{"id":59644,"date":"2023-03-01T11:05:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T17:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=59644"},"modified":"2023-03-01T11:06:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T17:06:14","slug":"the-black-type-in-the-red-letter-edition-of-the-new-testament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-black-type-in-the-red-letter-edition-of-the-new-testament\/","title":{"rendered":"The Black Type in the Red-Letter Edition of the New Testament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Garry Smalley<\/p>\n

\"\"Of course, it is extremely disturbing to read or hear destructive criticisms toward the Holy Bible as unbelievers state disparaging comments regarding the reliability of the God-breathed writings (II Timothy 3:16; cf. II Peter 1:16-21; I Corinthians 2:12-13). But even among Christians, there are some who seek to diminish the authority of the apostles of Christ and other inspired New Testament writers. They say things to indicate that the words spoken directly by Christ (highlighted by the introduction of the Red Letter Edition of the Bible in 1899) are more authoritative and more important than words written by Paul, Peter, or John.<\/p>\n

Christians and other Bible students must remember the words of the Lord Jesus that speak directly to this issue. This is what Jesus said to His specially chosen apostles: “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16:12). [These words are in red!] In the Lord’s wisdom, He did not disclose the sum total of all truth that His Father would impart to the world prior to His leaving (His ascension). The Master Teacher imparts truths to His disciples only as they are able to receive them. This He had done during His personal ministry (for example the forecast of His crucifixion) with the promise that such would continue, following His departure, through the heavenly agent, the Holy Spirit. Additional revelations would be given to them as they were prepared to receive them and go deeper and deeper into divine knowledge. Heaven’s plan for the church that Jesus would build in the days ahead would need additional details in order to be established and function according to God’s eternal plan (cf. Ephesians 3:8-12). The Holy Spirit sent from God would supply what was needed when it was needed (cf. Luke 12:11-12).<\/p>\n

Our Lord was not foolish in thinking that people would not devise schemes to discredit and reject parts of His doctrine. Men who love evil love the darkness rather than the Light; they hate the Light because it exposes their evil deeds (John 3:19-20). Adding to or taking from the doctrine of Christ is evil. The motives for altering the truth are evil. The wrath of God will fall upon one who perverts the truth (See II John 9-11; cf. II Thessalonians 1:3- 12; Revelation 22:18-19). The truths taught by the apostles of Christ cannot be rejected without rejecting Christ and His Father! This principle was taught by Jesus when He sent the seventy out to preach (Luke 10:16), again in red letters.<\/p>\n

The apostle Paul was a man of integrity; he would not deceive people. Note carefully what he wrote by inspiration: “If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment. But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized<\/em>” (I Corinthians 14:37-38). Note carefully what he declared to the Thessalonian Christians: “For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 4:2). After giving further instructions, he said, “So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 4:8). Further, note that the apostle John powerfully emphasized this truth: “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error<\/em>” (I John 4:6). One is in error when he rejects what the apostles and inspired writers wrote in the New Testament.<\/p>\n

These brave writers were ambassadors of Christ (II Corinthians 5:20), and as such, they were entrusted with the “utterances of God<\/em>” (I Peter 4:11). These they wrote and spoke, Jesus being with them and the Holy Spirit’s words delivered to them according to the Lord’s promise (Matthew 28:20; John 14:25-26; 16:7-15). The Lord Jesus is certainly a promise keeper! And the gift of the Holy Spirit prevented them from forgetting what they had been taught or adding things from their own fallible judgments.<\/p>\n

Friend, we cannot reject any words in the New Testament without rejecting the teaching of Christ Himself. We cannot reject the ambassadors of Christ, those specially chosen by Him for His divine purpose, without rejecting Christ! We best not tamper with God’s divine truth!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Garry Smalley Of course, it is extremely disturbing to read or hear destructive criticisms toward the Holy Bible as unbelievers state disparaging comments regarding the reliability of the God-breathed writings (II Timothy 3:16; cf. II Peter 1:16-21; I Corinthians 2:12-13). But even among Christians, there are some who seek to diminish the authority of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[170,78],"class_list":["post-59644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apostles","tag-authority"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94615,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/red-letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":59644,"position":0},"title":"Red Letters","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by John Guzzetta I'm sure you've noticed that in many editions of the Bible, maybe even the one you are holding, the editors have printed the words of Jesus Christ in red ink. The first red-letter edition was conceived and printed by Louis Klopsch in 1899, first titled (in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Red-Letter-Bible-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":53437,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-words-in-red\/","url_meta":{"origin":59644,"position":1},"title":"The Words in Red","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wayne Benton Some have the impression that if we believe the words in red (in red letter editions of the Bible) are more sacred and binding than the other words delivered by the other apostles of Jesus. This reasoning is terribly wrong. First, Matthew wrote over a decade\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Red-Letter-Bible-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88185,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-apostles-and-the-will-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":59644,"position":2},"title":"The Apostles and the Will of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jon W. Quinn Somebody once came up with a good idea that has proven helpful to me. Someone decided to print a series of Bibles that would use red ink to record the words of Jesus. Since that time, many others have followed, and now it is common. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63437,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-scriptures-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":59644,"position":3},"title":"The Scriptures Alone?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Peter 1 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A fellow preacher received a question and he asked me what I thought about it. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhere in the Bible does it tell us that the Bible is the only or ultimate source of authority? I cannot find it anywhere! II Timothy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28097,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-authority-of-the-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":59644,"position":4},"title":"The Authority of the Apostles (Johnson)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Johnson Many acknowledge the authority of God and Christ but do not accept or understand the authority of the Apostles. Some people today say we only need the words of Jesus to guide us. Some who take this position place a great deal of emphasis on the red-letter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32557,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-are-not-a-religious-non-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":59644,"position":5},"title":"We Are Not a Religious Non-Denomination","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Campbell Sentry Magazine, September 2001 \"Denominationalism\" denotes a group of people devoted to a specific religious belief system who assemble under the name of a person, or concept, as their focus within a formal organizational environment governed by those of prominence that hold to that belief system. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}