Authority in the Believer's Life
I was talking with a young guy who seems to be fairly religious. We were a having pretty good discussion about Israel in the news. At one point I mentioned that something would be happening with Israel in the future, and he asked, "How do you know that?" I told him that it is prophesied in the Bible. He gave me a slightly sardonic grin and said, "Yeah, well......" as if to say, I'm not sure that holds real authority for him. I was not too surprised by that reaction, given his background. I moved on to discuss things we could probably agree on.
Sola scriptura, with sola fide was the uniting cry of the reformers. They came to know that the Bible alone is the final authority in all matters of truth and doctrine, and it is the guide for the believer's faith and walk in life. All other beliefs and practices became subordinate to the Bible, or at least they should have. Certainly those beliefs and practices which run counter to the Bible need to be discarded and replaced by what is biblical.
Any religion that's around for very long will develop traditions. Those traditions end up fostering beliefs, and influencing thinking within the religion, even in matters of doctrine and governance. In a strange way, the influence of traditions helps a religious movement remain "stable", for lack of a better word, and even helps to maintain the religion for the next generation of followers. That may make things "comfortable" but it doesn't make things "right."
As a Christian, I don't reject all tradition, but I choose to make judicious use of it as long as it is in line with the Scriptures, meaning it has to be based on truth. I take real care when I study the confessions and council decisions of another church, and of my own church most especially. The problem comes in when a church formulates new doctrine, or arrives at decisions which are contrary to the Word of God. Church history is littered with the bodies of those who made serious mistakes because their decisions were not guided by the authority of the Bible.
As believers, we need to have standards which are subordinate in all ways to God, in His Word, and we need to be vigilant and willing to examine ourselves to make sure we are properly motivated, moving Scripturally to glorify God. If we are searching for a church, we need to make sure that denominational standards and requirements run secondary to Scripture. In this way, traditions, beliefs and practices will be controlled by whether or not they meet the test of Scripture.
As believers, the Bible is our primary weapon to use against the painful consequences of compromise. If we are faithful to the Scriptures we will be faithful to God.
2 comments:
As always, interesting thoughts. You have a knack for getting into some provocative conversations. It is interesting to see how the Lord uses you in this way.
I should like to add that history is also full of africans who were subjected to slavery, Muslims and Christians killed during the crusades and resulting conflicts and American Indians killed when the settlers moved across the New World. All of this was in the name of Scripture, or I should say in the name of specific interpretations of Scripture which bore out horrific consequences of injustice and war. It is startling to consider how much damage has been done, and is being done because someone has a particular biblical interpretation, but lacks the love of their neighbor which Jesus clearly cited as the second greatest commandment.
History is full of the kinds of terrible things that man can cause to happen with the misguided notion that what he is doing is right, often using the Bible in a wrong-hearted attempt to justify his behavior.
It is just as true, as you say that because someone "lacks the love of their neighbor which Jesus clearly cited as the second greatest commandment," their "biblical" interpretation and therefore "justification" is neither biblical nor justified.
The history of humanity, even that of "Christianity" highlights the imperative of faithfulness to the whole of God's word in the life of the believer.
The Bible was given to us as a wonderful gift from God. It should be read from start to finish, knowing that it is all about redemption, the gift of a wonderfully good and perfect God, who loves graciously in spite of the fact that we are sinful.
Those who are blinded by their own self-righteousness surely exist, but there are also the David Livingstons, the Jim and Elizabeth Elliots, the Darlene Diebler Roses and the Tamara Henkes who will, in love, persue the loving work of the Lord, living as examples of how his love can truly work to reach out to the hearts of the unsaved. Praise His name for that.
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