By Morgan Cates
1 Thessalonians 4:2 – For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
This article continues in our series on Scriptural doctrine. We will cover the authority of Scripture, starting with 1 Thessalonians chapter four verse two. This is the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica – a 1stcentury Greek city. The main purpose of this letter is explaining the second coming of Christ, but Paul also gives some snippets of instructions. Towards the end of his letter, Paul explains by what authority he is giving these instructions: the Lord Jesus. “The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God (Grudem).” This quote from Wayne Grudem gives us excellent insight to how deep this doctrine actually goes. Everything in the Bible is directly from God, and we should interact with it as if it has the authority of God Almighty, because it does.
It is important to understand that when Paul says he is writing these things by the authority of Jesus, it doesn’t just mean that this specific letter written to the Thessalonians is by Jesus’s authority, and it also doesn’t mean that only Paul’s letters are by the authority of Jesus. Like we discussed in our earlier article on the inspiration of Scripture, ALL Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, this authority that comes from Jesus, the authority breathed out by God, applies to all 66 books in the Bible. Every single book, chapter, and verse is given to us for us to use it with authority over our lives. Scripture is authoritative because it is literally God’s words told to us with His authority.
What does this mean for us practically? We can apply this doctrine to our lives daily by living a life of obedience. How do we live a life of obedience in a post-ascension world? Two ways: we obey all that the Bible says and we allow Its authority to shape every sphere in our lives (even the verses that challenge us), and we live out the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
This doctrine is highly opposed in our culture, not only by secularists and other religions, but also from antiorthodox movements like progressive Christianity. The inerrancy and authority of Scripture are both true doctrines that are often denied by this movement. This is a problem because the Bible is the only perfect authority to ever exist, and everyone has something that they hold as authoritative in their life. Therefore, if you don’t hold the Bible as authoritative over your life, you are holding something imperfect as your ultimate authority. Because of that you will never have an authority that can properly guide you throughout your life and towards Christ.
Brothers and sisters, let’s practice obedience by shaping our lives around the Bible’s authority, and not trying to shape the Bible around our lives.