. 18:18-19.)

God never says this about anyone else other than the
Prophet. Not everything any other prophet ever spoke was
always from Jehovah. Only the words a prophet quoted
Jehovah as saying were from Jehovah. Casual talk and
explanations recorded in the Bible even though uttered by a
prophet are not words from Jehovah.

Moses had no constant inspiration in everything he said or

did. Sometimes his acts were sinful as when he struck a
rock inconsistent with what God told him to do, Moses was
told to speak to the rock.

An example of the lack of constant inspiration is the one

time Moses was confronted with a difficult legal case to
decide, and he concluded he was unable on his own to
resolve it. So he "went" to Jehovah with the issue.
(Numbers 27:3) This is in accord with Deut. 1:17 "The case
that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will
hear it" (Deuteronomy 1:17).

Jesus, however, would not have had the same difficulty or

limitation, as we shall see.

There was something distinctly different, unique and

superior about The Prophet Jesus to come where every word
he spoke somehow was from God Jehovah Himself. We know now
how this happened, for as Jesus says "the father dwells in
me" -- John 14:10 -- an event never true of any other
prophet who always, other than Moses, God communicated with
by visions. In those cases, the Holy Spirit spoke to the
prophet by visions. Sometimes by dreams and riddles put
forth by an Angel from Jehovah.

Thus, The Prophet has an even superior standing to Moses,

as Moses heard intermittently from Jehovah. Even when Moses
in Deuteronomy 18:18-19 announces the words from Jehovah
about The Prophet, Moses introduced the quote by his own
explanation of the words from Jehovah to follow. See Deut
18:15-16.

Moses necessarily implied his own explanation is NOT what

Jehovah said, but Moses' own interpretation of what it
meant. Other than that comment, Moses quotes Jehovah
promising that a unique prophet is yet to come -- whom we
now know as Jesus the Messiah -- whose every word is God
speaking through Him, and thus we are held to account to
The Prophet who is above all prophets.

Thus below, I will establish that those who says Jesus'

words are not more important than any other passage in the
entire Bible -- is not only an ill-informed opinion, but is
soundly rejected by God in Numbers 12:1-14. God explains in
that passage that not even all prophets speaking in Holy
Scripture when quoting God are speaking with equal
authority and clarity. It may be all equally inspired in a
general sense when quoting God, but their words do not all
have the same priority of emphasis and clarity as to Moses'
revelation from God. Our God explains this in Numbers 12:1-
14 and Deuteronomy 18:18-19, as more fully discussed below.

And Jesus also explained that the "apostle is not more

important than his master." John 13:16. Thus, Jesus
explained His words have a priority over any words from an
apostle, particularly one whom Second Peter says speaks
with "words difficult to be understand." Those words in
Second Peter directly relate to God's rebuke of Miriam in
Numbers 12:1-14. In that passage, Jehovah says all prophets
(except THE Prophet) are inferior to Moses because God
speaks less clearly to general prophets -- via visions --
and thus in a way more difficult to be understood than God
speaks to Moses or THE Prophet to come. To repeat, the
latter, THE Prophet Jesus, speaks verbatim God's words by
some unexplained direct and obviously much clearer means.

Besides these principles of priority. we will prove below

that some people make a categorical error in the above
quote. They describe non-prophets as on par with Jesus, THE
Prophet. That certainly endangers taking Jesus' words as
seriously as intended by God.

For example, Jude is no prophet; he was simply a bishop of

Jerusalem. The third Bishop of Jerusalem, to be precise.

Paul is also not a prophet. The best that any one has
claimed for Paul is that he is an apostle of Jesus. While
there are not two witnesses to establish that as true, even
so, Jesus said the apostles were only inspired to remember
Jesus' words which he spoke to them. (John 14:26.) However,
Paul in his epistles never clearly quotes Jesus except from
Luke's Gospel -- the communion liturgy.

