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TEXTS
for a SERMON on the AUTHORITY of GOD'S WORD [Free Texts] 3/10.9.2006 Jesus
said [to
some Jews who intended to stone him in Jerusalem],
" SCRIPTURE CANNOT BE BROKEN."
[John 10.35b RSV] Paul
told Timothy, "
ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED BY GOD…" [2 Timothy 3.16a RSV] In
his Second Letter Peter observes, " NO PROPHECY EVER CAME BY THE
IMPULSE OF MAN, BUT MEN MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT SPOKE FROM GOD." [2 Peter 1.21 RSV] To
the Thessalonians Paul reflects, " WE ALSO THANK GOD
CONSTANTLY FOR THIS, THAT WHEN YOU RECEIVED THE WORD OF GOD WHICH YOU HEARD
FROM US, YOU ACCEPTED IT NOT AS THE WORD OF MEN BUT AS WHAT IT REALLY IS, THE
WORD OF GOD, WHICH IS AT WORK IN YOU BELIEVERS." [1 Thessalonians 2.13 RSV] On
the night he was betrayed Jesus prayed for his disciples thus, "
SANCTIFY THEM BY THE TRUTH; YOUR WORD IS TRUTH." [John 17.17 NIV] As
sinners we generally tolerate rather than like or appreciate authority.
Authority niggles us [it niggled Adam and Eve before their fall into sin Genesis 3.5-6].
It niggles because it prevents us from being free spirits - from being
unaccountable. It restrains and, at times, it rightly punishes us [Genesis 3.16-19/23; Romans
13.2-5]. Yet none of us could live without
authority and given the option we would not abolish it. We know that we need
it! We benefit from its influence and its direction. We recognise that it makes
sense of life - that it provides order, certainty and a measure of security.
You need only think of a young child. A young child values and clings to the
authority of its parents. It can do nothing else - it is dependent on that
authority. I've heard this recognition in my daughter who, when a little
uncertain of how family activities are going to work, asks "
WHO'S GOING TO TAKE CARE OF ME?" Authority
comes in many forms [evidence for this is rich and abundant!] and it should go
without saying that we are to respect and honour it [Romans 13.7b].
The Fourth Commandment says specifically, "
HONOUR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER," [Exodus 20.12a]
but we Lutherans hold that this commandment embraces all types of human
authority. Beyond the foundation of the Fourth Commandment we have also taken
it upon ourselves [with God's help and blessing] to create, codify and sustain
authority through the passing of laws and constitutions, and the holding of
periodic elections [Romans
13.1]. Equally, within the Church, we recognise
the essential need for authority.
Whether that authority is derived from God through the calling of a
pastor to serve a parish such as this. Whether the authority is derived from
the constitutions that govern our Synod, District and local structures, and
mean that we can, for example, enjoy charitable status under ATO regulations. By
comparison, the authority of the Triune God exists and it operates on an
entirely different level. Where human authority is always derived, imperfect
and resistible God's authority is intrinsic, perfect and ultimately
irresistible. Truly, " AS THE HEAVENS ARE
HIGHER THAN THE EARTH " so is God's authority
higher than our authority [Isaiah
55.9a]. God says through Isaiah, "
MY WORD THAT GOES OUT FROM MY MOUTH…WILL NOT RETURN TO ME EMPTY, BUT WILL
ACCOMPLISH WHAT I DESIRE AND ACHIEVE THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH I SENT IT."
[Isaiah 55.11]
This statement is, I hold, effectively a declaration of God's authority. It
tells us that God understands the scope of his authority [even if we choose not
to] and that he is purposeful as he uses it to engage with us. It tells us that
God exerts his authority over human affairs and particularly over the Church
through his written Word, the scriptures. Since
the Reformation it has been, at least for Lutheran Christians, a fundamental
presupposition that the books of the Old and New Testaments are God's inspired
Word and that every single word speaks with his magisterial [that is, his
ruling or judging] authority. This concept of biblical authority was
re-formulated in opposition to the position of the then Catholic Church, which
claimed that it [and it alone] determined the meaning of God's Word. Luther and
others countered that the Church was the creation of God's Word [not vice
versa]. " THE SCRIPTURE,"
Luther once reflected, " IS THE WOMB FROM
WHICH ARE BORN THEOLOGICAL TRUTH AND THE CHURCH."
