Biblical Authority: Part VIII

"As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (John 20:21)

Jesus confronted Israel with a combination of judgement and mercy.  In his article on biblical authority, N.T. Wright suggests that our job as the church is to confront the world in the same way that Jesus confronted Israel.  He insists that this is not a matter of "entering into the world's power games."  We are not to be like Peter, who drew his sword on the Mount of Olives, ready to bring in the kingdom by force.  We are not to use our sense of the authority of scripture to try to squeeze people into "little boxes."

Those little boxes often owe far more, in my experience, to cultural conditioning of this or that sort, than to scripture itself as the revelation of the loving, creator and redeemer God.

Bishop Wright again places the locus of authority on God, not the Bible.  He says that we are to "speak and act for God in this world" with "scripture in [our] hand and heart."  He wants us to move our focus away from quarrels about doctrine and/or behavior and concentrate on "the field ripe for harvest."  He also says that God "uses this book as his means of equipping and calling the church for these tasks."

I'm a little confused at this point.  Is he contradicting himself?  I see the danger of a false dichotomy because while I believe we are to be on this mission Wright speaks of, I think we need to be continually transformed by scripture in order to do just that.  While I grant that quarrels about doctrine (for example)  can become distracting and even divisive, that doesn't mean that they are never necessary.  What do you think?

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Links to the rest if this series: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IIIb, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIIb, Part VIII, Conclusion

Comments

[radioreb]

At this point my head is spinning with doctrine. I have been addicted to it. Waking with sweats when I'm taking time doing things other than mentally or verbally dissecting the Living Word. The dichotomy could be that simply living as Christ taught, will then be a physical doctrine that is not only heard, but witnessed and understood. I know that many are doing it, and many of those are doing it exceedingly well. I believe that I, personally, have to stop talking about being sent (examining all of the exegetical platitudes) and just enjoy the sending. It's like going up the first climb of a roller coaster: you can talk about the physics of it all you want, but when gravity takes over, talking just seems counter productive - and difficult to hear above the screaming. As the coaster is under the influence of the law of gravity, so I just want to be under the influence of the grace of Jesus...enjoying the ride of a lifetime.

I don't know if I stayed on topic or not, but this was a great purge. Thanks...

[Bob Robinson]

I think that maybe we define Christianity too much as "defending the Bible against heresy"--like this is the main thing we are supposed to do. I was on staff of a church that would not team with some other churches because the Senior Pastor thought "they are not in line with us theologically." I thought, "SO WHAT?!"
We can certainly be in dialogue with other Christians about what we understand the Bible to be saying about certain doctrines (and that can be done with grace, humility, and respect). But when churches or Christians no longer share together in mission and service, then those arguments have gone too far.
It's not one or the other, it's where you will focus--"away from quarrels about doctrine and/or behavior and concentrate on 'the field ripe for harvest.'"

[Wes Allen]

Contemplative practices have never been more desperately needed than in this "always connected" world. A good way to start getting into the mind-set of contemplation is to turn off the cell phone (say for 4 hours) each day. I don't use a cell phone, but I should do the same with e-mail. One of the things I love about our emergent-style gathering is that it teaches people to NOT HURRY. I also tell the pastors who come to a reading group with me each month to turn off their cell phones while we're together (man the looks of pain on their faces).