I don't pit them against the Gospels; it is you guys that do. Do you remember we Catholics being soundly instructed that Jesus was only to the Jews; it is Paul that was the instructor of the Gentiles. Perhaps you might think back to your own participation in those couple of threads. All of Scripture is inspired and useful, certainly. However, all Christians truly believe that the Incarnation by Almighty God is the Ultimate Revelation. All the other books are lesser if only by the fact that they are the words of men, not the words of God.
What do you do with Paul's assertions that Jesus revealed mysteries to him?
Accept them in the light of the Gospels. The Gospels are the prism by which we need to view all Scripture. I have been lectured by your compatriots that we need to view the Gospels through Paul. Perhaps you might remember those exchanges.
What about Peter's own assertion of divinely revealed truths that Jesus did NOT teach while he was here on the Earth?
I accept them but view them through the Gospel message as well.
I could go on and on. There are 23 other books in the New Testament that continue to tell about God's further revelation to man. It is a shallow faith to insist Jesus said all he needed to during his three year ministry here on earth. Don't shortchange yourself or anyone else. Those books were written so that we can know the whole story and each one builds upon the last. You ignore that truth at your own peril. Nobody has ever said that what Jesus said and did as told in the gospels is not important or relevant to us and nobody has ever said we can discard those first books. They certainly should be read in the context of further revelation just as the Jews did with the prophetic books after the Torah. The ENTIRE Bible is the pinnacle of God's revelation to mankind.
And you say that Catholicism diminishes Christ. If you do not admit that Christ is the greatest good that every happened to man - even greater than Paul, then I do not think that you can be counted amongst the Christians. The Jews did not look at the OT through the prism of the Gospels and therefore, they are left with the same understanding that they had before Christ came to Earth. But when I post Gospel passages and you guys post snippets of Paul in an effort to refute the Gospel message, then you guys have stepped off the track of Christianity and into the pagan self beliefs that plague the children of the Reformation.
I believe people miss important truths when they fail to understand context, audience, purpose and place for the different truths revealed in Scripture. Jesus said repeatedly that he "came for lost sheep of the house of Israel" and Peter admitted he was the Apostle to the Circumcision and Paul to the Gentiles. That's just Scripture, Mark, not interpretation. Just as we know from Jesus' own words that the laws of the OT are not for the church in the age of grace, we can also know the truth behind other teachings. The Incarnation was the WORD made flesh and the word of God, Holy Scripture, is his further revelation to man. It would be a grave mistake to presume God only wants us to know what Jesus was recorded as saying while here on earth for three years and omit what he continued to reveal after he ascended through the Holy Spirit. You CANNOT interpret new revelation by the old, but it is the new that fulfills the old and continues it. To insist that the other books are "lesser if only by the fact that they are the words of men, not the words of God", is to also commit a grave error. ALL Scripture is God-breathed EVEN the words of Jesus that the Holy Spirit ensured we would know about by bringing back to remembrance all that he taught them. Remember, there was NO tape recorder back then. We only know what Jesus said because the Holy Spirit directed those men to write what he inspired them to. Nowhere in Scripture are we ever told any one book is more important than the other. You cannot "accept" the teachings of the epistles in light of the Gospels just as the Jews could not interpret the Prophets by the Pentateuch. It was continuing revelation just as the epistles continued further than the Gospels. Yet they did not ever contradict each other nor could they because they all come from the same source - God.
The Jews did not look at the OT through the prism of the Gospels and therefore, they are left with the same understanding that they had before Christ came to Earth. But when I post Gospel passages and you guys post snippets of Paul in an effort to refute the Gospel message, then you guys have stepped off the track of Christianity and into the pagan self beliefs that plague the children of the Reformation.
Yes, the Jews rejected Jesus as their promised Messiah and they are "set aside" during the church age of grace. They HAVE missed out of the greatest fulfillment of God's promise, but he is not done with them yet. When you complain that we "post snippets of Paul in an effort to refute the Gospel message", that is not true and only reflects your false view of Scripture. The epistles are FURTHER revelation, they continue and go past the teaching of Jesus while he was here with his continuing revelation. Jesus didn't stop teaching when he arose, it is he who revealed the mysteries to Peter and Paul which they wrote down for us all.
The Old Testament was fulfilled by the New Testament. Just as you can't interpret the Gospels by the Torah, you can't interpret the epistles by the Gospels. One follows the other and reveals more truth. Just as I posted earlier, you cannot find Jesus even talking about many of those things contained in the epistles because they were a continuous revelation. But no matter what Jesus said while still here, nothing is contradicted with his further revelation. This way of seeing Scripture is certainly not a new concept from the Reformation. The Apostles certainly, as the founders of the church and shapers of what are the central tenets of the Christian faith, knew that what Jesus continued to teach them through the Holy Spirit was the truth. It is definitely NOT a pagan idea since it is holding to the divine authority of the infallible word of God. Those who diverge from Holy Scripture and seek to establish an authority that places itself above the Scriptures is what leads to false doctrine.
But, you can go ahead and try to make everything fit within the four accounts of the life of Jesus and his limited time teaching the multitudes. You will find yourself at a disadvantage explaining quite a bit and you will miss out on the truths intended for us all to know. Some things may not even make much sense, and may quite easily lead to error. Taken as a whole, the Bible is our source of all truth - just as God intended it to be. It is the Sword of the Spirit and, like Jesus did, is the offensive weapon in our armory that defeats the lies of Satan.