By What Authority?

On July 18, 1996, an early morning Bible-quoting contest turned ugly in Dadeville, Alabama, ending with one man dead and another fleeing justice. Gabel Taylor, 38, died after being shot in the face. Police are looking for a suspect who was comparing his Bible knowledge with Taylor’s. It was discovered that their disagreement arose because they were quoting different versions of the same passage. The suspect reportedly retrieved his Bible and was angered when he discovered that he had been wrong.

True story. And as sad as this account is, it is not the first time a believer has sought to defend his or her interpretation of Scripture with an angry tirade. We live in a chapter of the Christian story in America that finds many people defending the authority of Scripture in ways that do great damage to the cause of God and the people for whom Christ died. They are the kind of Christians we wouldn’t want to be linked to. Could it be they misunderstand the issue at stake?

As I read about the frighteningly awesome theophany (encounter with God) in Exodus 19, I have a hard time believing that God needs humans to come to His rescue. Someone would have to be a fool to mess with the God of a smoking mountain and thundering voice. I doubt Moses put a boundary around the mountain to protect God from people who would harm Him. God does not need humans rising in anger to take on those who suggest alternative ways of interpreting the Bible. God is not shaking in His boots over what we may say about Scripture. God does not shrink in the face of opposition. In short, God can handle His own battles.

However, many interpret such behavior as an act of loyalty on their part. This God who liberated them is precious; therefore, they defend any attack against His honor or truthfulness. But how? By shooting someone? By destroying them in a theological tirade? By firing them? How does Scripture instruct us to deal with them? If we are to respond to our enemies the way God responds to His enemies, we will lay down our lives for them. We will love them as God loves them. And we will speak truth in love, seeking to correct, but not to show off our knowledge or our angry power.

But the issue goes much deeper than this. When someone defends the authority of Scripture, what is he or she defending? The words in the Bible? The authority of the Bible to tell us how to order our lives? The unchangeableness of the text? A specific interpretation of the words of Scripture? What are we defending? And does it really need to be defended?

The Bible suggests that authority does not reside in words but in persons. In other words, the most important thing about the Ten Commandments is not necessarily what they say but who spoke them into being—God! The authority of Scripture is not the issue. The issue is the authority of the God who speaks to us in the Scriptures. The book itself bears no innate authority, but the God who is revealed in the book is authority personified.

We catch a glimpse of this in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus speaks to religious leaders and common folk about the new reign of God that is breaking in on them in His teachings. Matthew 5 contains a text about the fulfillment of words from the law and prophets. They are meant to be fulfilled, not defended. Lived out, not debated. Embodied, not protected. At the conclusion of the sermon, the response of the people is astonishment, because He taught them, not as one of the scribes, but as one having authority. Authority rests in the people who speak, not in the words they speak.

Authority, in the Exodus story, is the ability to deliver slaves from Pharaoh’s grasp, to part the sea, to make manna fall from heaven, to heal the blind, to forgive sin, to feed a multitude, to raise the dead. Authority is not about proving whether or not something happened, whether it is scientifically verifiable, whether the dating sequence is correct, whether or not it was written by Paul. We have invested ourselves in making biblical authority a matter of human debate and defense.

The best way to demonstrate the authority of Scripture is to know and be transformed by the God who is revealed in Scripture. Sadly, the debate over the authority of Scripture has sunk to the level of humans defending words in the Bible as absolutely true. It is not the words that we need to prove true. It is the God who inspired the words that we need to prove true by living under His authority as sovereign Lord of life.

Authority is not in the book but in the God who speaks to us in the book and through the book. We bear witness to the authority of Scripture by aligning our lives with its Spirit-inspired revelation. As people of one book, we participate in the world-shaping authority of God, which is clearly narrated in the book and thereby forms the Christian community.

Many will suggest that this is a liberal position, or a softening of the authority of Scripture. I disagree. To defend Scripture is one step removed from living in a vital relationship with God. The only text throughout the entire Bible that even comes close to suggesting that Scripture needs to be defended is the directive to young Timothy to guard the gospel. And these texts refer to a scandalous interpretation of the gospel of Jesus. Timothy is to tell the story right.

My fear is that we think we have done our part for God when we have defended placing the Ten Commandments on the courthouse wall or championed the right to teach the Bible in public schools. These are issues of importance, but they are not how we affirm the authority of God in our lives.

Again, our concern is not to defend the authority of Scripture as a document, but to be transformed by bringing our lives under the authority of the God revealed in Scripture. A Baptist friend once asked me if Nazarenes believed in the inerrant, authoritative Word of God. I replied, “We go lots further than that. We actually bring our lives into compliance with the God revealed in Scripture.”

Today’s post is an excerpt from Dancing with the Law: The Ten Commandments.