By What Authority?

Mark Dunagan
10/02/16 - Sunday Morning

By What Authority?

When the chief priests and the elders of the Jewish people came to Jesus challenging Him with the question, “By what authority are You doing these things?” (Matthew 21:23), Jesus did not react with a “Who cares?” attitude in reference to authority.

Authority is Important to God

We see how important authority is to God as demonstrated in both Testaments. When God gave Israel the Law at Sinai, He began with:

• “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt… You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:1-3). In other words, He was to be their only God, eHtheir sole authority; they were to have no other Masters.

The truth of God as our final authority continues into and throughout the New Testament:

• Jesus reminded us that we are only to serve one Master: Matthew 6:24
• Jesus is presented as being Head over all things to the church: Ephesians 1:22-23, as well as everything else: Philippians 2:9
• At the name of Jesus every knee is to bow: Philippians 2:10
• God is the only Sovereign: 1 Timothy 6:15

Human or Divine Authority

Jesus reminds us in this section that all authority fits into one of two categories or sources: Either the practice or teaching originates with man or it originates with God (Matthew 21:25). The Jewish leaders clearly understood this point; for this is the only two options they considered when they tried to answer His question. Never did they say, “Wait a minute?there is another option”, even though they had powerful incentives to look for another way out of the dilemma in which they found themselves.

Authority Is Always Expressed in Law

This is true of both human and divine authority. Man’s authority is expressed in words, in laws and legislation. The same is true with divine authority. Seeing that human authority is expressed in word or legislation, the existence of the Bible should not surprise us, rather we should have expected it. Added to this, in light of the abundance of human legislation, man values authority in practice, although he may say otherwise at times.

Human Authority

Human authority includes such things as:

• Human opinion.
• The views of human "experts".
• Human feelings.
• Human traditions.
• Majority rule.
• What the culture currently views as popular or true.

Note that the Jewish leaders understood that human authority is weak, in fact, they dared not say that John’s baptism or preaching was simply John’s opinion (Matthew 21:26). The multitude would have considered such to be a grave insult. In like manner, they knew that if something was from God, then rebellion against it was foolish. In fact, there is no argument to counter the failure to obey God (Matthew 21:25). It was understood: if it comes from heaven one must believe and obey it – period.

Divine Authority

Divine authority is expressed in Scripture, which is a God-breathed communication (2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Timothy 6:14). As a result, there are many warnings from the beginning of the Bible to the end, to leave Scripture unaltered. (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:5-6; Revelation 22:18-19). In fact, a curse rests upon anyone who would pervert Scripture (Galatians 1:6-9).

Jesus and Scripture

Repeatedly, Jesus appealed to Scripture as the final authority:

• “It is written”: Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; Luke 10:26.
• He presented man’s eternal destiny as hinging directly upon whether or not one followed the will of the Father: Matthew 7:21
• He presented His own teachings as the only solid foundation available: Matthew 7:24-27
• He boldly declared that all men would be judged by His words: John 12:48

Failing to Become Like Little Children

A couple of chapters preceding  Matthew 21, Jesus was very intent when He noted that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven we must become like little children (Matthew 18:3). This section in Matthew 21 is a good example of going in the opposite direction.

• “They began reasoning among themselves, saying, ‘If we say…’”. Note the lack of concern for truth or what is right. God is not against reasoning, rather He commands (Isaiah 1:18) and commends the right use of our reasoning abilities (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22; Hebrews 5:14 "senses exercised to discern good and evil"). Yet when men do not love God or the truth, but instead are more concerned with being popular, one's reasoning will not be accurate. Rather than being humble, they are all about positioning and posturing, and trying to make themselves look good or right – even when they realize they are in the wrong.
• And where is the searching of the Scriptures? At this moment none of the leaders ask a more relevant question like, “Was John the baptism foretold in the Law?” or “Are there any passages that predicted his arrival?”

When Truth is not the Number One Priority

• “We do not know” (Matthew 21:27). When we start loving something more than the truth, it is amazing how we can quickly reach a point when we cannot answer even the most basic Bible questions, or just basic questions about life in general, such as “What is my purpose here?” I am amazed that such leaders would readily admit that with all their learning and wisdom they could not figure out what the common people could easily see that John the Baptist was sent by God.
• Blind to the clear evidence. From time to time some people insist that they need more evidence to either believe in God or believe in Jesus or to believe the Bible is the word of God. “We do not know” can often be nothing more than an attempt to side-step an issue. Yet the evidence was clear, so clear that even the unlearned and unskilled could see that John was a prophet. And more to the point, the evidence was overwhelming that Jesus was the Son of God (John 3:2). It is rather sad that God came to earth and mere men complained about His lack of credentials. He worked miracles in their midst (Acts 2:22) and they complained about His lack of educational attainments (John 7:15). The crowds could clearly see who He was (John 7:31), and yet the leaders considered the common people to be incredibly dim-witted (John 7:49). 
• Questions are asked to entrap rather than to learn: These men did not come to Jesus to sincerely inquire, “Would you help us – we are trying to figure out if you are from God or not”. Rather, they were trying to put Him on the spot. 
• Unwilling to change course and repent: Even when Jesus gave them a clear contrast and an easy question to answer, since they did not have a loyalty to truth, even when the truth is perfectly packaged, it ended up getting ignored. In this case, “We do not know” was synonymous with “We refuse to repent”.

They Could See

• Rejecting divine authority was without excuse: Matthew 21:25
• The only logical response to divine authority was accepting and obeying it.

The Authority They Valued

• “We fear the multitude”: Matthew 21:26
• Even people who hate the concept of authority – still follow a definite authority. What one “fears” above all else is the authority that one has chosen to follow. What we hold onto at all costs, is our authority. The sooner we realize this is God’s universe and only God is God, the sooner we can rest in the wisdom He has given us to live truly happy and productive lives for His glory. Finally note that Jesus did not play their game. They were not interested in truth, so He ended the conversation.

 

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net