What Many Accept As Authority In Religion - Part One

Following Jesus Without Denominationalism
What Many Accept As Authority In Religion - Part One

In our previous study, I endeavored to show that it is through the writing of the apostles, "the apostles' doctrine", that the Lord speaks to and directs His Church. That the New Testament is how Christ speaks to us today and leads us to life everlasting. That it is "the apostles' doctrine" which ought to be our standard of authority in matters of religion in which we must "continue steadfastly"! - Ac 2:42

Many people say that they accept "the apostles' doctrine" as their authority in religion. But when faced with an issue in which a cherished position or view is being challenged they often appeal to a source for their authority that is quite different. This is easy to do, and perhaps the best way to avoid this is to be aware of other sources of authority in religion. Some are objective standards of authority - sources outside of ourselves that we look to direct us. Others are subjective standards of authority - where we look within ourselves for the answers we want. In this study we shall briefly touch upon various standards that people commonly turn to when faced with questions about what they believe and why they practice the things they do in religion.

Let's start with the "Objective" standards of authority beginning with the Old Testament. It is common for people to resort to the O. T. to provide authority for some practice(s) when they can't find authority for it in the teachings of Christ and/or His apostles. For example, a clergy-laity system, burning of incense and use of instrumental music in worship, keeping the Sabbath, etc. But the O.T. was designed to be temporary, to fulfill a specific purpose and as a covenant has been replaced by the New Covenant (i.e., the New Testament). It was given because of transgressions, till Christ should come - Ga 3:19 "What is the use of the Law? It was given later to show that we sin. But it was only supposed to last until the coming of that descendant who was given the promise. In fact, angels gave the Law to Moses, and he gave it to the people." For those under the Law (Israel), it was a tutor. A tutor (teacher) designed to lead them to Christ - Ga 3:24 "In fact, the Law was our teacher. It was supposed to teach us until we had faith and were acceptable to God." A tutor that has been taken away - Ga 3:25 "But once a person has learned to have faith, there is no more need to have the Law as a teacher." When those who were under the Law came to Christ they became dead to the Law - Ro 7:4 "That is how it is with you, my friends. You are now part of the body of Christ and are dead to the power of the Law. You are free to belong to Christ, who was raised to life so that we could serve God." They were delivered from the Law - Ro 7:6 "But the Law no longer rules over us. We are like dead people, and it cannot have any power over us. Now we can serve God in a new way by obeying his Spirit, and not in the old way by obeying the written Law."

As prophesied by Jeremiah, God has made a "new covenant" to replace the "first covenant" which is now obsolete - He 8:7-13 "If the first agreement with God had been all right, there would not have been any need for another one. But the Lord found fault with it and said, "I tell you the time will come, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and the people of Judah. It won't be like the agreement that I made with their ancestors, when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. They broke their agreement with me, and I stopped caring about them! "But now I tell the people of Israel this is my new agreement: 'The time will come when I, the Lord, will write my laws on their minds and hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Not one of them will have to teach another to know me, their Lord.' "All of them will know me, no matter who they are. I will treat them with kindness, even though they are wicked. I will forget their sins." When the Lord talks about a new agreement, he means that the first one is out of date. And anything that is old and useless will soon disappear." In their handling of the issue of circumcision, the apostles demonstrated that one cannot use the O.T. to teach something which the apostles themselves did not command. Some sought to enforce circumcision and the Law upon Gentile believers - Ac 15:1 "Some people came from Judea and started teaching the Lord's followers that they could not be saved, unless they were circumcised as Moses had taught.", 6 "The apostles and church leaders met to discuss this problem about Gentiles." But the apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, were able to defuse the problem by simply stating they themselves "gave no such commandment" - Ac 15:22-29 "The apostles, the leaders, and all the church members decided to send some men to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Silas and Judas Barsabbas, who were two leaders of the Lord's followers. They wrote a letter that said: We apostles and leaders send friendly greetings to all of you Gentiles who are followers of the Lord in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. We have heard that some people from here have terribly upset you by what they said. But we did not send them! So we met together and decided to choose some men and to send them to you along with our good friends Barnabas and Paul. These men have risked their lives for our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also sending Judas and Silas, who will tell you in person the same things that we are writing. The Holy Spirit has shown us that we should not place any extra burden on you. But you should not eat anything offered to idols. You should not eat any meat that still has the blood in it or any meat of any animal that has been strangled. You must also not commit any terrible sexual sins. If you follow these instructions, you will do well. We send our best wishes."

This is not to say the O.T. is not of value to Christians. It was written for our learning, to provide patience, comfort, and hope - Ro 15:4 "And the Scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope." It was written for our admonition, that we not make similar mistakes - 1 Co 10:6 "What happened to them is a warning to keep us from wanting to do the same evil things.", 11 "These things happened to them as a warning to us. All this was written in the Scriptures to teach us who live in these last days." ...we just can't use it to enjoin religious practices upon others which the apostles' themselves did not teach!

Another objective standard is Majority Rule. Many people accept whatever the majority thinks about something. But consider the words of Jesus, in describing the end of the majority - Mt 7:13-14 "Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it." If you had followed the majority in Noah's day, you would have perished in the flood. In Joshua's day, you would have perished in the wilderness. Rather than simply following the majority, let our attitude be like that of Joshua: "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." - cf. Jos 24:14-15

This is just one of several objectives that we want to look at. We will continue to look at more when we continue this lesson in Part Two.


God Bless,
Jim Newsted
Shamrock, Tx
The town that turns green for a week every year


Even though you can't see the air, It doesn't stop you from breathing
Even though you can't see God, It doesn't stop you from believing
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