[WA 3.454]
Furthermore, Luther stressed the priority of scripture against the historical
formation of the Canon [the accepted books of the OT & NT], against the
Church Fathers [theologians like Augustine - whose writings Luther often
quoted], and against the various Popes and Ecumenical Church Councils. Luther
wrote: " MY FAITH MUST BE FOUNDED ON NOTHING
BUT THE WORD OF GOD. YEARS AGO ALL THE POPE’S PRONOUNCEMENTS WERE CALLED
CHRISTIAN TRUTH AND ARTICLES OF FAITH, YET THIS WAS SIMPLY BASED ON MAN. AND
THEN IT HAPPENED THAT PEOPLE SANK INTO THE ABYSS AND LOST EVERYTHING THAT
PERTAINS TO THE WORD OF GOD AND CHRIST. THEREFORE WE MUST NOW DECLARE: “POPE,
COUNCIL, AND DOCTORS, WE WILL NOT BELIEVE YOU; BUT WE WILL BELIEVE THE DIVINE
WORD.” [LW
23.297] Such
lines of argumentation established the cardinal and much celebrated principle
of 'SOLA SCRIPTURA'
[a Latin phrase meaning 'by scripture alone']. Sola Scriptura demanded that
individualism and subjectivism bow to and serve the authority of God's Word.
Sola Scriptura meant that either everything God said was to be accepted in
faith and without question, or it followed that nothing at all was certain and
could be believed until human authority, human experience and the influence of
human culture had sanctioned it. Quite simply the principle of Sola Scriptura
espouses [correctly] the priority of God's intrinsic, objective authority over
and against humanity's derived, subjective authority. Luther made the case for
Sola Scriptura particularly well when he observed: "…AMONG
CHRISTIANS THE RULE IS NOT TO ARGUE OR INVESTIGATE, NOT TO BE A SMART ALECK OR
A RATIONALISTIC KNOW-IT-ALL; BUT TO HEAR, BELIEVE, AND PERSEVERE IN THE WORD OF
GOD, THROUGH WHICH ALONE WE OBTAIN WHATEVER KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE OF GOD AND DIVINE
THINGS. WE ARE NOT TO DETERMINE OUT OF OURSELVES WHAT WE MUST BELIEVE ABOUT
HIM, BUT TO HEAR AND LEARN IT FROM HIM. NO ONE BUT HE HIMSELF KNOWS HIM AS HE
IS; NO ONE CAN SPEAK AS ACCURATELY AND ELOQUENTLY OF HIM AS HE DOES HIMSELF.
FOR THIS REASON IT IS FITTING THAT WE HONOUR HIM BY CONCEDING THE TRUTH OF WHAT
HE TELLS US, AND REFRAIN FROM ANY ATTEMPT TO HAVE OUR SPECULATIVE REASON MAKE
CORRECTIONS IN HIM AND IN HIS WORD." [LW 13.237] Now
this is all well and good, but such definite claims need to be substantiated
[justified] to skeptical minds. So where does one start? Firstly, we might
start, as with most other things theological, with Jesus Christ. The Gospels
indicate that those who heard Jesus believed he spoke and acted with authority [Mark 1.21-27].
With this authority Jesus healed the sick [Mark 1.33-34],
he drove out evil spirits [Luke
8.27-32], he controlled the forces of nature [Mark 4.35-41],
he empowered his disciples to spread the Good News [Matthew 10.1]
and he even raised himself from the dead [John 10.17-18].
Jesus indeed declared to his disciples that "
ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH " had
been given to him [Matthew
28.18].
So, even though the Gospels were written years after the ascension,
there is rarely any dispute in the Church about the words that are directly
attributed to Jesus. However,
simply because Jesus had authority this does not mean that everyone in the
Church regards the rest of the scriptures in the same light! In principle, if
they were consistent, they should! Remember that Jesus told the Jews, "
YOU DILIGENTLY STUDY THE SCRIPTURES BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT BY THEM YOU POSSESS
ETERNAL LIFE. THESE ARE THE SCRIPTURES THAT TESTIFY ABOUT ME, YET YOU REFUSE TO
COME TO ME TO HAVE LIFE." [John 5.39-40]
For Jesus, at least, the rest of the scriptures had authority [Luke 24.27/32; John 10.35].
In his teaching Jesus cited the Old Testament freely and by so doing added his
authority to the words of men like Moses and Isaiah. His citations prove that
Jesus believed them to be inspired historical figures who testified faithfully
to the revealed will of God. Furthermore, his citations in Matthew 19 about
creation and the marriage of Adam and Eve [Matthew 19.3-6]
prove that Jesus believed Moses had reported historical truth. Strange
then, you might think, that in the last 150 years or so the writings of Moses,
the messages of the OT prophets and the Letters of Paul etc. have come under
incredible scrutiny and savage criticism from within the Church. Jesus may have
said to God the Father [as he prayed for his disciples], "
SANCTIFY THEM BY THE TRUTH; YOUR WORD IS TRUTH, " [John 17.17]
but because the Word is not treated with the same deference in all of its parts
many have become confused and uncertain as to what the truth really is! As the
authority of God's Word has bit by bit been eroded away we are faced with a
real struggle to know the truth that Jesus promises will set us free [John 8.31-32].
