OK, here are some more thoughts on the Bible and its authority. In this post I will explore what the Bible states about authority and the role of the Bible as the authority in the church. If you are not familiar with this discussion you may want to look at my previous posts on the Bible and Authority before reading this one. These are preliminary thoughts and your comments are always appreciated.
What the Bible says about authority
So far we have attempted to answer the authority issue without the biblical text. Let us turn our attention to the scriptural witness. The scriptural witness does not locate authority within itself. The Bible points to God as the ultimate authority. Beginning in Genesis, the Bible attests to God’s authority. God speaks and then something happens. The Bible demonstrates that God exercises his authority in magnificent events such as the Exodus. When we move to the New Testament we see that authority rests solely upon Jesus Christ. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” As we move through the New Testament we discover that Jesus shares that authority with the church. “Wait here until you receive power from on high,” Jesus instructed the apostles. This authority comes through the Holy Spirit.
Nowhere in scripture do we see that scripture makes itself authoritative. We learn that it is profitable for a number of things but never does it claim to be authoritative. Authority, according to the Bible, rests solely within the godhead.
The purpose of God’s authority
NT Wright states:
We discover, as we look at the Bible itself, that God’s model of authority is not like that of the managing director over the business, not like that of the governing body over the college, not like that of the police or the law courts who have authority over society. There is a more subtle thing going on. God is not simply organizing the world in a certain way such as we would recognize from any of those human models. He is organizing it—if that’s the right word at all—through Jesus and in the power of the Spirit. And the notion of God’s authority, which we have to understand before we understand what we mean by the authority of Scripture, is based on the fact that this God is the loving, wise, creator, redeemer God. And his authority is his sovereign exercise of those powers; his love and wise creations and redemption. What is he doing? He is not simply organizing the world. He is, as we see and know in Christ and by the Spirit, judging and remaking the world. What he does authoritatively he dots with intent. God is not a celestial information service to whom you can apply for answers on difficult questions.
…Authority is not the power to control people, and crush them, and keep them in little boxes. The church often tries to do that—to tidy people up. Nor is the Bible as the vehicle of God’s authority meant to be information for the legalist. . . Rather, God’s authority vested in scripture is designed, as all God’s authority is designed, to liberate human beings, to judge and condemn evil and sin in the world in order to set people free to be fully human. That’s what God is in the business of doing. That is what his authority is for. And when we use a shorthand phrase like ‘authority of scripture’ that is what we ought to be meaning. (Emphasis mine)
The Bible is part of the means by which he puts his purposes of judgment and salvation to work. Again, it is a speech-act of God. The Bible invites people into the story of God.
Authority is vested in God alone. God’s mysterious work through the text by the Holy Spirit is how the text derives its authority. We cannot explain how God demonstrates his authority through the text. It is a mystery and we must be alright with that. Ultimately, the issue of the authority of the Bible comes down to faith. We believe that God is working to restore creation to its original goodness. We believe that one of the ways that he is doing that is through the biblical text. We believe that his Holy Spirit works and moves through the text. Can we prove this? No. We simply must come in faith believing that the Bible is a redemptive act of God and humbly submit ourselves to it.
The Role of the Bible in the Church
The Bible is the mysterious means by which God works through the text to equip his people to carry out the task of redemption. It is the council of God. The church stands humbly before its council so that it can stand boldly before the councils of man. “How may we do that? By soaking ourselves in scripture, in the power and strength and leading of the Spirit, in order that we may then speak freshly and with authority to the world of this same creator.” (N.T. Wright)
The Bible is a Redemptive Text
The Bible is a redemptive text; therefore, its authority is redemptive. If the church is to claim the Bible as its authority then the program of the church must also be redemptive. The church’s mission and identity are wrapped up in this idea of redemption. Redemption carries the idea of “buying back something.” According to the story of Scripture, this world is fallen and in darkness. God, in Jesus Christ, inaugurated the final step of the redemptive process whereby he transfers people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his light.
The implications of redemption are many:
- Doctrine-Doctrine is the teaching of the church. The teaching of the church is brought about by consensus of the faith community. The faith community in her doctrine must seek to set people free rather than restrict them with their teachings. Doctrine is not a tool to beat people over the head. It is a tool to guide the church community into correct thinking and living. Redemption and participation in the life God should be the goal of all doctrine.
- Practice-Practice is what the church does in light of her doctrine. The church has done a poor job of matching doctrine with practice. The practice of the church ought to be redemptive in nature. Helping people discover who they are in Christ and encouraging them to be that person.
- Culture-Culture is the ideas and practices that spring up from just being human. Culture itself is amoral: neither right nor wrong. Culture is something that God created. In its original creation culture was declared good. The good of culture has been utilized by fallen humanity for evil purposes. The task of the church is to redeem culture. Culture is a legitimate tool in the hands of the church to carry out the redemption of humanity.
The Bible was never meant to act alone
The Bible, by its very nature, was never designed to act alone. First, because it is a text it relies upon an author. The Bible has two authors: the Holy Spirit and humans. Second, because it is a text with human authors it is a culturally conditioned text. This means that the Bible was written in the language (Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek), cultural and historical setting. Third, because it is a written, culturally conditioned text, the Bible relies upon interpretive methods in order to gain contextual understanding. Interpretive methodologies are tools that help a person engage a written text in order to understand what that text is saying. Interpretive methodologies are determined by people living in community. Interpreting the Scripture helps prevent rogue interpretations of the Bible. Rogue interpretations have lead individuals (and groups following those individuals) into heresy. The Spirit of God aided the formation of the biblical text (inspiration) and aids in the understanding of the biblical text (illumination). When Jesus stated that the Holy Spirit would help the disciples recall what he had taught and that the Holy Spirit would guide their understanding he was speaking to the disciples as a group not individuals. It is true that the Holy Spirit works in individuals but they are always individuals who are part of a greater community. The Spirit guides the community of believers (the church) into a correct understanding of the text. This understanding is influenced by the cultural context of the community. This explains why there have been different understandings of the biblical text throughout history. Interpreting the Bible is never done and was never meant to be done in a vacuum.
The emphasis upon a communitarian understanding reflects the Trinitarian nature of the primary author. God is One who exists in a Triunity of persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If the authorship of the text is Triune (community) then the understanding of the text is discovered in community.
(If) understanding is communitarian effort
(If) doctrine is the articulation of the textual understanding of the text
(Then) doctrine must be communitarian in nature
The community of faith in submission to the text determines what is in bounds and what is out of bounds. The Scriptures have the final say in the doctrine and practice of the church. The Bible does not have the only say in the doctrine and practice of the church. Culture, social situations, and the overall experiences of the faith community also play a part in the activities of the church.
The Bible permits the church to engage the culture in which she is situated because it mandates that the church participates in the activity of redemption.