Westside church of Christ - Irving, Texas

Bible Authority

by Rusty Miller

When they were very young, my niece and nephew used to play, and my nephew would always make my niece take the subordinate role. She would say, ""Let's play like we're dogs,"" and he would say, ""I'll be the big dog, and you be the puppy."" Or she would say, ""Let's play house,"" and he would say, ""I'll be the Daddy, and you be the baby."" Finally, one day my niece said, ""Let's play church,"" and my nephew said, ""Okay, you can be the preacher."" Her eyes lit up. Finally, she was going to play the lead role, and she said, ""Okay!"" And then my nephew said, ""And I'll be God!""

The point is, kids know who's in charge. They know that God has authority. We strive to be just Christians, but how do we really know what God wants us to do? In the denominational world, there are many different answers. Indeed, even among our brethren, there are those who cannot tell you why we do what we do. Any look at authority must begin with some false standards for determining authority.

Sometimes, when you ask people, ""Why do you do things this way?"", the answer you get is, ""That's the way we've always done it."" That is authority for absolutely nothing. What if the way we've always done it is wrong? We want to do something because it harmonizes with God's word, not because years of tradition have ingrained it in our minds. If ""that's the way we've always done it"" is our answer, even for something that is right, we've gotten it wrong. If we are to be the people of God, it will be because we follow His will for us, not because we have always, back five or six generations, been the people of God. That was exactly the problem the Pharisees had (see Matt. 15:1-9).

A further error in establishing authority is the idea that because the people are behind a thing, that makes it all right. Recently, several churches have either changed their position, or reaffirmed their position about homosexuality. And they've made those decisions by voting. Nowhere will you find basis for this in scripture. And the reason some of those churches have changed, is because their members have changed their minds, and I'm no prophet, but as soon as it becomes even more accepted, the churches which voted to keep standing against it, will change as well. The Hebrew writer said, ""Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever"" (Heb. 13:8).

Unfortunately, a third faulty method of authority is to accept something just because our favorite preacher said so. Or because the elders of the church said so. This is against God's will (Gal. 1:8). Even right things should not be determined in this way. It is laziness, and it is not what God intended for His people (Acts 17:11).

How then, do we establish Bible authority? What do we do to determine what is truly God's will? There are three ways in which God has communicated to us what He would have us do. Because men stray further and further from the truth, it is important to go over them again.

Direct Command. The first is the direct command, and it is the most easily understood method of determining authority. However, that doesn't mean everyone gets it. Here are some examples.

Approved Examples. A second method of determining authority is through the use of approved, or apostolic, examples. By this, we simply mean those things which the early church participated in which were approved by the apostles.

Acts 11:27-30. As the church in Antioch heard of the famine which would hit Jerusalem so hard, they determined to send relief. How did they know they could do that? They had an apostle there, and Paul, or Saul as he is called here, allowed this to happen. Thus, he approved it, and being an inspired man of God, he sanctioned its authority.

Necessary (Forced) Conclusion. The final method for determining God's will is when we read the scriptures and are forced to conclude something. In other words, that is the only conclusion which can be drawn.

Perhaps a singular idea will help tie this all together. Christians are commanded to partake of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11:23-26). But when? The Christians at Troas came together on the first day of the week to partake of the Supper (Read Acts 20:7). In fact, verse 6 says that Paul and his companions stayed in Troas an entire week so that they could meet with these Christians. Thus, Paul's presence gives first day of the week observance apostolic approval. But how often did they do this? The combination of Acts 20:7's first day with Jesus command ""as often"" gives us a clue. When coupled with the Old Testament command to ""Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy"" (Ex. 20:10), and the fact that Jews kept every Sabbath, can there be any doubt that early Christians kept this remembrance every first day of the week? And so, because of command, example and conclusion, we partake of the Lord's Supper every Sunday.

But there is another element to Bible authority, and it is just as important as commands, examples and forced conclusions. It is God's silence. What do we do when God mentions nothing concerning a certain practice? Does the Bible say anything about God's silence?

Nadab and Abihu did something which God had not authorized (Lev. 10:1-2). Surely that was okay; after all, they were priests, among the leaders of the Israelites. And God didn't say, ""Don't offer Me any fire except what I've commanded."" But it wasn't okay, and when they strayed from God's command, when they did what was right in their own eyes, God for it. And if there is any doubt what this means, Moses says, ""It is what the Lord spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored'"" (v. 3). Moses understood that to disregard the silence of God was to dishonor Him.

The Hebrew writer even makes an argument from the silence of the scriptures. In explaining that Jesus is now our High Priest, he shows that this required a change in the law (Heb. 7:14). The point is that a member of the tribe of Judah could not serve as a priest, unless the law was changed. The silence of God concerning priests from Judah prevented it. Thus, to dishonor God by disregarding His silence is as wrong as breaking one of His commands.

A final question to be answered then is, ""Why is all this important?"" Is it really so terrible if we don't have authority for everything we do? It is terrible. Here is why it is important.

James said, ""Draw near to God and He will draw near to you"" (Jas. 4:8), but when we act without God's authority, we drift away from God. Proverbs 14:12 says, ""There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."" We simply cannot claim to be the people of God while devising our own plan for serving Him.

Much of the religious world pays great lip service to wanting to do God's will. And many times, they claim that what they are doing actually is God's will. I'm reminded of a story Robert Turner tells about a man who sees a little boy outside his house and asks him, ""Where's your dad?"" The little boy says, ""My dad's a preacher, and he just got an offer to go to a big new church for a lot more money, so he's in the house praying to see if it's God's will."" ""Where's your mother?"" the man asks. ""She's in the house packing.""

The point is, sometimes we determine that our wishes must be God's will, but the only true way to do God's will, to be His people, is to determine what He has authorized. If we don't have authority to do something, we ought not to do it.