Authority in the New Testament and the New Testament’s Authority (original) (raw)

Biblical Authority and Christian Praxis

This article develops a model of biblical authority for Christian praxis that takes fully into account its problematic dimensions. It argues that the Bible is to be understood as a means of grace which emerged out of a complex historical and interpretative process and that this process provides the model for how it can function authoritatively today. In particular it argues that five paradigmatic narratives emerge out of the process which decisively shaped Israel and the early churches understanding of God and God’s purposes in the world. Contemporary must engage in a creative response to our contexts shaped by the reinterpretation of these narratives

Editorial: Christ’s Fourfold Declaration of Authority

Unio Cum Christo, 2019

Mission Statement Unio cum Christo celebrates and encourages the visible union believers possess in Christ when they confess the faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic church, the body of Christ. Thus, its mission is (1) to be an international scholarly and practical journal for the global Reformed community-churches, seminaries, theologians, and pastors; (2) to encourage deeper fellowship, understanding, and growth in faith, hope, and love in the Reformed community at large; and (3) to support small and isolated Reformed witnesses in minority missional situations. It will seek to do so by the publication and dissemination of scholarly contributions of a biblical, theological, and practical nature by Reformed leaders worldwide including leading theologians, developing scholars, practicing missionaries, pastors, and evangelists. Articles, interviews, and book reviews will consistently be in line with biblically based Reformed confessional orthodoxy and orthopraxis. Submitted or solicited contributions for its biannual issues will focus on specific themes

The Authority of Scripture: A Biblical Theology

The thesis of this article is that the power of the Word of God is the foundation for scriptural authority. The contention of the Church is that Scripture claims to be the Word of God and because there is no authority above God this appeal substantiates authority. This apparent circular reasoning is refuted by the secular who neither believe the Bible to be authoritative, nor believe in the God by which it claims authority. Moreover, the appeal to God as Scripture’s source of authority is even debated within various branches of Christian theology. Therefore, this study attempts to provide a fresh prospective on scriptural authority by appealing to the evidential result of the power of God’s word, and establishing that it is the factual proof of this power that substantiate the Bible’s authority.

Today When You Hear His Voice: Scripture, the Covenants, and the People of God, Gregory W. Lee, Eerdmans, 2016 (ISBN 978-0-8028-7327-9), x + 314 pp., pb $30

Reviews in Religion & Theology, 2018

pp., pb £??.?? Lee's Today When You Hear His Voice is an exploration into theological hermeneutics, seeking to address questions about how contemporary Christians can appropriate ancient Scripture. Lee's method is to hear how the book of Hebrews reads the Old Testament as Scripture, comparing this with the hermeneutical approaches of Augustine and Calvin. Over the course of the first four chapters, Lee argues that, in contrast to Augustine's mode of reading the Old Testament as signs, or Calvin's insistence on literal, Christological readings, Christian readers can follow the lead of the author of Hebrews, who reads the Old Testament as divine address, a living Word which speaks into the present. Two final chapters develop theologically the notion of divine address in conversation with a broader, modern theologies of scripture and hermeneutics. As an expansion and revision of a PhD dissertation, it is a thorough and detailed exposition, workman-like in its approach.

Approaching the New Testament as Source of Faith and Witness to Faith

Hermeneutics is about more than homosexuality. But for many members of the Christian community the issue of biblical interpretation is defined in recent experience by such issues as whether to ordain people in an active homosexual relationship and, just slightly less recently, whether to ordain women as bishops or women at all. The list could be extended with the ever present caveat that such issues of dispute have a way of making themselves more central than they should be, creating not only problems of hermeneutics but also crises of identity. This is nothing new. Arguably early Christians' disputes over circumcision redefined the heart of Judaism for some then and since into unrecognisability.

The Authority of Scripture as the Word of God

Kairos: Evangelical Journal of Theology, 2010

The place and influence of Scripture in the contemporary world is marginal and seriously undermined. This article is a plea to rediscover the centrality and authority of the Scriptures for an authentic Christian life in the world. It begins with some clarification questions about the locus of authority, and then presents several key issues regarding the authority of Scripture. It is argued that the concept should be understood in close association with the authority of God, the authority of the true story of the world in Jesus Christ, obedience and transformed lives. Throughout the article, special emphasis is placed on the authority of Scripture as the "living" and "active" word of God for an obedient and transformed Christian living in the world.

Gregory E. Lamb Book Review (STR 9.1): D. A. Carson, ed. The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016. xvi + 1240 pp. Hardback. $65.00.

Southeastern Theological Review (STR), 2018

The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures (TEACS) is the third volume in a sort of informal trilogy that began in 1983 with the publication of Scripture and Truth, and continued in 1986 with Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon (both volumes edited by D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge and published by Zondervan). After thirty-one years, and a host of new issues concerning hermeneutics and the authority of Scripture, it was time for a fresh evangelical contribution to the discussion—hence, TEACS. This anthology that brings together thirty-five essays from thirty-seven of the brightest minds within evangelical scholarship. The purpose of TEACS is to offer evangelicals a comprehensive, goto resource that not only addresses the nature and authority of Scripture in a scholarly, yet approachable manner but goes after “the jugular” of the most popular attacks on the authority of Scripture (see e.g., Carson’s helpful “Summarizing FAQs,” in Chapter 36).