Devotional Thought for January 28, 2018:
And they were astonished at [Jesus’] teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22)
Authority is given, not taken. In the Gospel according to Mark a man with an unclean spirit cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” (Mark 1:24) And Jesus stops it, rebuking it saying, “Be silent, come out of him!” Why did Jesus stop the unclean spirit from speaking what seems to be the truth about Jesus? Well, this has to do with authority. The unclean spirit had no authority to speak about the Son of God, the Word become flesh, or of the Father in heaven for that matter.
This authority of Christ follows through to the Holy Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. Note these words of Saint Peter, one of the twelve who were given the authority to speak about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. (1 Pet. 1:10 ESV) Peter is telling us that the prophets of the Old Testament were also led by the Spirit of Christ and they prophesied about the work of salvation that Jesus would one day complete. The fact that the prophets were led by the Spirit of Christ indicates that they had the authority to speak about these things.
Francis Pieper, author of Christian Dogmatics, describes this authority of the Bible.
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There is only one book in the world which possesses the quality of perfect unity, and that is the Bible. Though its writers were men of widely different culture and a period of about 1,500 years separated the last from the first writer, the Bible owes its perfect and inerrant unity to the fact that it was written by the inspiration of God. For that we have the authoritative declarations of Christ and His Apostles relative to both the New and the Old Testament in all their parts. (Pieper, F. Christian Dogmatics volume 1, CPH, St. Louis. p. 142.)
So it is with confidence that we hear God’s Word and live by it. Even though the world would say and teach us otherwise, Christ did die on the cross and rise again to free you from the struggle with temptations from the devil, your own flesh, and the world. Your sins really are forgiven! Yes, here and now we struggle and persevere in hope, but at the consummation, this Word of authority, spoken by the Father will complete in us what He says. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn. 8:31 ESV)
In Christ,
Pastor Tony Mandile