Printer-friendly version

I believe that the most important issue facing us in the rest of this century, will not be tongues, Calvinism, works, war, liberalism, modernism, evolution, false religions, or ethics. It’s an issue you may have never even thought about, because it’s come in undercover. While Christians have been attacking errors all over, this one has come in so slowly, so carefully, that it’s broken in all over Christianity, even in conservative circles. It’s been around for a long time, even come out in the open in the past, but it seems to have gone back undercover, while all the while undergirding many, if not most or even all, of the visible attacks on the church and the gospel. It’s the question of authority.

None of us possesses in himself the capability to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the truth about what we should do. We need God to show it to us. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, and partially how He does it is through the Scripture. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The Spirit and the Word are the authorities that God has appointed us. “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

The word of God is our authority. The Spirit works in us to show us and explain to us the Word. We have to judge the doctrines that men present to us in the light of the Scripture. “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

Sadly, men have tried time and time again to undermine the authority of Scripture. Each time they have found something different to try to put in its place. Communism established the state as the authority, saying that the state had the right to tell the people that God did not exist. Evolution promoted science and scientists as the final authority, and even today many people are taught that scientists have proved that the Bible is false. Many religions have their own books that their adherents believe supersede the Scripture.

But while much of what professes to be Christianity has remained somewhat free of these corrosive forces, another attack has come on the scene in various forms, and since most of them are promoted under the name of Christianity, this attack has plunged deep into the heart of the church today. It has had a large influence in both conservative and liberal groups, and some forms of it have proceeded almost unnoticed.

For many, “Biblical” scholarship is replacing the Bible.

Jesus said, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” But modern scholarship—which has infiltrated the church to an awful degree—tells us that we aren’t able to hear Jesus without the input of scholars. It tells us that we need scholars to help us with the Bible, because they know three things: which parts of Scripture were in the original manuscripts, what the Greek actually means, and even what the passage actually means.

By claiming that the manuscripts have been corrupted (see my earlier article also on this topic), or that our English version is not accurate, the scholars basically put themselves between the common man and the Bible. If I cannot learn from a verse before checking with the scholars whether it is genuine, and whether my translation is correct, then I can no longer pick up my Bible and learn from it; instead, I have to go to the scholars for my learning. I can still call the Bible my final authority, but in the end, it has effectively been replaced by the scholars. The scholars have become my authority!

This runs directly counter to Biblical teaching. John tells us that we do not need any person to teach us, if we are being led by the Spirit (this doesn’t remove the necessity for fellowship with the brethren, nor does it excuse us from listening to the teaching of men who are truly devoted to God; the Scripture does command us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and the Spirit may use the brethren to help us understand the Scripture. But the Scripture, not the brotherhood, is, in the end, our final authority, and we need to continually check the Scriptures to make sure that what is being taught is in fact true.). “And as for you, the anointing which ye received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as his anointing teacheth you; concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in him.” He is telling us that if we follow the Spirit, He will show us the truth. We don’t have any need for scholars to tell us what we may believe because the Spirit is already telling us (only, of course, as we submit our lives to Him). Jesus said, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” He is here specifically addressing this question of authority—how are we going to know if something actually came from God? By scholars? By pastors? By dreams and visions? No, He says. As we do God’s will, God Himself will reveal His doctrine to us. The Spirit will be with us to show us what is right as we follow Him. So we need not worry about fabricated Scriptures or incorrect Greek—the Spirit will reveal the truth! (As scholars have continued to push through their agenda, many “Bible translations” have been made that are actually based on “scholarly evidence” and thus transparently put the scholars between the reader and the Scripture; these establish the scholars as the final authority. If someone accepts scholars, rather than the Spirit, as the final authority, can the Spirit truly be free to do His work?)

It is even worse when someone simply proclaims that a verse means something that doesn’t actually fit with the context and phraseology of that verse, and then expects everyone to simply accept his interpretation as the only correct one (Peter says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”). Yet this happens all the time. “Christian” pastors, professors, and authors routinely “explain” verses to their congregation, proclaiming a meaning that cannot be verified by the listeners, and using their “superior knowledge and education” to vindicate themselves and impress the listeners (the Greek and manuscript issues assist them to make their case unverifiable to the common person). It’s interesting that scholars actually claim both that the apostles used the Septuagint and that the Septuagint is faulty. If they would take the apostles’ authority away then there is no need to listen to them. “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

Seminary education is dangerous because it contributes greatly to the cause of those who would put the Scriptures beyond the common people. In seminary, students learn which verses they may claim are not genuine, which verses they may claim are not properly translated, and which verses they may claim cannot be understood except by someone who is “educated.” The Bible, however, puts no high importance on education: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.” God is not impressed by education! He tells us that He chooses weak things for His attacks on strong things.

All across this nation, however, “scholars” and their followers are challenging the concept of the Spirit as the final authority in our lives. In many churches, the people look to the pastor and he tells them what to believe. But even he does not search the Scriptures on his own, because he has gone to seminary, and the professors there have told him what to believe (this explains how pastors geographically and culturally separated can teach exactly the same material in exactly the same way)! And even the professors are not free, because they draw on scholars to tell them what to believe! And the scholars draw on previous scholars, as well as on the beliefs of their particular denominations. In many circles, this has gone so far that a quotation from some “great” man from that denomination, perhaps Calvin or Spurgeon, will probably have much more effect than a quotation from the Scripture itself. This can continue because pastors who have been thoroughly brainwashed in the system, and who have proved their loyalty to the system, can now be promoted over the system, where they will almost certainly continue the system. And methods of ordination that focus on what someone believes to the exclusion of how he lives certainly have the ability to contribute to the authority transfer away from the common people. It’s an awful system, yet few find that they have the strength and confidence to break free of it and think on their own.

The end result of such a system is that those who are not in the top ranks are discouraged from reading the Scripture; after all, they can’t understand it, and their pastor, along with their favorite authors and TV preachers, will tell them all that they need to know. It leads to people who don’t fulfill their responsibility to commit themselves to obedience to God and to study the Word of God to find out what God wants them to obey. It leads to a system where people believe that they are Christians, while never actually studying the Bible for themselves; after all, they don’t have the “necessary” education.

Protestants have criticized the Catholics for their claim that their leader is infallible; yet the Protestants have set up “scholarship” in basically the same place. Supposedly we can trust our soul to pastors, professors, and scholars, but not to the Holy Spirit and His work through the Scripture. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” We can trust the Spirit. We cannot trust scholars. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.”