#11 "Biblical Authority" Post #2

1. Right doctrine alone is insufficient.
It seems to me that the issue of biblical authority is much misunderstood. No one affirmed the authority of scripture more than Jesus, but he himself faced the need to correct the misuse of scripture.

“And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. ” (John 5:37–40, ESV)

Note the significance of what Jesus is saying here. These religious leaders have never heard God speak, don't have God's word abiding in them, and don't believe in the very Messiah scripture promises when he shows up among them. Why? Because they have made a fundamental error regarding the function of scripture.

There are two key phrase here.

* "...you think that in them you have eternal life..."

* "...it is they that bear witness about me, you you refuse to come to me..."

When we look to scripture rather than God himself as our source of life we are misusing scripture. Those who "search the scriptures" in a manner disconnected from God's presence and voice will, without fail, misuse scripture. Those who have doctrine without encounter, theology without experience, religion without relationship, will often resist the very Christ scripture points us toward.

Unfortunately, those who reject the authority of scripture often do so in reaction to those who misuse scripture in this way.

2. Humility in regards to interpretation is essential.

The second thing I want to speak to is the overly simplistic refrain commonly said by sincere believers concerning the Bible.

"God said it. I believe it. That settles it."

This kind of statement sounds good but some of the assumptions behind it are unhelpful and at times even dangerous. It's good, in that it hopefully displays an admirable trust in God and the reliability of God's word. It is naive, however, in that it also displays an over confidence in a person's own understanding. This view leaves out an important step that always exists between "God said it" and "I believe it." Interpretation.

While it is very admirable to affirm that what God says is true and authoritative, it is quite a big leap to assume that my interpretation is without error. I've come to believe more and more that my theology is not 100% correct. I just don't know which part is wrong or I would adjust accordingly. My own understanding is incomplete, growing, and very much in process. Things I used to believe whole heartedly based on my understanding of scripture at that time I now reject. The Bible hasn't changed, I have. The lenses I see through are forever being adjusted, sometimes due to the very scripture I see when I look through them.

3. Substantial unity exists with the church on primary doctrinal issues.

I'm a pastor on staff at a very large non-denominational charismatic congregation. One of the fascinating things about this experience for me has been the wide spectrum of belief on various issues within our own staff. There are some who believe you can lose your salvation. Others believe you can't. There are some who lean more in the direction of a reformed view of election, and others hold to a more weslyan / armenian view of things. Some of us think church ought to involve a revival/renewal atmosphere of spiritual encounter that could occasionally get pretty raucous. Others would prefer something a bit more cautious. All of us would appeal to scripture in support of our position. How are we able to work together in unity? Because our agenda isn't to "be right". Additionally, we are quite careful to concentrate upon those primary areas where we are in agreement. We all believe in the authority of scripture, though we don't always agree on interpretation and application. We all affirm some basic things we see in scripture that are primary: One God, the unique place of mankind within creation, the problem of sin, the incarnation of Christ, his crucifixion, resurrection, and pending return, to name a few biggies.

And here's the thing. On these primary issues, we stand in substantial agreement, not just with each other as a staff, but essentially in agreement with all Christendom through the centuries. I could stand with Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Wesley and Edwards to affirm these very things. All of us would appeal to the warrant of scriptural authority as the basis for our affirmation of these truths. All of us would appeal to the warrant of scriptural authority as the basis for labeling as heresy any teaching which were to journey outside of these polemic boundaries.

I realize that if I could sit down with the above group of men, we would all admit having significant distinctions in our approach to scripture. And yet somehow, even though we differ significantly in our approach, our conclusions on these essentials is quite amazingly uniform.

4. The Bible is exactly the book God intended for us to have.

It's not a math book. It lacks that kind of precision doesn't it? Bible difficulties are numerous. Books attempting to resolve Bible difficulties are plentiful as well. Some of this is helpful, but much of it simply seems an attempt to fit scripture into a mold it doesn't belong in. Genesis 1&2, clearly designed to tell us "who, what, and why" are, I think, misused when forced to provide answers to "when and how" for example. I know plenty of people that are convinced Gen 1&2 are about "when and how". I disagree with them. I love that!

The Bible leaves lots of room for mystery. I like that. It leaves lots of room for "I have no idea" answers to questions. It doesn't tidy everything up for us in neat little categories. You can't turn it into an excel spreadsheet. The Bible drives post-enlightenment westerners crazy. It doesn't whitewash everything and make everything look nice. It's a book where the man "after God's own heart" is shown to be an adulterer, murderer, and a fairly incompetent father, and somehow forever memorialized as Jesus is named "the son of David." Give 100 new believers a Bible and stick them individually alone in a room for a year and ask them to determine what the role of women in Church should be. The spectrum of answers you will get will be as varied as the current continuum of views on that subject within the church and all of them will appeal to the same scripture to defend their positions. Most of them will be unaware of the lens they viewed scripture through that actually shaped their conclusions. It's really quite wonderful I think. I'm ok with that. But all of that is secondary to the other thing that will happen.

They will learn that they matter. That God loves them. That their guilt and shame has been provided for fully by a savior who gave everything for their sake. They will learn that God wants to draw near to them, to talk to them, to empower them to make a significant contribution with their life, to heal them. They will likely determine that the call on their life is to serve others and to love their neighbor. They will learn that God is responsive, that he answers prayer. Then they will set off on the journey of trying to discover how to pray and what to do when he doesn't answer the way we want. They will learn that he is God and they are not. I hope they will learn those things. The option will always be there to learn something else. The tree of knowledge is always an option and death is always the result.

The Bible serves perfectly as exactly the right book for those looking to eat from the tree of life. Those more comfortable in the tree of knowledge about good and evil will either reject it because it doesn't categorize sufficiently, or they will force it into the service of death. The letter kills. See "the Crusades" for a great example of this.

But some will read it and meet Jesus there. There will be bits they don't understand. There will be bits they understand only too well and struggle to apply. There will be bits they think they understand and don't. There will be bits they understand and don't like. But as they turn to him and see who he really is, they will discover their own identity and, in doing so, be transformed into his.

“But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. ” (2 Corinthians 3:16–18, ESV)

I love the messiness of scripture. I like that it didn't just drop down out of heaven. If it had, it would certainly be cleaner. But it didn't and it isn't. God used priests and prophets, men who struggle with faith, pharisees, kings, and sinners to write it. He inspired them to leave themselves within it as they wrote. It's muddied with men and culture. It's saturated with and empowered by the Spirit. It's perfect in every way.