Bible Authority

Lesson 2: Mistaken sources of Authority

“By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” (Matthew 21:23)

Jesus didn’t ignore the above question, and neither did He downplay the importance of having the proper source of authority for His teachings and actions. In answering their question (21:24-27), Jesus admitted and endorsed the following: 1. The question is proper. 2. Only two possible sources of permission, authority, authorization, or right exist. Either a teaching or practice came from God (is found in Scripture) or man invented it. 3. Beliefs and practices in the religious realm that originate from men are false. The elders knew if they claimed that the source of John’s baptism was purely human, and then they would be saying that John wasn’t an inspired man, but that he was a false prophet (21:26). 4. Rejecting teachings and practices that originate from heaven is a manifestation of unbelief (21:25).

Who Are We Going To Believe?

From the Garden of Eden onward the great choice for man is “To whom will we give our attention and obedience?” Instead of listening to God, Adam and Eve decided to listen to Satan instead (Genesis 3:1-6). Various voices are calling for our attention and loyalty. Will we listen to them or God? The following is a list of various voices that man has always been tempted to place ahead of God’s voice in Scripture.

LONG ESTABLISHED TRADITIONS: (MATTHEW 15:2; MARK 7:3)

The problem with human tradition is that when added to the worship and service of God, usually it ends up replacing what God has said: “'Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8). Modern Application: The tradition of infant baptism violates the God-given conditions that must be met prior to baptism (Acts 2:38). Reserving baptisms for certain religious holidays violates the Scriptural teachings (Acts 8:35-38) that baptism was to take place as soon as a person was convicted. Many human traditions are simply worthless, “from the futile way of life inherited from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18). Note that nothing is wrong with doing something the same way every week, if that practice is commanded by God (Acts 20:7; 2:42; 1 Corinthians 16:2).

CREED BOOKS/RELIGIOUS LITERATURE:

Many of the traditions of the Jews had also been codified (Matthew 15:2). People need to remember that Creed Books are the uninspired words of men. A fundamental philosophy behind many Creed Books conflicts with the Bible, i.e. the Bible is too complicated and therefore needs to be broken down and explained to people. Paul believed that His letters were completely understandable (Ephesians 3:3-5).

MAJORITY RULE: MATTHEW 7:13-14; EXODUS 23:2

“Surely all those people can't be wrong” is a common justification for a belief or practice. Actually, this is the “standard of authority” that children and teenagers appeal to when they argue, “But everyone is doing it.” The Modern Application: Polls and voting do not settle right and wrong. The "Great Middle Section Of The Church" doesn't settle the matter either (Revelation chapters 2-3). Jesus is the Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22-23) and He doesn't hand over such Headship to a convention, assembly, or conference. Some seem to be under the impression that infallibility is found in numbers, i.e. a multitude of people limited in their understanding somehow equates to inspiration. Remember, the majority is lost, and therefore the opinion of the majority many times is the opinion of people in darkness (Matthew 7:13-14).

THE PRESENT VALUES OF SOCIETY: MATTHEW 7:13; ROMANS 12:2

Christians seem to forget that when the Bible condemns the "world" (1 John 2:15) it is condemning the present values of the society in which we live. Remember, the society surrounding us is lost in sin.

HIGHLY EDUCATED RELIGIOUS LEADERS:

The Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees who debated with Jesus (Matthew 22:29), were educated men and the scholars and religious professionals of the time. Paul pointed out that human wisdom had failed to find God (1 Corinthians 1:21), which was obvious in Athens (Acts 17:18-23). Hence human theories, studies, reports, and surveys do not establish spiritual truth. Gene Frost noted one of the inconsistencies apparent in the preaching of many modern educated religious leaders: “We find preachers who claim to preach the truth, but who will admit that one can be saved without believing their particular doctrine. Every profession that one faith is as good as another, or admission on the part of a preacher that he teaches matters not essential to salvation, is an admission that the truth is not taught and therefore every claim by such persons that the truth is taught is a contradiction” (Gospel Anchor August 1993 p. 223.) You see, according to Jesus, knowing the truth is essential to salvation (John 8:32). So when one claims that you don't have to follow what they are teaching to be saved--obviously, they aren't teaching the truth.

