(A newspaper column by Lloyd Streeter)
Why do you believe what you believe? In a sense, that is the most important question related to religion. Why do you believe what you believe and why do you do what you do in your religion? Throughout history theologians have had a term for this determining factor – FINAL AUTHORITY.
Something has to be the final authority in your belief and in your behavior. Something must regulate your doctrine and your practice. If what we believe and what we do is to be pleasing to God, then we must follow the authority which God has given us. In the Old Testament we read of the dark days of the judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).
When a person does not claim Christ as king and when a person does not follow what King Jesus has said in the Bible, that person will end up doing that which is right in his own eyes, but, it will not be right in God’s eyes.
The Bible should be our final authority and not man-made tradition. The sixty-six books of the Holy Bible are sufficient in all matters of faith, doctrine, and practice. Nothing should be added to the Bible or substituted for the Bible as the final authority.
The final authority even tells us what the final authority is. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16). “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).
The Apostle Paul’s standard was always, “For what saith the scripture?” (Romans 4:3).
The diligence of the Berean Christians was commended. They tested everything and judged everything by the Word of God. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).
On the other hand, Jesus condemned making mere human tradition the final authority. “For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men….ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition….Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition” (Mark 7:8, 9, 13). “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?….ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition…But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:3, 6, 9).
Our traditions are fine as long as they do not go contrary to the Bible. Some of our traditions are helpful. Paul admonished the Thessalonians, for example, to hold fast to the traditions which he had taught them (II Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6). It is only when tradition or human teachings are substituted for, or made equal to the Bible that they are dangerous. God is very displeased with those who add to or subtract from His Word (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18-19).
So, if anyone asks us, “What and where is the real Church of Jesus Christ?” Our answer is that the Bible is our sole authority on that subject. The Bible teaches that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a spiritual organism, a living body consisting of all born-again regenerated persons from the time of Pentecost until now. It does not consist of a single denomination or organization (Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:22; Acts 2:47).
Or, if someone asks, “Does the Lord’s Supper and baptism help make it possible for a person to go to Heaven?” We reply that only the Bible answers that question with any authority. And the Bible teaches that we are saved only by faith in Christ not by such works as baptism or the Lord’s Supper (Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:5). These ordinances only symbolize Christian truths.
Or, if someone asks, “What should we believe about the Virgin Mary?” Our answer is that we should believe just what the Bible says about her; no more, and no less. What the Bible teaches is that Mary was a lovely Jewish girl, highly favored and blessed of God, worthy of our honor and esteem, a sinner saved by grace, a virgin until after Jesus was born, the mother of at least seven children, and not one to whom we should pray (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 13:55-56; Matthew 1:25; Psalm 69:8; I Timothy 2:5).
No man, no church, no denomination, no seminary professor can be the final authority. To make them such is to usurp the place of the Bible and of God Himself.
Someone asks, “But which Bible is the final authority?” That’s a good question in this day of a multitude of new versions, versions that differ greatly from each other.
My answer is that the Bible that God’s people have always had is the Word of God and it is the final authority. After all, God promised to preserve His Word (Ps. 12:6-7), and so every generation of true believers have had God’s final authority. The true Word of God was preserved in the vast majority of manuscript copies, in Luther’s Bible, in Calvin’s Bible, in Tyndale’s Bible, and in the Authorized King James Bible.
The new English translations have been made from two or three corrupted Greek manuscripts of suspicious origin. New translations weaken Bible doctrines in numerous places. For example, some of them have removed GOD from I Timothy 3:16. They remove Jesus’ blood from Colossians 1:14. Some of these new translations remove the resurrection of Christ from Acts 2:30, and the ascension of Christ from John 16:16 and Hebrews 4:14. One of the new versions even says that Elhanan killed Goliath (II Samuel 21:19) even though we all know that it was David who killed Goliath (Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother). Some new versions call Joseph the “father” of Jesus in Luke 2:33. And they leave out many verses entirely.
We do not say that the new translations are “no good,” because they do have many verses properly translated, enough so that a person can get saved reading them. However, the new versions have too many mistakes in them to be called the final authority.