"And when He was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto Him as He was teaching,
and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them,
I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell Me, I in likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism
of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; He
will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a
prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And He said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I
do these things."Matt 21:23-27.
This week we will continue our
discussion of authority as it pertains to the religious realm. This series specifically deals with Biblical Authority. Authority
(exousia in the Greek) simply refers to the "right or the capacity to act". Biblical Authority specifically addresses
one's right or capacity to act according to the Bible. Today, we will describe the types of authority. There are two,
and only two, sources of authority in religion. This fact is established by the Lord himself, in Matthew 21:23-27. In this
passage, the Lord makes it very clear there are only two sources of authority in religion - heaven or men. The implication
of the text, of course, is that if John's baptism was from heaven, it was authorized by God and should be followed. Also
implied was the conclusion that if John's baptism was from men then it was worthless.
This exchange between Jesus and the combination of the priest and elders is very telling. That they questioned Jesus was no
surprise. Carson, another commentator, observed, After Jesus' provocative actions, an official response was inevitable.
It came from the chief priests and the elders, the officials responsible for the temple, who constituted the major part of
the Sanhedrin. Jesus was implicitly claiming an authority which threatened their supremacy and must justify it if he could.
They had the wrong motives but asked the right question. Authority is the issue. Jesus, in fact, did have the heavenly authority
to act as He did.
Today, we live in a world where many people, like the ones in the text above,
are content to establish and rely on their own man-made righteousness. Listen to the apostle Paul in Romans 10:1-3: "Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God, for Israel, is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Jesus had earlier spoken on this
point as He proclaimed that the Pharisees were "teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." He exclaimed that
it is "in vain that they worship me." (Matt. 15:9)
This, of course, is the sad state of affairs
in the world even today. What we must always ask of ourselves, as we move about in life and especially in religion, is whether
or not we are operating under God's authority, or man's authority.
Next week-Where does authority in religion
reside today?
Bro. Eli