SECULAR HISTORY:

People often make the mistake of assuming that a belief or practice is authorized from the fact that professed believers following the days of the apostles participated in it. The problem with this is: 1. The bible predicts a falling away from the faith (2 Timothy 4:2-4) that would happen following the days of the apostles. 2. Many false concepts were embraced very quickly after the first century. In the late first century or early second century two concepts vital to the eventual development of Catholicism arose, i.e. one ruling bishop in a congregation and the false concept that such bishops were the successors of the apostles, including the authority of the apostles. One writer noted, “The practices of early post-apostolic Christians cannot serve as an absolutely trustworthy index to the doctrines and practices of the apostles. The only way to be sure what the apostles taught is to go to what the apostles taught: The New Testament” (Gospel Anchor. August 1989 pp. 180-181). The same writer noted that we need to be thankful that God hasn't linked our salvation with knowing all the facts about history. Universal access to all the events of history is outside the capabilities of most. But access to the Bible isn't. We need to be thankful that our salvation is dependant upon knowing the truth (Romans 1:16), and not knowing everything about secular history. The quotations from secular historians are not infallible.

FEELINGS/ INTUITION: PROVERBS 16:25; ISAIAH 55:8-9; 1 CORINTHIANS 2:11

A host of Biblical passages make the case that human feelings, conscience, instincts, and “gut-level intuition” are all completely unreliable to finding the truth (Romans 10:2; Proverbs 28:26; Genesis 37:33; Acts 23:1; 26:9). Maurice Barnett commented, “Others look for signs, or a "chastening" of God, to nudge us in the right way. I have seen people, in response to some accident or a strange happening, roll their eyes heavenward and say, "Someone is trying to tell me something." Yet, we are not guided, like Pavlov's dog, by a system of rewards and punishments, nor by Astrology, weather, nor rolling animal bones” (Gospel Anchor. June 1994 p. 188). Too many people think that if something bad is happening then that means God wants you to go in another direction. This is the argument idolaters made in the book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 44:18). If the hardships of life establish the truth, then the lesson to the Israelites would have been, “Return To Egypt!” (Numbers 11:5), and the lesson to Job, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). And on the other hand if prosperity equals rightness with God, then Jesus was wrong about the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-21), and the rich man in Luke 16:19ff.

The following false assumptions seem to lie behind the modern popularity with following feelings rather than Scripture: 1. God has built into every man or woman a guidance system (this would contradict Jeremiah 10:23). 2. God would never allow me to believe something that is false (which is a false concept, 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). 3. Truth will always initially feel good to my ears (Acts 2:37; 2 Timothy 4:3). 4. God will never demand of me something to believe or do that I don’t like.

THE RESULTS ACCOMPLISHED/GOOD INTENTIONS: 1 SAMUEL 15:22-23

THE FAITH OF THE INDIVIDUAL:

This is the popular idea that since one man's faith is not another's, no one else can pass judgment upon his faith. This is what people mean when they say, “This may not be truth for you, but it is truth for me.” One writer said, “One way of understanding the form is as legitimate as another. There is no criterion of validity...each encounter with the world ranks as a new creation”. 1. Paul didn't buy this argument (1 Corinthians 14:37; 2 Thessalonians 3:14), neither did John (2 John 9-10); and neither did Jesus (Matthew 7:23; John 14:15). 2. Even non-Christians don't practice the above. In the world, people are fired and imprisoned for saying or doing what they believe is truth for them.

