by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n
Why be concerned about biblical authority? For this one simple reason: “Your God reigns!<\/em>” (Isaiah 52:7). If we aren’t concerned about authority, then we place ourselves in God’s position of reigning. It really is just that simple. Jesus is Head (Colossians 1:18). We aren’t.<\/p>\n Does stressing authority mean we don’t think grace plays any role in salvation? That would be a ludicrous jump to assume such. Just bear this in mind: grace can only come from One who has the authority to give it. Otherwise, grace is not really grace at all, but a false hope. Pitting authority and grace against each other results in both a graceless and headless religion, regardless of what else is being professed in the name of Christ.<\/p>\n Does stressing authority mean that we believe we are saved by law? Again, that’s an unwarranted jump. It means that we are stressing that salvation can only come from One who has the power to give it and that we need to listen to what He teaches.<\/p>\n What’s the alternative? When we quit stressing authority, we quit stressing the Kingship, Lordship, and Headship of the One who came to save us by His grace. Once we do that, we have, ironically, entered into a situation in which we think that our own wisdom and power justifies us — even while saying God is the One who saves.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Doy Moyer Why be concerned about biblical authority? For this one simple reason: “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7). If we aren’t concerned about authority, then we place ourselves in God’s position of reigning. It really is just that simple. Jesus is Head (Colossians 1:18). We aren’t. Does stressing authority mean we don’t think grace…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78,48,177],"class_list":["post-47543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority","tag-grace","tag-law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/grace-and-authority\/","url_meta":{"origin":47543,"position":0},"title":"Grace and Authority","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Grace can only come from one with the power and authority to grant it. Some may pit emphasis on God's authority over against emphasis on grace, but they go hand in hand. The only way that grace can mean anything to us is that it has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2317,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/it-is-written-reflections-on-authority-ceni-and-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":47543,"position":1},"title":"“It Is Written”: Reflections on Authority, CENI and Grace","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Those claiming to be Christians will make the claim on the basis of what they believe the Scriptures teach. This is so, regardless of how far right or left on the spectrum of thought they find themselves. This is not to say that all interpretations are correct\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/truth-and-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":47543,"position":2},"title":"Truth and Law","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton Today there is lawlessness going on at elevated proportions. Even churches that have claimed to be \"of Christ\" have been divided by a spirit of lawlessness. Some misuse \"we are not under law but under grace\" (Romans 6:15) to give the undiscerning a scripture on which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60450,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-god-reigns\/","url_meta":{"origin":47543,"position":3},"title":"Your God Reigns","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, \"Your God reigns\" (Isaiah 52:7). This is the passage quoted by Paul in Romans 10, and it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48174,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-what-authority\/","url_meta":{"origin":47543,"position":4},"title":"By What Authority? (Tant)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant \"When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, \"By what authority\u00a0are You doing these things, and\u00a0who gave You this authority?\" Jesus said to them, \"I will also ask you one thing,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65464,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/some-observations-on-judging\/","url_meta":{"origin":47543,"position":5},"title":"Some Observations on Judging","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by George Bosworth Some observations about judging, from I Corinthians 4:3-5: \"I (Paul) am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. So don't judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}