ATTITUDES TOWARD BIBLE AUTHORITY

1
ATTITUDES TOWARD BIBLE AUTHORITY

• THE KEY TO WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG AMONG
  CHURCHES OF CHRIST

2
ATTITUDES TOWARD BIBLE AUTHORITY

• It is sad that not all churches of Christ teach
  and practice the same things.
• It is sadder that these different teachings and
  practices are the result of different attitudes
  toward Bible authority.
• Even sadder it is that many do not realize that
  these different attitudes exist.
• It matters what attitude one has, because it is
  possible to have the wrong attitude.
• But what attitude ought we to have?

3
ATTITUDES TOWARD BIBLE AUTHORITY

• THE CHANGING ATTITUDES OF ISRAEL TOWARD THE LAW
• SECTARIANISM AMONG THE JEWS IN THE FIRST CENTURY
• ATTITITUDES AMONG CHURCHES OF CHRIST
• THE THREE WAYS JESUS ESTABLISHED AUTHORITY

4
THE CHANGING ATTITUDES OF ISRAEL TOWARD THE LAW

• Initially, they had an attitude that pleased the
  LORD.

5
Exodus 191-2

• In the third month after the children of Israel
  had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same
  day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. For
  they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the
  Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the
  wilderness. So Israel camped there before the
  mountain.

6
Exodus 193-5

• And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to
  him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall
  say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children
  of Israel
• 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and
  how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you
  to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey
  My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be
  a special treasure to Me above all people for
  all the earth is Mine.

7
Exodus 196-8

• And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a
  holy nation.'
• These are the words which you shall speak to the
  children of Israel."
• So Moses came and called for the elders of the
  people, and laid before them all these words
  which the Lord commanded him.
• Then all the people answered together and said,
  "All that the Lord has spoken we will do." So
  Moses brought back the words of the people to the
  Lord.

8
Deuteronomy 523-25

• "So it was, when you heard the voice from the
  midst of the darkness, while the mountain was
  burning with fire, that you came near to me, all
  the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you
  said
• 'Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory
  and His greatness, and we have heard His voice
  from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day
  that God speaks with man yet he still lives. Now
  therefore, why should we die? For this great fire
  will consume us if we hear the voice of the Lord
  our God anymore, then we shall die.

9
Deuteronomy 526-28

• 'For who is there of all flesh who has heard the
  voice of the living God speaking from the midst
  of the fire, as we have, and lived? You go near
  and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and
  tell us all that the Lord our God says to you,
  and we will hear and do it.'
• Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when
  you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me 'I have
  heard the voice of the words of this people which
  they have spoken to you. They are right in all
  that they have spoken.'"

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THE CHANGING ATTITUDES OF ISRAEL TOWARD THE LAW

• Initially, they had an attitude that pleased the
  LORD.
• This was conservative tending to preserve
  established institutions and methods and to
  resist or oppose any changes in these.
• In time, however, they developed an attitude that
  displeased the LORD.

11
1 Kings 111-2

• But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as
  well as the daughter of Pharaoh women of the
  Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and
  Hittites-- from the nations of whom the Lord had
  said to the children of Israel, "You shall not
  intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely
  they will turn away your hearts after their
  gods." Solomon clung to these in love.

12
1 Kings 113-6

• And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and
  three hundred concubines and his wives turned
  away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was
  old, that his wives turned his heart after other
  gods and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his
  God, as was the heart of his father David. For
  Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the
  Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of
  the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of
  the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as
  did his father David.

13
1 Kings 117-10

• Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the
  abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of
  Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the
  people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his
  foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed
  to their gods. So the Lord became angry with
  Solomon, because his heart had turned from the
  Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him
  twice, and had commanded him concerning this
  thing, that he should not go after other gods
  but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded.

14
1 Kings 1111-13

• Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, "Because you
  have done this, and have not kept My covenant and
  My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will
  surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it
  to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in
  your days, for the sake of your father David I
  will tear it out of the hand of your son. However
  I will not tear away the whole kingdom I will
  give one tribe to your son for the sake of my
  servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem
  which I have chosen."

15
1 Kings 1126-28

• Then Solomon's servant, Jeroboam the son of
  Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother's
  name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against
  the king. And this is what caused him to rebel
  against the king Solomon had built the Millo and
  repaired the damages to the City of David his
  father.
• The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor and
  Solomon, seeing that the young man was
  industrious, made him the officer over all the
  labor force of the house of Joseph.

16
1 Kings 1129-30

• Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went
  out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the
  Shilonite met him on the way and he had clothed
  himself with a new garment, and the two were
  alone in the field. Then Ahijah took hold of the
  new garment that was on him, and tore it into
  twelve pieces.

