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Sources of Authority (Protestant Authority (Ultimate authority belongs to…
Sources of Authority
Protestant Authority
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They function in a ministerial (serving) capacity, not in a magisterial (leading) role
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They have the God-ordained responsibility and authority:
- To teach scripture and communicate sound doctrine
- To lead under the lordship of christ
- To pray and...
- To Shepard the church by providing stellar examples of christ-likeness
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Centred on authoritative divine revelation, which is scripture
The Bible
Revelation
- Others see it as a non-propositional revelation which reveals God through the books of the Bible that record individual authors' experience of God
- Both of these views consider the Bible to be inspired by God
- Some Christians regard the Bible as a propositional revelation from God that reveals his divine word. They refer to it as the 'word of God'
Origins of the Bible
- The beginnings of the Bible are found in the early Church
- The bishops of the second century CE decided on lists of Christian writings that they believed truly reflected and represented Christian beliefs, values and teaching. Each these writings was believed to have a direct link with the Apostles or Jesus
- Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon proposed a canon of the New Testament. This is essentially the same as the canon that was accepted at the Council of Elvira in the late fourth century, and remains the same today
- Modern scholars have questioned Irenaeus' list: The Epistle to the Hebrews is now generally accepted not to be written by Paul
- Martin Luther questioned the inclusion of James and there are doubts about the Book of Revelation, while John appears to be a Gnostic text
- On the other hand, writing such as the Shepherd of Hermes would appear to belong in the New Testament but were excluded by Irenaeus
- The Bishops also accepted the whole of the Jewish scriptures - the Old Testament - believing that they proclaimed Christ to come
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Verbal Inspiration
- 'Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death'
- 'Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death'
- The Bible requires the death Penalty as a punishment for many offences. Today this punishment seems totally inappropriate for many crimes and there would be few Christians who would, for example, wish to enforce the following:
- 'Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death'
- If the Bible is indeed verbally inspired, then every word of it comes from God. This implies that every word should be respected and followed as it is God's word
- Since the nineteenth century a literalist approach to the Genesis creation stories has been a matter of dispute among Christians
- Another question is whether the Bible can be disobeyed. If it is the word of God then doing anything other than is written would be punishable by God. However, most Christians do not follow the food laws in the Old Testament and do not worship in accordance with the instructions given there
Divine Inspiration (1)
- The question of disobeying biblical instructions is raised here as it is with verbal inspiration. The issue now is which interactions come directly from God and which do not
- Problems with teachings about morality occur in relation to both the Old and New Testaments. One example is Lot and his daughters:
'But before they lay down, the men the city, the men Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, 'where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out us, so that we may know them.' Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, 'I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.'
- If the Bible is viewed as divinely inspired rather than as the actual word of God there are still questions that need to be considered
Divine Inspiration (2)
- 'Likewise, tell the older women to reverent in behaviour, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, being submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited'
- 'As in all the churches of the saints, women should silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in Church'
- Sections of the text, such assume of the teachings attributed to Paul, are at great variance with the views of most christians:
A Roman Catholic View
- What is interesting is that while the Roman Catholic Church indicates that the Bible is a propositional revelation and therefore believes it to be the word of God. It still teaches that it needs to be interpreted for Christians today. It does not take the Bible literally
- However, it emphasises the role of the humans who wrote it down. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the intentions of the authors, the cultured circumstances of the time and the literary models in use
- 'The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of sacred scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit'
- The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Bible is a propositional revelation from God.It accepts that the Bibles the word of God.
- So there are problems whether Christians believe that the Bible is verbally inspired or divinely inspired
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Roman Catholic Authority
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Three legged stool = scripture, tradition and the magisterium (Church)