Biblical Bible Authority Part 2

When an author sits down to write he or she may write whatever they wish. The author has complete freedom on the page (or scroll). He may write his locker combination. She may write a novel. He may write a persuasive argument or she might encourage patriotism. Any given author can marshal words to serve any purpose, and no authorial purpose has ever been weightier than communicating the message of the eternal Creator to his creatures. The authors of Scripture were aware of this weight, and they wrote so that we could be confident in the message we have received.

In Scriptural Authority I described some of the superficial ways that we may consider the Bible as authoritative. In Biblical Bible Authority, I described how the authors of the Bible embedded means to verify their messages. In this post, I will describe how they built on that authority to establish the supreme authority of God’s words over all other words including their own.

The Bible is not uniformly authoritative, and this post  will describe four different levels of authority found in narrative passages in Scripture. A higher the level of authority means, the broader the audience who should heed the words written or spoken. The levels described are starting points. An author may raise or lower the level of authority in a given situation by including details which suggest credibility or detract from it.

The starting level of authority is that of the narrator. This is the author’s own voice, his own words. The narrator’s words contain the “accessible features of reality” as described in Biblical Bible Authority. These features are the only modifiers of the narrator’s authority, and they serve only to buttress his authority. This authority has been described previously so we will move right along.

Another level of authority, that found in the speech of most characters, is lower than that of the narrator. By reporting speech, the narrator asserts that a person (occasionally an angel or donkey) did indeed utter these words, but he does not vouch for the truthfulness of these words. This is an important distinction that two examples will serve to make clear.

The first example is the speech of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The serpent did say to Eve, “You will not surely die.” but these words were untrue. Adam and Eve died that final day in the garden. The second example is the Amalekite’s account of Saul’s death in II Samuel 1.

In I Samuel, the narrator reported that Saul fell on his own sword, but in 2 Samuel 1 the Amalekite told David that he had slain Saul. How do we determine which is true? If we recognize that the voice of the narrator is the voice of the author and remember that the author has established his own truthfulness, we have little difficulty. The narrator reported both events. He placed the Amalekite’s testimony (that he killed Saul) in the mouth of the Amalekite, but he gave the report that Saul killed himself directly. The narrator is reporting both events, but if reported speech can contradict the narrator, the voice of the author, we cannot trust anything that he wrote.  

Additional details, revealed by the narrator, discredit the Amalekite’s testimony. The man was an Amalekite, a foreigner not an Israelite, and a trustworthy foreigner is unexpected. You are not expected to believe a foreigner. In the course of the man’s story, he produced Saul’s crown and armlet, symbols of kingly authority, and he handed them to David. The man wanted to be known as the one who delivered the kingdom into David’s hand. The man’s foreignness and his motivation to get in good with the anointed king are enough to dismiss the man’s account.

A third level of authority, that found in the speech of heroes, is greater than that of the narrator’s authority. A hero is a righteous person with name recognition, the characters that show up in Sunday School lessons. We don’t need to be told who the heroes are, we can intuitively recognize them. But how does their speech have a higher authority than that of the narrator, the author? The hero has authority to speak to the other characters in the narrative.

Throughout Kings and Chronicles, the narrator reports time and again that Solomon/Judah/Israel/whoever “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” The narrator is unable to say this directly to the evil doers, but in 1 Samuel 15:19, Samuel was able to say this to Saul, “‘Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?’” Samuel could deliver an authoritative message where the narrator could not.

The narrator ensures that we recognize the heroes. When he intended for a character’s speech to have authority, he built up the character’s authority. One place this may be seen is in I Samuel 3-4 where the narrator built up the character of Samuel. I have included much the passage, omitting some of the details which support the author’s authority. I have highlighted where the narrator tells us about Samuel’s character and authority.

3:1 Now the young man Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision…
⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.  ⁸ And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the young man.  ⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.'"
So Samuel went and lay down in his place.  ¹⁰ And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant hears."  ¹¹ Then the LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.  ¹² On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.  ¹³ And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.  ¹⁴ Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever."  ¹⁵ Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.  ¹⁶ But Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." And he said, "Here I am."  ¹⁷ And Eli said, "What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you."  ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him."  ¹⁹ And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.  ²⁰ And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD.  ²¹ And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.  4:1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek.

