Authority

And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Matthew 7:28-29 KJV)

What is this “authority”?

For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. (Matthew 8:9 KJV)

The centurion knew his authority, and responded to being under authority. He also knew Jesus had the authority and the ability to heal, so he requested Jesus heal his servant.

Once, a large group of religious leaders asked by what authority Jesus acted:

And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. (Matthew 21:23-27 KJV)

Nope – he didn’t give them a clear answer. They were not seeking truth, but to entrap Jesus, who fully understood why the question. So, He turned the question to them. Which ever answer they gave Him, the true authority would be evident. They were not seeking God, and Paul had not written:

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (Acts 17:27 KJV)

God stood in front of those men, in an unexpected human form, not far from them at all – and they did not believe. Jesus gave a comparison:

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (Matthew 11:21-24 KJV)

Why do I quote the Bible? I wrote the reason in “What I Believe” in my blog:

I believe the Bible is Holy, the divinely inspired and preserved Word of God, the final authority for all faith and life. I place this belief first, not because it is the most important, but because it explains and provides answers for so much of the following. Without the Bible, there is not a foundation for believing ...

Remove the Bible and we would not have the scriptures that were written across ages, studied for centuries, cursed as error, and accepted on faith. Remove the Bible and we wouldn’t have Genesis 1:1 nor John 1:1 telling us God created and that Jesus was God. No, there are not two or three gods that we believe – as Israel proclaimed and still proclaims - the Lord our God is one and the same. It is His authority, none of ours.

What if His authority is questioned? Well, it was, wasn’t it? In the very books that speak of Him across the time of man, His authority has been questioned. And, the Bible has been questioned, revised, reinterpreted, as well as reviled. Several years back wrote a blog quoting a Canadian pastor who determined in her own way that the church needed to get rid of the Bible if it was to grow. That is taught as error in the very Bible she wished to toss.

A recent web article summarized an essay, How to Subtly Abandon Your Bible’s Authority. The headings are:

On the danger of appealing to selective evidence
On the avoidance of embarrassing passages and issues
On misappropriating Scripture to legitimize an unorthodox position
On the failure of too little reading, especially of older works
On losing awe before the Word of God

Check yourself against the full explanations of these headings. The easiest for us to fall into (from my own experience!) are the last two. I need to read more, and by not reading I show my lack of respect and awe for God’s words to His people. Where do you stand?