Otherwise, the only other possible exception in Paul's

epistles is 2 Corinthians 12:7. However, it is so
problematical that even Paul aficionados reject these were
possibly the words of our Lord Jesus. There Paul says the
"Lord" (Jesus? Paul does not say) refused Paul's repeated
prayers to be free from the "torment" of an "angel of
Satan.” The Lord of Paul supposedly refused to do so,
telling Paul that "my grace is sufficient for you."
Because this apparently has our Lord Jesus refuse to lift
a demonic influence over Paul, Pauline teachers insist that
there is something wrong in this text. It supposedly could
not be as Paul intended it. Regardless, this would be the
only words of Lord Jesus quoted in Paul's epistles other
than the two quotes of Jesus from Luke's Gospel. This is
hardly any track record to conclude that Paul was a prophet
of Jesus' words.

Hence Paul has no words in his epistles from Jesus which

are unique and depend upon Paul's recollection that can be
relied upon. In fact, Paul only a few times says the
"Lord" says something -- probably intended as an allusion
by Paul to OT scripture: 1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Tim. 2:11; 1 Cor.
2:13; 1 Thess.4:1-2,8; 1 Thess. 2:13; Eph. 4:17. cf. 1 Cor.
7:25, 40.

Instead, there are four tiers of inspired authority which

God demands we follow differently based upon which has
priority over the other. The primary passages establishing
this are Numbers 12:1-14 and Deuteronomy 18:18-19.

When we defy this order of priority, God says we are

disgraced in God's view. We have improperly inverted the
order of authority within those given revelations from God.
One is more clear than the other. For example in Numbers
12:1-14, God says Moses' words are more authoritative than
words of a mere prophet because God speaks more clearly to
Moses than He does to a mere prophet. God intends we
understand the more clear authority trumps the authority of
the less clear. The words of one prophet are not
necessarily of equal authority to the words of another
prophet.

How do we defy this order of priority? God says we do so

when we treat someone of lesser authority (such as an
ordinary prophet who has only a dream or vision, or a
prophet's messenger / apostle of God's word) as on par ---
of equal WEIGHT --- with a higher authority such as Moses
who spoke with God "mouth to mouth" or THE Prophet to come
who has the most intimate connection of all. God Jehovah
explains these principles in Numbers 12:1-14 and
Deuteronomy 18:17-18, as we will explore below.

These four tiers of authority are: (1) The Prophet

(Messiah); (2) next below Him is Moses; (3) next below
Moses are all other prophets because they merely have
visions in which God speaks to them; and (4) next below any
of the above are prophets only secondarily -- as a
"messenger" (apostle) of one who is in divine communication
with God, e.g., carrying the message of another who is in
divine contact with God -- such as either Aaron who was an
apostle to Moses or one of the 12 apostles to The Prophet
(Jesus).

We shall see what happens to Miriam because she speaks up

for her brother Aaron and herself as prophets too. "Has
Jehovah only just spoken through Moses?" (Numbers 12:2,
Friedman.) God then disgraces her for this audacity of
claiming equal divine communication as Moses, despite she
and Aaron did have some limited prophetic experiences.

To understand Numbers ch. 12, we need to know about the

prior prophetic role of Aaron and Miriam. Each has a valid
claim, but not as significant or substantial as Moses.

First, Aaron primarily acted as a messenger of God's word

between God and his brother Moses. Thus, Aaron was called
Moses' "prophet" in addressing the Pharoah. (Exodus
7:1 ("Aaron will be your prophet"). This event signified
that whatever words Moses heard from the Lord Jehovah were
then spoken through Aaron to Pharoah.

Aaron also performed signs before the people. (Exodus 4:15-

16.) God commanded Moses once to tell Aaron to stretch out
his wooden rod in order to bring on the first of the three
plagues. (Exodus 7:19, Jehovah told Moses "tell Aaron...");
8:1, 12.)

