What is the final authority? We had this discussion in youth group many years ago, and we decided it had to be the Bible. When you hear from God, that's great, and you must follow it. But in the end, everybody at some point in their life is going to "think" they "heard" something from God that they did, in fact either make up or hear from Satan. The only way to know what to do is to look in the Bible. I don't believe God would ever give us a command that would go against the Bible, thus I think the Bible is always the best place to go for reference to what you think you have heard from God. What do you think?
The final authority?
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I think the final authority for anything, religon or otherwise, will, in fact, always be your mind.
I think the final authority for anything, religon or otherwise, will, in fact, always be your mind.
I think that could be said to be a fair statement in many ways. I cannot say that I necessarily agree with it wholeheartedly because I do believe more is at work but often your mind is what interprets what you read and hear.However, I think the ultimate authority is indeed God (and that includes the Bible IMHO). Here's why.I go to the very last part of Luke 11.Luke 11:51
Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Christ is talking to many of the scribes and Pharisees here but I believe strongly that he reaches out to us with this verse. I am an English major myself and a big part of English falls under the critical realm, as does many of the interpretations of the Bible. We, as a collective group, love to think that we're somehow smarter and better interpreters (lawyers) of the Bible. I think you'll agree that there are many interpretations of the Bible out there be it KJV, NIV, NRSV, and so on or be it liberal, conservative and so on. Your mind might be the earthly authority but God is the final authority. His commands are revealed through the Bible, Christ's teachings, the Holy Spirit, and our own personal experiences.It might be someone else trying to speak, such as satan at times. I believe that with prayer this can quickly be overcome. Jesus constantly taught us in the Bible to look past the physical realm and into the spiritual. Take the lessons given to Nicodemus and others in the Gospels. So many times the students of Christ's words looked at the physical - this includes the idea of being born again ("How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" - John 3:4). Nicodemus took the scholary, "lawyeristic" approach here.Christ provides for the authority of the Old Testament often as God's word:Matthew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
John 7 also has some more insight into the question. 15-17
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
I could go on and I'm sure you're quite tired of reading at this point but I do believe that God is the final authority. He has given us tools, such as the Bible, in which he reveals things but it takes more than just simply reading the Bible to get it right.
I think that could be said to be a fair statement in many ways. I cannot say that I necessarily agree with it wholeheartedly because I do believe more is at work but often your mind is what interprets what you read and hear.However, I think the ultimate authority is indeed God (and that includes the Bible IMHO). Here's why.I go to the very last part of Luke 11.Luke 11:51
Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Christ is talking to many of the scribes and Pharisees here but I believe strongly that he reaches out to us with this verse. I am an English major myself and a big part of English falls under the critical realm, as does many of the interpretations of the Bible. We, as a collective group, love to think that we're somehow smarter and better interpreters (lawyers) of the Bible. I think you'll agree that there are many interpretations of the Bible out there be it KJV, NIV, NRSV, and so on or be it liberal, conservative and so on. Your mind might be the earthly authority but God is the final authority. His commands are revealed through the Bible, Christ's teachings, the Holy Spirit, and our own personal experiences.It might be someone else trying to speak, such as satan at times. I believe that with prayer this can quickly be overcome. Jesus constantly taught us in the Bible to look past the physical realm and into the spiritual. Take the lessons given to Nicodemus and others in the Gospels. So many times the students of Christ's words looked at the physical - this includes the idea of being born again ("How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" - John 3:4). Nicodemus took the scholary, "lawyeristic" approach here.Christ provides for the authority of the Old Testament often as God's word:Matthew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
John 7 also has some more insight into the question. 15-17
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
I could go on and I'm sure you're quite tired of reading at this point but I do believe that God is the final authority. He has given us tools, such as the Bible, in which he reveals things but it takes more than just simply reading the Bible to get it right.
Armie Missionaries right about our minds being the final authority. Only because God gave us free will. True love is choosing Jesus freely. So my mind chooses Life in Christ! To choose to turn our backs on Him means eternity without Him.It's hell without Him!
Army is right on one hand but the mind can be fooled,it can be changed,it canbe swayed by emotion and the sinces,it can be influenced or confused by lifeexperiences.So it needs a guide to lead it to a place of truth and that would be the Bible Gods word will never lead us astray but the mind can so Ill have to come down on SwampFox's side here
2 Cor. 1:12 — "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward."I am very wary about what the fleshly mind authorizes as "good". The human mind is naturally geared toward fulfilling the needs and desires of the flesh. However, the conscience is something altogether different. If we've been supernaturally converted by the saving grace of God, our conscience is purged of dead works (ref. Heb. 9:14) unto serving the living God. Our purified conscience will be our built-in moral compass, so to speak.On ultimate authority, if you're hoping God will speak to you... well my friends, He already has! 2 Tim. 3:16 says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". The phrase "is given by inspiration of God" is actually one word in the original Greek. That word is θεόπνευστος (transliterated theopneustos) and it literally means "God-breathed". So what more do we need? God has already spoken!Maranatha,
Okay, now I'm going to play the Devil's advocate here... I was talking with a friend the other day, and she was saying how she felt God was telling her to sell everything she owned and move to a different country to start a missions station there. She said she had dozens and dozens of Scriptures to back her up and confirm it all. She even talked to her pastor about it, and he told her it was from God. To cut a long story short, everything fell through, and nothing happened. We have to be SO careful that we don't make the Bible say what we want it to. We seem to be very good at that.I suppose this story would be incomplete if I didn't tell you that a couple of years later she got married, and moved to the country where she originally wanted to go to, and God opened the doors for her and her husband to start up a missions station in their own home.I believe the Bible is the ultimate authority, but sometimes when we find out what we are supposed to do, we try to do it in our own strengh, and our own time, and that's when things go wrong.
God! The Bible, that's His book.Salvation, that's His plan.Free will, that's His idea also.Final AUTHORITY strikes me as the creator of it all! God (Father), Jesus, Holy Spirit. I am not, nor is any other person, the final AUTHORITY. My abilitly to choose is God-given.
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