In I Samuel 3 we are allowed to see the transformation of Samuel from a young boy who didn’t know the LORD into a young man who spoke with recognized authority. The author of I Samuel built up Samuel’s authority here, and his authority will be great throughout I Samuel as he anoints the first two kings of Israel and even speaks from beyond the grave. Any character who neglects the words of Samuel suffers for their folly. Eli, Saul, and even the entire nation suffer for their neglect.

A note of caution is warranted at this point. Though a heroes words carry great authority, this righteous authority is not intended to apply to their actions. The narrator reports the failures of Samuel’s sons in I Samuel 8:1-5, a failure which reflects Samuel’s character. The author had a greater goal than to establish Samuel as an authority. His ultimate purpose was to establish the LORD as the ultimate authority.

This fourth level of authority, found in the speech of the LORD, is the highest authority found in the Bible.  Though is may seem painfully obvious, and even insulting,  to make a point of this, the author used intricate, artful, and powerful means to establish the Lord as the greatest authority. The LORD’s authority is not to be taken for granted.

When we read through I Samuel 3 we may observe how the LORD’s authority is greater than Samuel’s. In verse 7, before he had any authority, Samuel “did not know the LORD.” This ignorance tied to Samuel’s stature prepares the reader to recognize the LORD as the source of authority. In verse 10 Samuel identifies himself as the LORD’s servant. He will prove to be a faithful servant accurately delivering messages. The message that Samuel received and revealed to Eli (only under duress) is the message of the judgment that the LORD is going to accomplish against Eli. Samuel was only the messenger.

In chapters 4 through 7, the Lord’s authority is demonstrated in numerous ways. The events of chapter 4 are prefaced with the statement that the Lord did not let any of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. This statement concludes the delivery of the oracle in chapter 3, and sets up the fulfillment of the oracle in chapter 4. Chapter 5 shows the Philistine God, Dagon, bowing down to the Ark of the Covenant, a symbol of the LORD’s presence. Chapter 6 shows the Philistines recognizing the greatness of the LORD, and chapter 7 tells of the LORD’s dominion over the Philistines.

As I Samuel unfolds, Samuel is the judge and there is peace during his rule. He is the king-maker and the one who speaks for God. The Israelites have no one else to turn to if they wish to hear a message from the LORD. In the eyes of the people there is no one greater than Samuel. But, when we come to chapter 16, we find this pinnacle of human authority called to task by the LORD.

In spite of Samuel’s low opinion of himself, the elders are still trembled before him. In spite of being in fear for his life, Samuel did exactly as the LORD told him. Samuel recognizes the absolute authority that is the LORD’s.

Conclusion

The levels of authority described in this post are the analysis of the techniques used to establish God’s ultimate authority. The multiple sources of authority that are recognizable in the text of Scripture reflect the multiple levels of authority evident in the world. This may convict us on two fronts. First, we should expect the Bible to communicate to us with various levels of authority. We should teach this in Sunday School and demonstrate it from the pulpit. The Bible was written intelligently, and it is worth the effort to learn to read it.

Second, we ought to acknowledge various levels of authority that God has established in this world. Christians generally acknowledge that God established government as an authority, but that acknowledgement is followed by the universal caveat, “…as long as it doesn’t violate God’s laws.” By this caveat, we preserve an escape clause from any earthly authority. We revel in the moniker, “Protestant” because the Catholic church is…and almost always has been…and almost certainly always will be…corrupt. It is not our fault that it is. In fact, we are the more righteous for casting off the Catholic church’s authority. But we have become like hyenas chanting “No King! No King!” while proper order was destroyed, and much of the church became a barren wasteland. And as we wonder why few respects pastors any more, we know, deep down, that no man or congregation of men should be allowed to have authority over me.

Is it any wonder that we do not recognize levels of authority in our “final authority for faith and practice?”

Login to add comments