On the Authority of Scripture

A quick note on the authority of scripture

If Jon talked about this in class, I missed it, but it was in his notes and I found it important and interesting.

• If Jesus Christ is who the texts claim him to be, then these texts receive their authority from Jesus Christ , and not the other way around… we believe these texts because of Jesus Christ , it is not that we believe in Jesus because we believe in these texts.

• If Jesus Christ is who he is, we believe in texts that speak about him because of his authority; we donʼt believe in his authority because we believe in these texts.

• People debate the authority of scripture because thatʼs the base we get for the authority of Jesus - if we get a low authority of scripture youʼll get a low authority of Jesus… this is why we have apologetics.

• The real authority in this line is not with Jesus but with the text, and based upon our arguments for its reliability.

• But if Jesus Christ is God incarnate, Jesus Christʼs authority is not derived from the texts, but from himself - and the texts have authority because of Jesus Christʼs authority.

• If we rely on the authority of the texts to found the authority of Jesus Christ , then our faith can easily be shaken based on new arguments against scripture.

• However, if we give Jesus Christ authority, then we see the texts as the means by which Jesus Christ is giving access to himself and witness to himself.