We can make up our own faith and religion, accept what someone else has made up, or believe and obey the true way that has the authority of God. This lesson is about where the authority of God cannot be found, and shows us that we may claim to have the authority of God only if we are willing to go back to the very beginning and origin of the faith of Christ.

The teachings of eminent preachers and professors

We all appreciate and respect the work that many distinguished preachers and theologians have done, as well as the labor of many scientists and scholars in fields such as archaeology, language, philosophy, and history. Our understanding of the Bible has been vitally enriched by their studies.

However, for every scholar who enlightens us in the truth, there is another who speaks "persuasive words of wisdom" that are not truth, but only "the wisdom of this age" (1Co 2:4-8). God, in his wisdom, has "made foolish the wisdom of this world" (1Co 1:20-31), and consequently made foolish those who speak it --no matter how highly the world may regard them as scholars.

Scholars without authority

There are some prominent scholars who are like certain prophets of old, of whom God said, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied" (Jer 23:21-22). Some scholars teach "what is falsely called knowledge" (1Tm 6:20-21). Therefore we must "test the spirits whether they be of God" (1Jn 4:1),

We should not accept what eminent persons say, just because they say it. No authority from God is vested in prophets, professors, or preachers by virtue of their own genius. A person has the authority of God only when that person speaks as God speaks and imparts the truth of God to people.

THE SCHOLAR AND THE FISHERMAN

With all respect due to scholars, we may find that in some cases the doyens of seminaries and universities have lost the authority of God, and we must look for it among farm and fisher folk. That’s what happened in Jesus’s time. He could not choose the scholars of his time as his apostles. Instead he chose from among fishermen and townsfolk. That was not because Jesus despised scholarship. It was because the scholars he knew were mostly like Nicodemus --they had rejected and lost the proper understanding of the truth of God (Jhn 3:10-12), and so they did not have the authority of God.

A fisherman tells me that Jesus rose from the dead. He was there, and saw it with his own eyes (Acts 2:32). Two thousand years after the event, a scholar who was not there, and who has no evidence, tells me that the resurrection is a myth and the fisherman’s testimony is a fabrication. Whom do I believe? Who has the authority of God? True scholars will accept the words of the fisherman and reject the voice of their peers --and for such scholars we should give thanks, and pray that their voice will rise above the others.

Longstanding custom and tradition

In the second place, we ought to respect the longstanding conventions of our society that have stood the test of time, and proven not to be a whimsy of fashion but an element of stability. That is not a blanket statement, however. Not all ancient things have the authority of God.

The Devil and his corruptions have been in the world since the dawn of history. "That serpent of old, the devil and Satan" (Rev 20:2) remains, these thousands of years later, every bit as wrong as ever he was.

CUSTOMS WITHOUT AUTHORITY

Some traditions and customs that lasted for centuries have been recognised as wrong and have been abolished by enlightened societies. The world was well rid of these longstanding practices. Slavery, for example, would have the authority of God if the length of time that it was regarded as acceptable by men were the issue.

We can think of many things that are old but not necessarily right. Take for example the papacy, racial prejudice, infant baptism, idolatry, and ecstatic utterance --to name just a few unrelated things that are questioned and even condemned by some, yet accepted by many as having the authority of God.

Many of the many who accept such things, do so on the basis that these things have been going on for centuries and milleniums. The real issue, however, as to whether we have the authority of God when we practice these things, rests not in the length of time they have been accepted in the world, but rather rests in who put these things in place --was it God, or man or Satan?

Jesus rebuked those who replaced the commandments of God with their own traditions. Having cited an an example of their doing so, he said, "You invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition" (Mtt 15:6-9, Mrk 7:1-13). How careful we must be not to make the same mistake.

NEW THINGS IN GOD'S OLD PLAN

What appears as new from God is really older than the world itself. So the question of whether we have the authority of God does not rest in when our traditions first appeared in the world, but whether they were in God’s purpose before the world existed. The only way we can possibly know that, is through what God reveals in his word.

God, according to his purpose, has changed things down through history. Does the scripture not say, "He takes away the first in order to establish the second" (Heb 10:9)? However, any new thing put in place, with God’s authority, was already purposed by God before he laid the foundation of the world (Mtt 13:35, Mtt 25:34, Jhn 17:24, Eph 1:4, 1Pe 1:20).

When God makes a change, therefore, he does not expect us to retain the thing he has abolished because it is old, or reject the thing he has established because it is new. We accept the new things God introduced, because they were according to his eternal purpose. No tradition of men, no matter how long it has been observed, can ever be as old as even the newest thing that has the authority of God.

Our innermost thoughts, intuitions, and convictions

In the third place, we should respect our own feelings and convictions. This is especially true if those convictions come through Bible study and through prayer.

We must always be careful, however, to distinguish between the authority of God and our own personal feelings and convictions, even though we believe them to be enlightened by Bible study and prayer, and even though we hold them honestly.

CONVICTIONS WITHOUT AUTHORITY

Paul says, "If you have a belief, keep it to yourself as your own conviction before God" (Rom 14:22) and he has earlier said not to judge others by it (Rom 14:10). Now Paul is not speaking here of belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ, for that belief has the authority of God and we should not keep it to ourselves as though it were merely our own personal conviction. Rather, Paul is talking about questions of what you may and may not eat and drink (Rom 14:2-6). A conviction about something like that has no authority from God, and is binding only upon yourself as your own conviction

There are some who treat their own feelings and convictions as divine light. However, if their hearts and minds are "darkened in their understanding" (Eph 4:18, Rom 1:21) then their feelings and convictions are mistaken, and are a false guide. As Jesus said, "If the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Mtt 6:22-23).

Paul, looking back to the days before his enlightenment and conversion says, "I thought to myself that I ought to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" and he followed that thought with great conviction (Acts 26:9-11). Paul, however, was wrong. His own inner light was darkness, and he most certainly did not have the authority of God.

OUR THOUGHTS AND GOD'S THOUGHTS

Contrary to popular "New Age" teaching, our innermost thoughts and feelings do not connect with the mind of God. That is made clear in the Bible.

If we would have the authority of God, therefore, we must listen to what has been revealed by the Spirit of God, who alone knows the mind of God. We can have the mind of Christ, which is to say we can have the authority of God, however we will not find it in our own innermost thoughts and feelings, but rather in God’s revealed word.

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