Book 3 Authority PB

Book excerpt: Is Scripture really our ultimate authority? Authority is what dictates what we will believe and do. Accordingly, J. I. Packer, rightfully remarks: "The problem of authority is the most fundamental problem that the Christian Church ever faces." Most Christians solve the issue by simply saying, "The Bible is my final authority." But such a view forgets that there is a human being between us and the Bible, which is why there are a multitude of interpretations of the Bible that people live by. Reformed theologians claim that a "testimony of the Spirit," confirms to us what is true. But there is no biblical or practical support for this. Accordingly, we are back to our God-given reason and the right and responsibility of private judgment as our ultimate subjective authority by which we live by. Postmoderns are right, then, to assert that our own reason is the god we live by. But they are wrong to ignore that our ultimate objective authority is God, Who our reasoning will be judged by.