Celebrate the Church of Christ!
We began yesterday by considering the fact that God is the source of all authority.
GOD HAS GIVEN ALL AUTHORITY TO HIS SON – Heb. 1:1-2:
God has not revealed Himself as completely (in nature) until He revealed Himself in and through His Son, Jesus of Nazareth: Matt. 11:27.
Here is an important point to consider and remember because it applies to us as well: Jesus taught with authority only because He taught what the Father told Him to teach! Half a dozen times in the Gospel of John, Jesus says something to this effect: “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30). See also: John 8:28, 42; 10:18; 12:49; 14:10.
There is a reason Jesus is called the “Lord.” He has authority in Christianity and He never delegated His authority in His church to any one person nor to any group of people! Consider the words of Ephesians 1:20-23.
He has complete executive authority to implement His commands, legislative authority to write His commands, and judicial authority to interpret His commands. He has all authority.
THE HOLY SPIRIT KNOWS THE MIND OF GOD AND REVEALS THAT MIND – 1 Cor. 2:6-13:
First, let us identify the “we” in this context. Who are the “we”(?) because a lot of people today believe that the Holy Spirit guides them and speaks to them but who are the “we” in this context? The Christians in Corinth were suffering from “preacher-itis” – they were trying to put preachers on a pedestal and set one preacher against another. The preachers are mentioned in 1:12: Paul, Apollos, and the apostle Peter. In certain passages in 1 Corinthians, especially here in chapters 2 and 3, Paul is arguing that all these preachers are the same; they’re all revealing the will or wisdom of God. So, when Paul says “we,” he is not talking about all Christians; he is talking about inspired preachers or inspired writers.
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Here, Paul is talking about “God’s wisdom” – the hidden mystery which none of the rulers of this age understood. You’ve heard me say this before: in the OT times, God kept His plans secret so Satan could not know that the cross was in God’s plans. Satan would have never crucified Jesus if Satan had known that that was the way by which God was going to take care of the problem of sin.
Here are some passages you should have highlighted in your Bibles John 14:25-26; 15:26-27; 16:13. We see the Holy Spirit did not teach on His own initiative. Jesus did not teach on His own initiative nor did the Holy Spirit. God help me that I never teach on my own initiative! If you ask me a Bible question, I better give you a Bible answer! The only way to know if it is a Bible answer is to quote book, chapter, and verse understood and interpreted correctly in its own context.
THE APOSTLES TAUGHT WITH AUTHORITY – 1 Corinthians 14:37:
Let’s look again at those passages from the Gospel of John. Notice these two things: the apostles were guided by the Holy Spirit in “all” things – there is nothing we need to know or do in Christianity that was not taught the apostles and guided in them by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, they were given an inspired memory so that they did not even have to take notes during the ministry of Jesus! The Holy Spirit revealed to them everything He wanted them to know, preach, and write.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:37, what he wrote down are the commandments of the Lord. That’s how important it is to know the teachings of the apostles and to obey the teachings of the apostles. That’s why we study Acts, Romans… through Revelation – because these are the teachings of the apostles and prophets, guided by the Holy Spirit of God.
The fundamental distinction between the church in the NT and the “Yellow Pages” churches is that the church in the NT recognizes and honors the authority that Jesus Christ has to regulate His own church. That authority limits what we can do in Christianity. Our next study will begin looking at some of those distinctions.
The NT Church recognizes the “divine chain of command:” God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, apostles. We must submit to their commands and not go beyond those commands.
Paul Holland