17
1 Kings 1131-32

• And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten
  pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of
  Israel 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of
  the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to
  you (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of
  My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem,
  the city which I have chosen out of all the
  tribes of Israel),

18
1 Kings 1133

• because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped
  Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh
  the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of
  the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My
  ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My
  statutes and My judgments, as did his father
  David.

19
1 Kings 1134-35

• However I will not take the whole kingdom out of
  his hand, because I have made him ruler all the
  days of his life for the sake of My servant
  David, whom I chose because he kept My
  commandments and My statutes. But I will take the
  kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to
  you--ten tribes.

20
1 Kings 1136-38

• And to his son I will give one tribe, that My
  servant David may always have a lamp before Me in
  Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for
  Myself, to put My name there. So I will take you,
  and you shall reign over all your heart desires,
  and you shall be king over Israel. Then it shall
  be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in
  My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to
  keep My statutes and My commandments, as My
  servant David did, then I will be with you and
  build for you an enduring house, as I built for
  David, and will give Israel to you.

21
1 Kings 1225-27

• Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of
  Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from
  there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his
  heart, "Now the kingdom may return to the house
  of David If these people go up to offer
  sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem,
  then the heart of this people will turn back to
  their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will
  kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah."

22
1 Kings 1228-30

• Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves
  of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much
  for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your
  gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the
  land of Egypt!" And he set up one in Bethel, and
  the other he put in Dan.
• Now this thing became a sin, for the people went
  to worship before the one as far as Dan.

23
1 Kings 1231-32

• He made shrines on the high places, and made
  priests from every class of people, who were not
  of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast on
  the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the
  feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices
  on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to
  the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he
  installed the priests of the high places which he
  had made.

24
1 Kings 1233

• So he made offerings on the altar which he had
  made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth
  month, in the month which he had devised in his
  own heart. And he ordained a feast for the
  children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the
  altar and burned incense.

25
Jeremiah 3131-32

• "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when
  I will make a new covenant with the house of
  Israel and with the house of Judah-- not
  according to the covenant that I made with their
  fathers in the day that I took them by the hand
  to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My
  covenant which they broke, though I was a husband
  to them, says the Lord."

26
THE CHANGING ATTITUDES OF ISRAEL TOWARD THE LAW

• Initially, they had an attitude that pleased the
  LORD.
• This was conservative tending to preserve
  established institutions and methods and to
  resist or oppose any changes in these.
• In time, they developed an attitude that
  displeased the LORD.
• This was liberal favoring reform or progress.
• Obviously, this was a change for the worse!

27
SECTARIANISM AMONG THE JEWS IN THE FIRST CENTURY

• The Jews were divided into at least two sects.

28
Acts 236

• But when Paul perceived that one part were
  Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out
  in the council, "Men and brethren, I am a
  Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee concerning the
  hope and resurrection of the dead I am being
  judged!"

29
SECTARIANISM AMONG THE JEWS IN THE FIRST CENTURY

• The Jews were divided into at least two sects.
• Both the Sadducees and Pharisees were liberal in
  their attitude toward the word of God.
• The Sadducees rejected the resurrection, angels
  and spirits.

30
Acts 237-8

• And when he had said this, a dissension arose
  between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the
  assembly was divided. For Sadducees say that
  there is no resurrection--and no angel or spirit
  but the Pharisees confess both.

31
SECTARIANISM AMONG THE JEWS IN THE FIRST CENTURY

• The Jews were divided into at least two sects.
• Both the Sadducees and Pharisees were liberal in
  their attitude toward the word of God.
• The Sadducees rejected the resurrection, angels
  and spirits.
• The Pharisees elevated human traditions above the
  commandment of God.

32
Mark 71-4

• Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came
  together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. Now
  when they saw some of His disciples eat bread
  with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they
  found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews
  do not eat unless they wash their hands in a
  special way, holding the tradition of the elders.
  When they come from the marketplace, they do not
  eat unless they wash. And there are many other
  things which they have received and hold, like
  the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels,
  and couches.

33
Mark 75-7

• Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do
  Your disciples not walk according to the
  tradition of the elders, but eat bread with
  unwashed hands?"
• He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah
  prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written
  'This people honors Me with their lips, But their
  heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship
  Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of
  men.'

34
Mark 78-10

• "For laying aside the commandment of God, you
  hold the tradition of men--the washing of
  pitchers and cups, and many other such things you
  do."
• He said to them, "All too well you reject the
  commandment of God, that you may keep your
  tradition. For Moses said, 'Honor your father and
  your mother' and, 'He who curses father or
  mother, let him be put to death.'