The Lutheran Church of Australia reached this point some time ago. The
consequence is that we are no longer certain about some things that at least on
paper [in the historic Lutheran Confessions and in the LCA's own Theses of
Agreement] we claim to be. Things like God's work of creation as opposed to the
theory of evolution, the divinely instituted orders of creation [which have a
clear bearing on the ordination of women], and what are appropriate
distinctions in human sexuality [how we regard homosexuality and same sex
marriages]. Secondly,
our basic problem is that the authority of
scripture is no longer thought of as an article of faith. In the past the Word
[the scriptures] attracted the same faith and the same
obedience that is due to God [John 12.47-50]. In the past we
distinguished between Christian certainty [a certainty based on faith] and
natural or scientific certainty [a certainty based on reason]. Christian
certainty is created solely by the self-testimony of scripture, through the
power of the Holy Spirit operating through it and in us [1 Corinthians 2:4–5].
Put another way, as the Word of God creates faith in the human heart, it also
bears witness to its divine authority. Paul attests to this when
reflecting to the Thessalonians, "
WE ALSO THANK GOD CONSTANTLY FOR THIS, THAT WHEN YOU RECEIVED THE WORD OF GOD
WHICH YOU HEARD FROM US, YOU ACCEPTED IT NOT AS THE WORD OF MEN BUT AS WHAT IT
REALLY IS, THE WORD OF GOD, WHICH IS AT WORK IN YOU BELIEVERS." [1 Thessalonians 2.13 RSV] This
truth that Christian certainty about the divinity and authority of scripture
springs from the self-authentication of Scripture is of the greatest practical
importance. The common and predictable objection that this is merely arguing in
a circle is groundless, since the claim that we become certain of a thing
through perceiving it is universal. A person who seriously questions this
method has become a hopeless agnostic [a person who believes that only material
things can be known]. As Christians we need but recall that the testimony of
the Holy Spirit has no need of outside support, but shines in its own light and
abundantly proves itself to be divine by its own efficacy and power. This
is, I claim, how the Church [how the LCA] should be handling God's Word! Sadly,
in the present theological climate, human reason and secular culture have
tended to push the assertions of faith to one side. Human reason has made
itself the judge and the interpreter of scripture. Human reason has placed
itself above rather than putting itself under the authority of scripture. This
trend is clearly reflected in the second CTICR paper entitled 'The Case for the
Ordination of Women'. For example, it wrongly explains and applies Galatians
3.26-28 so as to rule out distinctions between men and women [in secular and
spiritual realms]. For example, it bows to cultural expectations when it
argues, " THE CHURCH MUST BE CULTURALLY
SENSITIVE AND FLEXIBLE IN THE WAY IT COMMUNICATES THE GOSPEL…OUR CULTURE HAS
MOVED ON FROM THE PATRIARCHAL SOCIETIES OF PREVIOUS CENTURIES TO THE EXTENT
THAT NOT HAVING WOMEN PASTORS IS NOW A BARRIER TO MISSION." Thirdly,
it is necessary that we acknowledge the direct link between the authority of
God's Word and its inspiration through divinely selected 'penmen' - individuals
like Moses, John and Paul. And this inspiration means that God is scripture's
author in that he initiated and governed its origin, its purpose and use, its
perfection and sufficiency [Chemnitz]. Actually, it is true to say that without
the doctrine of inspiration there is no defence for scripture's authority.
Fortunately the scriptures contain much internal evidence of this inspiration -
evidence that they 'are not from men, but from God' [LW 35.153].