With one exception that we know of, Aaron never received a

direct prophecy that went only to Aaron. Instead, it is
said fifteen times in the Pentateuch that "the Lord spoke
to Moses and Aaron" -- obviously in a messenger role first
exemplified in Exodus 7:1. The exception is in Exodus 4:27
"Jehovah said to Aaron, 'Go to meet Moses in the
wilderness.'" This was a rather insignificant prophecy
directly with Aaron.

As a result, Aaron was an inferior "prophet" to Moses. This

was understood in early Judaism although in the later post-
exile period Rabbinical Judaism elevated Aaron's status to
an equality with Moses. But in the Bible itself, we learn:
Thus Aaron, the first priest, ranks below Moses: he is
his mouthpiece, and the executor of the will of God
revealed through Moses, although it is pointed out that it
is said fifteen times in the Pentateuch that "the Lord
spoke to Moses and Aaron."

Thus, in Aaron's primary role, it was inferior to Moses.

God would directly speak a prophetic message to Moses which
Aaron would likely hear second-hand from Moses. (Or perhaps
sometimes heard simultaneously. We cannot rule out that
possibility.) Then Aaron would repeat that message to
another. In that Messenger role, Aaron was clearly inferior
to his master (Moses). In Greek, the word "messenger" is
"apostolos" - rendered Apostle in English. On this topic,
Jesus explained that the "apostolos is not more important
than the one who sent him." (John 13:16.)
Otherwise, as noted above, the only direct prophetic
communication to Aaron recorded is in Exodus 4:27. But it
was quite inconsequential: "Jehovah told Aaron, 'Go to see
Moses in the wilderness....'"

As to Miriam, we read in Exodus 15:20: "Then Miriam the

prophet, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and
all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing."

Thus, both Aaron and Miriam had valid claims to be prophets

of God. However, Aaron was more the messenger (apostle) of
Moses -- repeating what Moses heard from Jehovah. It is
unclear what prophetic messages Miriam received, but we
know they took place. Thus, both Aaron and Miriam were
within their right to both claim to be prophets of God.

These four types of prophetic experiences are a tiered

hierarchy where the words given by one are more important
than the rest, the second than the third, etc.

As discussed below, in Numbers ch. 12 God explains the

second and third tiers of authority, indicating Moses is
greater than ordinary prophets who God only speaks to in
riddles (enigmas) or in visions or in dreams. However, with
Moses, God spoke face-to-face ("mouth to mouth"), and
explains He does not speak in riddles, speaks clearly to
Moses, and Moses sees the form of Jehovah.

As Friedman explains in Commentary on the Torah (Harper

2001) at pages 467-468 -- a great Jewish resource for
Christians:
In a vision, in a dream. All prophetic experiences in the
Tanak [the Law, Prophets & Writings of the Hebrew Bible]
are understood to be all through visions and dreams --
except Moses'. The fifteen books of the Hebrew Bible that
are named for prophets either identify the prophet's
experiences as visions or else leave the form of the
experiences undescribed (Ezek 12:27, 40:2; Hos. 12:11; Hab.
2:2; Mic. 3:6). Many begin by identifying the book's
contents as the prophet's vision: "The vision of Isaiah"
(Isa 1:1; cf. 2 Chr. 32:32); "The vision of Obadaiah" (Oba
1); "The book of the vision of Nahum" (Nah 1:1); "The words
of Amos...which he envisioned" (Amos 1:1); "The word of
YHVH that came to Micah...which he envisioned" (Mic 1:1);
"The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet envisioned." (Hab
1:1).

Hence, Moses' priority exists from the CLARITY of

expression God uses with Moses, unlike the way God speaks
less clearly and more enigmatically to the ordinary
prophet.

Then the priority of The Prophet over Moses is explained in

Deuteronomy 18. There God Jehovah explains there is The
Prophet who is to come. He is even greater than Moses
because "every word" The Prophet speaks is from God. This
is a higher connection than even Moses had whereby Moses
intermittently heard messages directly from the Lord. Not
everything Moses said reflected God's word unlike The
Prophet to come whose every word would be from God.