35
Mark 711-13

• But you say, 'If a man says to his father or
  mother, "Whatever profit you might have received
  from me is Corban"--' (that is, a gift to God),
  then you no longer let him do anything for his
  father or his mother, making the word of God of
  no effect through your tradition which you have
  handed down. And many such things you do."

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SECTARIANISM AMONG THE JEWS IN THE FIRST CENTURY

• The Jews were divided into at least two sects.
• Jesus was neither a Pharisee nor a Sadducee He
  was simply a faithful Jew.
• But this does not mean He was not a liberal or a
  conservative!
• He upheld the institutions and methods
  established by His Father, and opposed those who
  wanted to reform them.
• Therefore, He had a conservative attitude toward
  the authority of Gods word!

37
ATTITITUDES AMONG CHURCHES OF CHRIST

• Churches with a conservative attitude toward
  Bible authority insist on authority from Christ,
  whether generic or specific, for all that is
  taught and practiced, having no desire to go
  beyond what is written.

38
Colossians 317

• And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in
  the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
  the Father through Him.

39
1 Corinthians 46

• Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively
  transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes,
  that you may learn in us not to think beyond what
  is written, that none of you may be puffed up on
  behalf of one against the other.

40
2 Timothy 46-8

• For I am already being poured out as a drink
  offering, and the time of my departure is at
  hand. I have fought the good fight, I have
  finished the race, I have kept the faith.
  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of
  righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
  Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me
  only but also to all who have loved His
  appearing.

41
ATTITITUDES AMONG CHURCHES OF CHRIST

• Churches with a conservative attitude toward
  Bible authority insist on authority from Christ,
  whether generic or specific, for all that is
  taught and practiced, having no desire to go
  beyond what is written.
• Churches with a liberal attitude toward Bible
  authority teach and practice what they want, with
  or without authority from Christ, desiring to
  reform the work and worship of the church,
  according to their likes and dislikes.

42
ATTITITUDES AMONG CHURCHES OF CHRIST

• God warns those with a liberal attitude
• Anyone who goes beyond Christs teaching and does
  not continue to follow only his teaching does not
  have God. But whoever continues to follow the
  teaching of Christ has both the Father and the
  Son.
• If someone comes to you and does not bring this
  teaching, do not welcome or accept that person
  into your house. If you welcome such a person,
  you share in the evil work. (2 John 9-11, NCV).

43
THE THREE WAYS JESUS ESTABLISHED AUTHORITY

• Commands of His Father.

44
John 1248-50

• He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words,
  has that which judges him--the word that I have
  spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have
  not spoken on My own authority but the Father
  who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say
  and what I should speak. And I know that His
  command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever
  I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I
  speak."

45
THE THREE WAYS JESUS ESTABLISHED AUTHORITY

• Commands of His Father.
• Examples of His Father.

46
John 519

• Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most
  assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing
  of Himself, but what He sees the Father do for
  whatever He does, the Son also does in like
  manner."

47
THE THREE WAYS JESUS ESTABLISHED AUTHORITY

• Commands of His Father.
• Examples of His Father.
• Implications of His Fathers statements.

48
Matthew 2223-25

• The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no
  resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying
  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having
  no children, his brother shall marry his wife and
  raise up offspring for his brother. Now there
  were with us seven brothers. The first died after
  he had married, and having no offspring, left his
  wife to his brother.

49
Matthew 2226-28

• Likewise the second also, and the third, even to
  the seventh. Last of all the woman died also.
  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the
  seven will she be? For they all had her."

50
Matthew 2229-38

• Jesus answered and said to them, "You are
  mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the
  power of God. For in the resurrection they
  neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are
  like angels of God in heaven.
• But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have
  you not read what was spoken to you by God,
  saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of
  Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God
  of the dead, but of the living."

51
THE THREE WAYS JESUS ESTABLISHED AUTHORITY

• Commands of His Father.
• Examples of His Father.
• Implications of His Fathers statements.
• These are, obviously, methods of establishing
  authority that need to be preserved.

52
WHAT ATTITUDESHALL WE HAVE?

• What shall our attitude be?
• We must realize that we cannot straddle the fence
  between conservatism and liberalism!

53
Luke 1123

• "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who
  does not gather with Me scatters."

54
WHAT ATTITUDESHALL WE HAVE?

• What shall our attitude be?
• We must realize that we cannot straddle the fence
  between conservatism and liberalism!
• If we care whether the LORD is pleased with us,
  we will want authority from Christ for everything
  we teach and practice!
• If we want to go to heaven when we die, we will
  manifest the same attitude toward Bible authority
  that our LORD manifested we will be
  conservative! Because that is the only way we can
  be sound.