Reflection on Authority

When I reflect on authority, I often wonder on what authority do modern Christians preach what they preach. The claim of our non-demoninational and protestant brothers and sisters in Christ is that they preach and develop doctrine on the authority of scripture. But is that so? Wouldn't it be more accurate to say they do so on the authority of their interpretation of scripture? And even then, most often only on a particular exerpt from the Bible, not the entire thing. If you can bare with me for a second, I'd like to try a short exercise in this mindset... "God so loved the world that He sent his only Son,..." (John 3:16). What? His only son! That means we aren't all Children of God, we must be something else! <-- See what I mean?

Then there's the groups who read the Old Testament but feel it is secondary and often obsolete compared to the New Testament. What do they think the earliest Christians were reading? They didn't have a collection of the gospels and letters that created the New Testament! The Old Testament is as much Christian as it is Jewish. Jesus completed the law, the OT is Christian scripture.

So where does authority come from? Well, if you look at the schismatic and segregating nature of modern Christian movements (and by modern I mean the protestant reformation to present day), it's obvious to me that Sola Scriptura (scripture alone) is an idea that isn't working. If the Word of God is supposed to be uniting us in Christ, then the modern attempts of "Bible Only! All that other stuff doesn't matter!" aren't doing the job because we are becoming more and more seperated.

If it's not rites and rituals that seperate us, it's interpretations of scripture. I've heard too many times "All that other stuff doesn't matter, we need to be living out God's Word in scripture," and then witnessed first hand how "all that other stuff" (rites, rituals, marian dogma, etc.) is replaced with various interpretations contradicting eachother. And what really gets me is where most of these comes from. It's surprising how many theologians are in the world today, regardless of educational background, vocational training, etc.

But what many people don't get is that we are not "better equipped" (as I've heard many times) today than the Christians in the 2nd century were to interpret scripture and Apostolic tradition. Want to know why? Because the Christians of the 2nd century were the students of the apostles and the students of their students. The redemptive message was alive and fresh! So why is it then that I see protestants running into Christian bookstores and buying Bible study guides and telling me that we are now "better equipped" because we have all the original languages translated, blah blah blah? Seriously, I used to work in one such store and I have this preached to me many a time. I have no problem with people studying the Bible, I know I do and others should to, but to think that we know better than the students of the apostles and the apostles themselves is just ignorant.

So what do we do? Where does authority lie if not completely in scripture? "Ummm...what is 'Sacred Tradition?'" Correct! Think about it. What Christian faiths aren't constantly schisming and seperating? The answer is, those in line with Sacred Tradition. While the protestant, reformed, non-denominational, etc. etc. churches of the world constantly break apart and form new bodies, the Catholic and Orthodox churches of the world hold it together. Sure there are people who leave, groups that break off from time to time, but what do they go and do? Create new churches that fail, break down, seperate, etc. And all the while, the unwaivering doctrines and dogmas of ancient Christian churches stay firm. But some people cringe at the idea that they don't know better than the earliest Christians.

Sacred Tradition is very much the glue. The 2nd century Christians knew what they were doing and talking about because they were learning it from the Apostles and students of the Apostles themselves! Important sacraments such as the Eucharist (which has immense Biblical basis, instituted by Christ himself at the last supper) are rooted in the tradition of the early Christians who celebrated the feast of life! And even important sacramentals, such as the sign of the cross, are rooted in the rich spiritual tradition of those earliest Christians.

I guess it's easy to dismiss those things because they are often "man made." But lets not forget who came down from heaven and became man for us and our salvation. The physical world is not evil, it is not unclean. "What goes into your mouth does not make you 'unclean.' It's what comes out of your mouth that makes you 'unclean.'"(Matt 15:10) Rituals and Rites rooted deeply in Christ are not wrong, if anything they are healthy to one's spiritual journey. Sometimes we need to spend less time attacking what we don't agree with and try to understand why it is we don't agree. Often we'll find that we don't disagree at all.