How did this constant direct inspiration operate with

Jesus?

Jesus explained how it worked: the "Father dwells in me"

(John 14:10). Every word or act Jesus did was because He
saw and heard first the Father doing it. (John 5:19).

In conformance with the priority of Jesus over the classic

prophet, we learn John the Baptist -- the "greatest
prophet" -- stops his ministry once he sees Jesus is on
the scene. "I must decrease so he may increase."
(John 3:30-31.) John, the greatest prophet, knew Jesus had
the priority over a mere prophet, even the "greatest
prophet." For God spoke from heaven at John's baptism to
Jesus: "this day I have begotten thee." (See link.) John
realized the Logos had become flesh.

In addition, Jesus in the NT says He is the "sole teacher"

(Matt. 23:6-11, NASB) and "sole pastor" (John 10:16.) and
otherwise, there is no hierarchy to exist in the church
among equal brethren. (Matt. 20:25-26.) This preserved His
role as the superior within the church -- even greater than
"apostles" (messengers) -- because all members were equal.
So the Jesus' Words Are Supreme principle teaches the New
Testament is solely subject to one voice, one set of
commands -- those of Jesus. Yet, when Jesus reaffirms the
Law given Moses continues (Matt 5:17-19), that means those
commands continue based upon the authority of Jesus despite
a "New Testament." The new does not remove or replace the
old. They are revitalized and re-interpreted with the
greatest clarity by Jesus, and what the Law prophesied by
types and shadows, Jesus was their fulfillment, thus we
keep the fulfillment rather than the OT type and shadow
(Sabbath Day and all other Sabbaths contained in the seven
Holy Feasts of Jehovah was, is, and shall be fulfilled by
the person of Jesus, not in us literally keeping all the
Holy Sabbaths as the Israelites did under the Law. Romans
10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth.).

Nevertheless, Jesus has superiority over all the

predecessors due to the intimate connection which even
Moses did not have: the abiding presence of the Father
within Himself. (John 14:10.) Jesus would then be a
recipient of even a more clear communication from the
Father than even Moses received.

Miriam and Aaron were upset that Moses took a Cushite wife.
They claimed they too spoke for God, or that God had
communicated with them. So therefore Moses should not be
the sole point of authority among the Israelites. To this,
God reproved them. Here is the entire series of related
verses:
Ch. 12 1. Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses
because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a
Cushite. 2 “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they
asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And
the Lord heard this.

3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone
else on the face of the earth.)
4 At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come
out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three
of them went out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of
cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned
Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped
forward, 6 he said, “Listen to my words:
“When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?”
9 The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left
them.
10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin
was leprous[a]—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned
toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin
disease, 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask
you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly
committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant
coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten
away.”
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!”
14 The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in
her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven
days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after
that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined
outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not
move on till she was brought back. (Numbers 12:1-14 NIV.)

God essentially equates Miriam's act of rebellion as

justifying God disgracing her by leprosy -- the equivalent
of "spitting" in her face.

What was Miriam's contention against Moses about?

Miriam was claiming with Aaron that since God used Aaron
and her as prophets, they had an equal authority as
prophets from God.
But God explains in Numbers 12 that Aaron or Miriam --
although prophets -- they still rank below Moses. God
reproves Miriam for attacking the priority of Moses over
them. The difference God said between the way He speaks to
a mere prophet (like them) versus the way He speaks to
Moses is:
• God speaks clearly and without riddles ("enigmas") to
Moses.
• God does not speak clearly or without riddles to ordinary
prophets.

