In Mark 11:28, some Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?”
Jesus indirectly answered this when talking to Pilate in John 19:11. There He said, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from heaven above:”
God is the original source of all authority. As the Creator of the world and all that is in it, He has the power to delegate authority as He sees fit.
God the Son has been delegated spiritual authority. The Father “put all things in subjection under [Christ’s] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23; cf. Matt. 28:18). When it comes to religious matters, authority lies in the Godhead.
This should lead the sincere lover of truth to ask, “By what authority do I believe and practice what I do religiously?” Am I following the authoritative Law of Christ, or am I following the thoughts of men who think they know more than God? In the letter to the churches at Galatia, the Holy Spirit through Paul dealt with problems caused by Judaizers (men who bound Jewish traditions as requirements of the Law of Christ). Paul distinguished between their “authority,” which was from men, and the authority by which he taught, Christ’s (Gal. 1:11-12).
Paul was not saying that he was given authority to decide doctrine. He was used by God, though, to teach God’s will at a time the complete written Word was not available. Like the other apostles, Paul was an instrument through which Jesus took the Gospel to the whole world.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles “into all the truth” (John 16:13). The apostles acted under Christ’s authority. God proved this by confirming the doctrine they taught “by the signs that followed” (Mark 16:20b).
At the point God’s written Word was made complete, there was no longer a need for men to be miraculously guided like the apostles were. This principle is taught in 1 Corinthians 13 (see especially verses 8-10).
If individuals claim to have God working through them to reveal new doctrine today, they must be deemed among the “many false prophets [who] are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). What men teach when they try to establish doctrine without God’s authority is nothing more than commands of men. Like the Pharisees who worshipped God in vain by “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7), so too do those who establish religious creeds and rules from the minds of men. They deceive themselves and others into blatantly rejecting the commandments of God, like the Pharisees did.
Such apostasies are rooted in where one looks for spiritual authority. While God exhorts us to turn to the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17), mankind often turns to mankind. This is a recipe for error. Mankind will always come up with “bright ideas” that are proven foolish by a simple reading of God’s Word.
What God authorizes with regard to spiritual matters has been revealed in its entirety. There is no need for man to decide what new doctrines to adopt. There is only need for man to study and find out what God has commanded.
Instead of looking to creeds and councils of men for answers to spiritual matters, won’t we look to God’s Word, which is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16), and can be understood by everyone (cf. Mark 7:14)?
Doctrinal authority lies with the Godhead, and that is by what authority Christ’s followers should live.
– Michael Hickox