Phrases from the Old Testament such as 'and God said' [Genesis 1.3/20 etc],
'at that time the Lord said to me' [Deuteronomy 10.1], 'the Spirit of
the Lord spoke through me; his Word was on my tongue' [2 Samuel 23.2],
'the Word of the Lord came to' [Jeremiah 2.1] and 'hear the Word
of the Lord' [Isaiah
66.5] indicate direct inspiration. In the New
Testament two passages stand out. Paul informed
Timothy, " ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED BY GOD." [2 Timothy 3.16a] and
Peter offers the assurance that, " NO PROPHECY
EVER CAME BY THE IMPULSE OF MAN, BUT MEN MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT SPOKE FROM
GOD." [2
Peter 1.21 RSV] Earlier
I claimed that as sinners we generally tolerate rather than like or appreciate
authority. This obviously also holds true when it comes to God's authority. The
authority of God's Word niggles us just as much as it once niggled Adam and
Eve. Yet, as 'new creations' [2 Corinthians 5.17]
- as those 'led by the Spirit' [Romans 8.14], Christians know that they
need it! Christians recognise that it informs, sustains and underwrites saving
faith. Christians accept that it provides the Church with order, certainty and
a complete sense of security. Christians are like young children who hunger and
thirst for the authority of their parents. Christians depend upon the authority
of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Christians are
dependent upon God's authority for everything! I've
addressed the issue of the authority of scripture ahead of the LCA's General
Synod because as a church this authority is not just a fundamental
presupposition for us - it is absolutely indispensable. If we dare to seriously
undermine it or indeed deny it altogether the Body of Christ ceases to exist [LW 26.77 & 3.272].
Then every teaching you've ever received and believed in becomes [at best]
uncertain, including the meaning of Jesus sacrificial death on the cross and
his physical resurrection. Certainly, God's promises of salvation are emptied -
left without substance and power. And then how can a pastor like myself, who
depends on the Word for his preaching, continue to do his work? Furthermore,
any church body that overrules or sets aside the authority of God's Word [and
continues to exist] must, logically, replace that authority with something
else. That something else can only be corrupted human reason, fickle emotion,
subjective experience, and the mores of culture. A
vote to ordain women at Synod would further undermine the authority of God and
his Word. It would set a dangerous mark and open the door wide for other
attacks on the authority of scripture. Those in the CTICR who believe women
should be ordained simply do not have the authority of scripture on their side.
Indeed, they are threatening to destroy it and calling God a liar. They have
forgotten that " THE LORD…THE GLORY OF ISRAEL DOES NOT
LIE OR CHANGE HIS MIND; FOR HE IS NOT A MAN, THAT HE SHOULD CHANGE HIS
MIND." [1 Samuel 15.28-29] These
are strong words I accept, but they are entirely justified! Those who believe
women should be ordained by the LCA have no clear scripture passages [not a
single one] to substantiate their position. They have no scriptural precedents
to which to appeal [that is, women pastors ordained in OT/NT times]. They have
no historical precedents from the Church [until the last Century]. So they must
try to make their case in a number of other ways and as they do so, they
inevitably challenge God's authority and will. First, they argue
[unconvincingly as far as I'm concerned] that the interpretation and contextual
understanding of the two key passages, in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2, are
wrong and have been for 2000 years. Second, they sidestep the evidence of the
scriptures that the pastoral ministry was exclusively male, by design, in line
with divine and apostolic authority [1 Timothy 3.1-6].
Third, they shun the testimony of the Church, which until the 20th
Century was universally opposed to the ordination of women [on the basis of
scripture], and now dare to portray that scriptural faithfulness as both
patriarchal [by implication - abusive towards women] and misguided. Fourth,
they take other passages of scripture, like Galatians 3.26f and 1 Corinthians
9.20f, and reinterpret them [they do violence to them] to try to support their
case. Fifth, they appeal to secular culture as both a modifier and a
determining factor in the application of God's will. None of these approaches
is acceptable let alone good theology or a respectful, servant use of reason
when dealing with God's Word. For
the moment I will leave the last word on the authority of the scriptures to our
Lord Jesus Christ. If his word is not good enough then nothing is! In John's
Gospel Jesus told a hostile crowd of Jews, accusing him of blasphemy and
preparing to stone him to death, " SCRIPTURE
CANNOT BE BROKEN [that is, be voided or
annulled]." [John 10.35b] By
using scripture to defend his identity as 'The Christ' [John 10.24-30] Jesus
first affirms that the entire text of the Old Testament [what he refers to as "YOUR
LAW" John 10.34 - "THE
WORD OF GOD" John
10.35] is divinely inspired and infallible.
Second, Jesus says that no passage of scripture [even a pretty obscure passage
like Psalm 82.6] can be robbed of its intended meaning or force simply because
a given situation arises that makes it inconvenient or hard to accept
[specifically that Jesus Christ was Israel's promised Messiah!]. Third, Jesus
guarantees to his faithful people [the Church] that the teaching of scripture
is always and in all places absolutely correct, and will be clearly known to
the end of time. This is Jesus view of scripture's authority and surely it must
be ours! Amen. Pastor Neil Guthrig Grampians Lutheran Parish 3.9.2006 |