Proof of the latter is that John the Baptist, the greatest

prophet, was never told by God Jehovah that Jesus was
Messiah. (Matt 11:2.) John met Jesus at the baptism, saw
the sign from heaven, and heard the voice of Jehovah, but
even then nothing was said that Jesus was Messiah. The
voice said "this is my beloved son," etc. So John was in
the dark -- no doubt hearing riddles and unclear messages.
Yet, Jesus calls John the "greatest prophet." Obviously,
that did not put John on a higher plane than Moses or
Jesus. Those two were on a higher plane. John never
prophetically knew Jesus was Messiah, and thus had to ask
Jesus through his disciples visiting Jesus to inquire.
(Matt. 11:2.)

And Jesus was on the highest plane of all, as Deuteronomy

18 will demonstrate.

When people saw Jesus feed the 5000, they thought this
meant Jesus was "THE Prophet." John 6:14-15. After the
Ascension, Peter in Acts 3:22-23 and Stephen in Acts 7:37
says Jesus is indeed "The Prophet" spoken about in
Deuteronomy 18. There Moses first tells Israelites about
"The Prophet." After his preface, Moses then quotes God
Jehovah directly on what He said about "The Prophet" in the
following passage:
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like
me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must
listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord
your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said,
“Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this
great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will
raise up for them a prophet like you from among their
fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He
will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will
call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that
the prophet speaks in my name. (Deut. 18:18-19 NIV.)

Note at Jesus' transfiguration, a voice of the same Jehovah

speaks from heaven and says of Jesus "listen to Him." (Mark
9:7; Matt 17:5, transfiguration.)

These words -- "listen to Him" -- repeat what Moses said

about The Prophet in Deuteronomy 18.

Note too that Moses is not shy to tell you this Prophet is
above himself in intimacy to Jehovah. The Prophet will be a
fellow-Israelite. But then something different is true. God
is no longer speaking face-to-face to this one like Jehovah
does with Moses, or by visions with ordinary prophets:
and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them
everything I command him.19 I myself will call to
account anyone who does not listen to my words that the
prophet speaks in my name. (Deut 18:18-19 NIV.)

Moses explains why God is working this way through this One
to come:
16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb
on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear
the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire
anymore, or we will die.” (Deut 18:16.)
Hence, God was going to work directly through a MAN like
Moses who would not frighten people, as when God was
talking from within a fire. This Man would be just as if
God was speaking to them with "the voice of the Lord," but
now instead of a fire with a scary voice, it would be a
voice coming from a "fellow Israelite," a Man who would not
frighten them. For previously, the people were so alarmed
hearing God's voice, they begged Moses as follows: "Then
they said to Moses, Speak to us yourself and we will
listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die."
(Exodus 20:19 NASB.)

It is clearly implied in Deuteronomy 18:16 that this One is

not an ordinary prophet who has a vision, or even hears
"mouth to mouth" like Moses did. Instead, this prophet was
different. God says "I will put my words in his
mouth." Because this obviously produces a greater clarity
and directness than even Moses enjoyed, God says "I myself
will call to account anyone who does not listen to my
words that the prophet speaks in my name." The words of
that prophet will judge every man.

God never implies in this context that any ordinary prophet

will have this role, because again in Numbers 12 God
already told us that an ordinary prophet does not hear as
clearly or as directly as did Moses. But here, "the"
prophet depicted in Deuteronomy 18 enjoys a special status
of somehow being the "voice of the Lord" talking as
directly through himself as God spoke from the fire on
Mount Sinai.

Jesus explained how this worked.

First, John 1:1,14 tells us the "Word [was] made flesh."

But Jesus tells us in John 14:24 that the "Words you hear
is not mine, but the Father's who sent me." In the same
context, Jesus tells us in John 14:10, the
"Father ...dwells in me."

Jesus said that He was simply doing (and saying) what He

saw (and heard) the Father doing (and saying):
"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself;
he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because
whatever the Father does the Son also does." (John 5:19
NIV.)

As Jesus elsewhere said: "For I did not speak on my own,

but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I
have spoken." (John 12:49 NIV.)