The teachings of Jesus concerning the
authority of His word and how it would be delivered to man:
John 12:47-50... "If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep
them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the
world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My savings, has one who judges
him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not
speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a
commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is
eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told
Me."
John 14:25-26... Jesus said to His "apostles" who walked and talked
with Him, and who witnessed His life and ministry, "These things I have spoken
to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all that I said to you."
John 15:26-27... Jesus again said to His "apostles" who were with Him
throughout His ministry, "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from
the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will
testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with
Me from the beginning." (Note that these particular promises were made only to
those who were with Jesus in the 1st century, and who had been with Him "from
the beginning.")
John 16:12-15... Again, Jesus speaks only to His chosen "apostles" who
walked with Him and talked with Him during His ministry in the 1st century. To
them He says, "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. He will glorify Me,
for He will take of mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the
Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of mine, and will disclose
it to you."
From these passages of scripture we learn that Jesus promised to send the
"Spirit of truth," that is the Holy Spirit, to His "apostles" who were with Him
in the 1st century. The Holy Spirit would "inspire" (miraculously disclose,
guide, direct) the apostles so that they would know "all the truth" and
remember all that Jesus did and said. The apostles recorded that information and
it has been preserved down through the ages for us in the pages of our New
Testament.