6. The question of authority.
Who rules the church? We know that Jesus is the Head, and He gives leadership responsibilities to pastors and such. But how do they rule, by what authority? The breathed-out Word of God.
The early church continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42). When apostles died, their replacements continued teaching what the apostles taught. It was just “known” that these men had spoken authoritatively from God, and combined with the teachings of the prophets of the Old Testament, the church to a greater or lesser degree in the centuries that followed placed the Bible at the forefront.
Slowly the Papal power, and the power of church Councils, added to extra-Biblical writings, challenged the authority of Scripture to the point eventually of hiding it altogether. It was this darkness that was addressed by the Reformers Luther, Calvin, and the rest.
To this day the Bible, again more or less, serves as the foundation of the Christian Church. But there is another piece of this puzzle that must be considered. The Bible is a spiritual book. It was given by the Spirit. It can therefore only be received by a spiritual people, filled with that same Spirit. To the extent that a person has received the Spirit of God, by that same measure he will receive the Word of God.
The Roman Catholic Church had believed through the worst of its days that the Bible is the Word of God. The Roman system held the Bible in high esteem. But the Reformers, restoring the actual words of Scripture to the hearts and minds of believers, suggested further that the Scripture must be communicated to a man’s heart, must change him from within.
By suggesting that the Bible had personal power in a man’s life, the Reformers were saying that the Bible had the ultimate say in the church. No Pope or Council or Tradition of men could ever be lifted above the pure words of Scripture communicated by the Spirit to the heart of man.
The basis for this thinking was in the Scripture itself, for example in 1 John 2:20, 24, 26-27.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
See also Paul’s understanding of this same concept:
1 Corinthians 2:12-14
12 Now we 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. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Ephesians 1:16-19
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.
It is the Spirit of God working all these changes in us. And He is using the Word of God to do His work. Therefore the Spirit-inspired Word is the authority in the church!
We recall the story of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus that first resurrection morning. We remember their encounter with Jesus, and the conversation that followed, followed in turn by a long lesson from Jesus from the Old Testament Scriptures.
It would have been great to be there. How could Jesus find so much about Himself in the Bible of the day? Easy. He wrote that book through many men. And to those whose eyes have been opened, that book is all about Him! Consider:
• The entrance of sin into the world, followed immediately by the remedy for that sin, the bruising of Satan. Genesis 3:15.
• The seed of Abraham , alluded to in 3:15, is spelled out clearly in chapter 12 of the same book. This promise of a seed is repeated to Isaac and Jacob. All of this is borne out by Paul in Galatians 3:13-16.
• Jacob while dying predicts that a king will come from the tribe of Judah.
• As the nation Israel is born and begins its rise, God promises Moses that a prophet like himself will one day come into the world and be heard by it, Deuteronomy 18:15.
• Ruth is the story of how God preserved miraculously the seed that would lead to David and the “son of David”, Messiah Jesus.
• In Job 19, Job sees his redeemer and believes one day he will see him on the earth, in his flesh.
• Psalm 2 tells of the reign of Messiah, set on His holy hill by God Himself. The King is to be the son of God!
• Psalm 16 tells of the resurrection of Jesus.
• Psalm 22 tells of Jesus’ suffering, rejection, and death.
• Psalm 31 speaks of the last words of Jesus.
• Psalm 38 tells of how people stood afar off from the cross at his death.
• Psalm 41 speaks of Jesus’ betrayer.
• Psalm 69 gives more details of those last moments on the cross.
• Psalm 110 is about the reign of the coming Messiah.
• Isaiah tells of a Son to be born of a virgin, and Who will be the Prince of Peace, and at the same time the Everlasting Father. He accurately predicts the subjects, location, and methods of Jesus’ ministry. And tells of a lamb led to the slaughter. Rejected of men. Struck by evil ones. Given stripes on his back. Buried with the rich. Bearing our sins. But eventually reigning over a land conquered by peace.
• Jeremiah speaks of the coming Branch of Righteousness. How children will be killed in his own childhood.
• Daniel tells the time of His first coming and prophesies His death.
• Hosea tells of His being carried to and from Egypt.
• Jonah prefigured his 3 days and 3 nights of burial by his visit to a fish’s belly.
• Micah tells where Messiah will be born.
• Zechariah sees the King coming into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. And tells of his subsequent betrayal by Judas. But then He sees Jesus returning in victory to the Mount of Olives.
Oh yes, a lot to talk about in the Old Testament, if you are looking for Jesus. These are many of the obvious passages. Imagine what other treasures were found by Jesus Himself, Who could see His story on every page!
After that incredible lesson on the salvation of the coming Messiah, see what Luke has the men saying in response:
Luke 24:32
32 And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"
The burning heart is set on fire by the Spirit of God and its igniter, the Word of God. Let not the two be separated. God will speak to you in His Book.
Martin Luther was converted by reading Romans 1:17.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
That verse may not burn in you right now. God may use another verse. But He will find a way to get His heart into your heart if you will listen to His Word and feed on it.
So the Spirit and the Word. The Word and the Spirit. To emphasize one over the other is to fall into serious trouble.
Those who want, as they say, only the Spirit, will often allow their inner feelings to be the judge of what God has said. Such were the so-called “enthusiasts” of Calvin’s day. They were almost Gnostic in their claim to private revelations directly from Heaven. To them, the Word had to be subservient to their own feelings and visions.
On the other hand, a purely intellectual slavish addiction to a book can produce the Pharisee, the legalist, the bigot. The Book after all points outside of Itself and calls men to Jesus through the Spirit released by the Father. Every word of it is pure but the end is not knowing its letters. The end is knowing its Author.
And if one can know It’s Author and still walk in the Spirit, that man is on His way to perfection.
