What do we mean by the term
biblical authority?
Biblical authority refers to God’s
Word being the foundation and absolute
authority for our thinking in
every area. This means we take what
we hear from culture, family, friends,
the media, and even Christian leaders,
and we compare it to the Bible. If
we don’t do this, we are susceptible
to dangerous false doctrines and are
blown about by every wind of teaching
(2 Corinthians 10:5; Ephesians 4:14).
Avery Foley
How do we undermine biblical
authority?
Whether layman or theologian, we
undermine biblical authority whenever
we twist God’s written Word, pull
verses out of context, or ignore Scripture
to support something we already
believe. We’re setting ourselves up as
authorities over God’s Word rather
than the other way around. God has
given us his authoritative Word that,
with his Spirit and the power of the
gospel, gives us everything we need for
all matters, including life and godliness
(2 Peter 1:3).
What is the result of straying from
biblical authority?
When culture or the church strays
from biblical authority, everyone does
what’s right in his or her own eyes
(Judges 21:25). Moral relativism runs
rampant, the gospel is watered down,
and sin abounds.
In my home country of Canada, and
really throughout the USA and the
Western world, good is being called
evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20). Our
culture has thrown off God’s commandments,
leading to sexual perversion,
including homosexuality, transgenderism,
rape, polyamory, and even
pedophilia.
We suffer the consequences with
epidemics of STDs, abortion, fractured
families, high divorce rates, and so
much more. A culture unhinged from
the moral foundation of God’s Word is
a culture of suffering. Individuals, families,
and entire societies tend to prosper
when they live according to the principles
and commands of our Creator.
Why is this topic relevant to the
Genesis message?
In Genesis 3, Satan, in the form of a
serpent, tempted Eve by saying, “Did
God really say?” And Satan has used
this same attack throughout history
(2 Corinthians 11:3).
In our modern era, Satan is attacking
the foundation of our biblical doctrine—the early chapters of Genesis.
In our modern era, Satan is attacking
the foundation of our biblical doctrine—the early chapters of Genesis.
Did God really say he created everything
in six days? Did he really say that death
came after sin? Did he really say he created
us male and female? Evolution is a
direct attack on the authority of Scripture
because it tests what God says.
No passage of Scripture is more
attacked than the first 11 chapters of
Genesis. Evolutionary ideas lead to the
claim that because the origin account
in the Bible isn’t true, we can dismiss
the whole Bible.
Many Christians have tried to get
around this by combining the ideas and
saying that God used evolution and/or
millions of years to create the world
we see today. But why should we stop
at the world’s origin? Why not compromise
on what the Bible says about marriage,
sexuality, gender, the sanctity of
life, and more? We’re seeing a generation
of professing believers doing just
that because they see themselves as
the authority and edit God’s Word to fit
their ideas.
Why are so many Christians
intimidated by secular science?
They don’t understand that there’s
a battle over two interpretations, not a
battle over evidence.
There are two kinds of science:
observational and historical science.
Observational science is directly testable,
repeatable, and observable (such
as research in medical and technological
fields). Historical science deals
with the past, which is not directly
testable, observable, or repeatable
(such as explaining how the universe
came into existence).
What you believe about the past
determines how you interpret the evidence.
For example, if you believe that
billions of years of random chance
and death yielded out the universe,
you’ll date fossils at millions of years
old. But if you start with God’s Word,
you know that most fossils were laid
down when God judged the world in
the worldwide flood just over 4,500
years ago.
Whether you start with evolutionary
ideas or God’s Word, you will
interpret the evidence through that
lens. When you properly understand
a biblical framework for interpreting
the evidence, you can confidently talk
about the issue.
How does allowing evolution in the
church undermine our attempt to
witness?
Many Christians will compromise
by adding evolution and millions of
years to Scripture, trying to make
the Bible and even the gospel more
palatable to the world. But this tactic
is really just removing the power
and authority of the Bible. If we can
say, “Well, that’s not really what God
meant there,” when it comes to origins,
how can we say that God means
what he says about sin and the only
way to salvation, Jesus Christ?
How can someone talk to an
unbeliever about the authority of
Scripture?
Unbelievers have a different foundation
from believers. Islam, Mormonism,
Buddhist philosophies, and atheism—all are rooted in human reasoning. We
need to explain that unbelievers think
differently from us because they have a
different foundation. But we also need
to tell them that God’s Word is the only
sure foundation and explain why it can
be trusted. That’s where apologetics
comes in—you need to know why God’s
Word can be trusted.
No one is going to know the answers
to every single question. And that’s
OK. We can admit, “I don’t know the
answer to that. I’ll look into it. But
have you thought about . . . ?”
It’s easy to get distracted answering
every objection people have and
forget the gospel in the process. But
we should always use our answers as
a way of directing people back to the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
SourceThis article originally appeared on answersingenesis.org
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