COMMON SENSE:

At times people will say, “Just rely on your common sense when reading the Bible”. Now common sense is good, but it is fallible. Points to Note: 1. Since everybody has sinned (Romans 3:23), that implies that our "common sense" isn't the perfect approach to the study of the Scriptures. 2. Certain truths in the Bible have run headlong into what some people view as "common sense" (Matthew 6:33; 10:37; 19:9). 3. The very phrase itself ("common sense") makes it suspect. For it is the "sense" of the "common" or majority. But Jesus pointed out that the majority is on the wrong road (Matthew 7:13-14). Hence, in many instances, "common sense" happens to be the "sense" demonstrated by lost people. 4. Common sense has been used to justify many sins that the Bible most emphatically condemns (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Finally, remember, God’s way of looking at things can be completely different than what man might consider to be logical (Isaiah 55:8-9).

PROGRESSIVE REVELATION:

This is the idea that each new generation of Christians will find some "new truth" in the Bible. Or, that, certain verses will become "clearer" as time passes. The Discipling Movement and the Jehovah Witnesses both hold to this contention. Points to Note: 1. But Jesus promised "all truth" to the very first generation of Christians (John 14:26; 16:13). And the apostles claimed that Jesus kept His promise (2 Peter 1:3; Jude 3; Ephesians 3:3-4). 2. This method also appeals to human pride, because it implies that we who are living know more about God's truth, than all previous generations. It also "liberates" us from the views of past generations, i.e. we don't have to listen to them. 3. It overlooks the fact that the Apostles expected First Century Christians and all Christians to come to a full knowledge of the truth. The Greek work for "knowledge" in the following passages means a full and complete knowledge (1 Timothy 2:4 “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge (exact and full) of the truth”; Philippians 1:9).

GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT:

“An increasing number among our fellowship are convinced that our best hermeneutic is not any articulated method of interpretation, but the working of the Holy Spirit...Everywhere I go among the larger "Christian community", I hear people attributing their spiritual assurance to the leading of the Holy Spirit. As often as not, where the “Holy Spirit” is leading them is directly contrary to what the Holy Spirit guided holy men of old to write by way of Scripture. Even in the church today, I hear appeals to the leading of the Holy Spirit as justification for doing that which the Bible plainly forbids. If one wants to see just how far off the path of biblical practice one can get...one need only look at the Friends Church. The Quakers had their roots in what was known at the Radical Reformation, whose leaders affirmed that "the Living Spirit is the final authority, not the Bible". Proceeding from that fundamental assumption, the Quakers spiritualized away both baptism and the Lord's Supper, and still today practice neither..” (The Cultural Church pp. 186-187). Points to Note: 1. All truth was revealed by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; Jude 3). 2. The Holy Spirit never personally and audibly spoke to each individual Christian, even in the day and age of inspired men (Eph. 3:3-4). 3. Everything the Holy Spirit has to say to mankind, has been said! And it is recorded in the Scriptures. 4. The written Word was the final authority for First Century Christians (2 Thess. 3:1 4; 1 Corinthians 14:37).

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

“It is not enough to ask, "Is this activity consistent with the person of Jesus?" Or, "Will Jesus be seen in us by others watching what we do?" There are any number of concerns, especially about the work and worship of the church, which Jesus Himself (while upon the earth) never addressed...” (The Cultural Church p. 184-185). Unfortunately, some want to place all the emphasis on the gospels. But have we forgotten the very basic truth, that the writings after the gospels are also the words of Jesus (John 16:14; 1 Corinthian. 14:37; 2 Peter 3:2). That through the apostles Jesus has told us what He wants done? Secondly, there are things that Jesus did that we cannot do, because Jesus lived under the First Covenant and we live under the Second Covenant. Therefore, we don’t observe the Sabbath, Passover, offer animal sacrifices, or attend the Synagogue and so on.

PARENTS:

Parents should be respected, but they are not infallible sources of what is right and wrong. Paul would have never become a Christian if he placed the beliefs of his mother and father above the truth (Galatians 1:14). Jesus said there are times when we must make a choice between Him and loyalty to parents (Matthew 10:37). Even Abraham had to break from the sinful practices and wrong ideas of his forefathers (Joshua 24:15).

In the final analysis all of the above human standards of authority are appealed to because they allow men and women to find whatever authority they desire. For even the most outlandish beliefs or practices, you can find some human authority that would justify your participation.