“Let us therefore yield ourselves and bow to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, which can neither err nor deceive.” Saint Augustine
A lot of times, we are pressured to accept or believe the ideologies of today’s culture. Sometimes we are persuaded to believe them.
As believers, our guide and authority should be the Bible. God has set forth His truth about life and godliness. How does your belief about truth measure alongside God’s?
What does it mean for Scripture to be the authority?
Let’s look at a definition of authority “The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.” (Grudem, 2020)
2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
Who is really in control?
God has supremacy and power above all. God is the author of the Bible; therefore, His words carry authority. Scripture is God speaking, so he has the final say in all matters.
God is true, so His Word is true.
God inspired every author of the Bible ( over 40 men) to write down His words. They wrote exactly what God wanted them to say without error or contradiction.
2 Peter 1:20-21 says, “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” ESV
As a follower of Christ, God has given you the faith to believe in Him. You willingly surrendered your life to Christ. Therefore, God should be the authority in your life. If you trust God, you should trust His Word.
Our Christian faith stands or falls upon the foundation of the Holy Scriptures. We can’t pick and choose what to believe in the Bible. If we do not believe certain parts or disobey its commandments, we disbelieve and disobey God.
We often say that we want God to be in control of our lives and yet not to obey or believe His Word.
The doctrine of Scripture’s authority reminds us that God’s word stands above all earthly powers because He is God. If we don’t trust the Scriptures to be authoritative, how can we say that we trust God?
Bibliography
Grudem, W (2020) Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine 2nd Edition
