BASIC BIBLE STUDIES

# 007

 

The Authority in Religion

(Part 2)

 

In our previous Study we made the observation that nothing is more fundamental and important in establishing and maintaining a right relationship with God than the recognition of the correct authority in religion.  Just as human society cannot function without laws, just so a meaningful relationship with God is not possible without a standard of authority.  Mankind, left to himself, devolves into mass spiritual confusion and gross immorality.

 

What is the standard of religious authority?  Our previous lesson sought to dispose of false standards: the individual, family and family traditions, the creeds and catechisms of men, the conscience (which can be seriously misguided).  None of these prove to be reliable standards in the all-important realm of religion.

 

Christ, in a single, simple statement, settled the matter of authority when He declared: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18).  Additional statements of Scripture validate Christ's right to make such an exclusive claim to all authority. 

 

On the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter wanted to erect tabernacles honoring Moses, Elijah, and Christ, God spoke and said: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.  Hear Him!" (Matthew 17:5).  The time to hear Moses and the prophets was passing away.  The new covenant of Christ was being prepared.  As Christ stated after His death and resurrection: "...all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me" (Luke 24:44).  With the Old Testament Scriptures having been fulfilled in Christ, He became the sole authority in religion.  "God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past (the time of the Old Testament, hf) to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days (the time of the New Testament,hf) spoken to us by His Son..." (Hebrews 1:1-2).  Later, this same writer warned: "See that you do not refuse Him (Christ) who speaks" (Hebrews 12:25).  Jesus declared Himself to be "the way, the truth, the life," and added that "no one can come to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).  While this statement flies in the face of modern religious pluralism, the exclusivity of Christ cannot be missed: THE way, THE truth, THE life!

 

To insure that His teaching would be preserved and communicated, Christ chose twelve men to be His special ambassadors to "all the world" (Mark 16:15).  To these apostles Jesus said: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me" (John 13:20).  Here we see, as it were, a "chain of command": God, Christ, the apostles of Christ.  To insure the accuracy of the apostles' teaching, Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide them into "all truth" (John 16:13).  Earlier, He had said to the apostles: "But the Helper (Comforter), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26). 

 

Following His ascension back to heaven, in fulfillment of His promise to them, Christ sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and they began the tremendous work of preaching His gospel to all the world (Acts 2:1-4).  Acts of the Apostles is the New Testament book that records the history of the apostles' work and their success.  In this book we read of the beginning of the church (the community of saved people) and of its spread throughout the Graeco-Roman world, bringing both believing Jews and Gentiles into the one spiritual body of Christ (Ephesians 2:14-22).  Recognizing the power and authority by which the apostles of Christ spoke, the early church "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine..." (Acts 2:42).  The early Christians understood that the way for them to remain faithful to Christ was to follow the teaching of the apostles of Christ.  

 

What about us today?  We have the teaching of Christ and His apostles preserved in the 27 documents that constitute the New Testament Scriptures.  The same divine inspiration by which the apostles spoke is the divine inspiration by which they and the prophets of the New Testament era wrote (Ephesians 3:5).  In a magnificent affirmation of the divine inspiration by which he spoke and wrote, Paul said: "Now we (Christ's "holy apostles and prophets"--Ephesians 3:5) have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.  These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (I Corinthians 2:12-13).  What a powerful statement affirming the divine inspiration of the very words (not just the thoughts) by which the apostles and prophets of Christ spoke and wrote!  No wonder Paul would later say: "If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord" (I Corinthians 14:37).

 

Thus, from Christ, to His apostles, to the divinely inspired writings of the apostles and prophets of the New Testament era, we have the true teaching of Christ vouch-safed to us today.  The New Testament is the authentic documentation of what Christ would have all people believe, practice, and teach in the realm of religion.  Christianity is "the faith (note its exclusivity: THE faith, not A faith, hf) once for all (note its finality, its completeness, hf) delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).  That we have the true words of Christ today is guaranteed by Christ Himself when He declared: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matthew 24:35).  By this absolute standard of authority we can "test all things; hold fast what is good(true/correct)" (I Thessalonians 5:21).

 

If this essay has blessed you, feel free to forward it to others who may benefit from it.

 

Hugh Fulford