the final authority

With his final installment in his series on truth, MacArthur further clarifies the difference between 'folks like him' and 'folks like me'. His opening line, "Anyone who faithfully and correctly proclaims the Word of God will speak with authority" speaks volumes. MacArthur sees authority as rightly proclaiming that the Word yet it was said of Jesus that He taught as one who had authority (Mt 7.29, Mk 1.22). They even proclaimed that this was different than their scribes.

Jesus taught doing the work of the Kingdom. Before I continue with that, I'd like to look at more 'authority' passages.

"But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ... When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. - Mt 9.6,8 ... bang! Not only proclamation but demonstration of the Kingdom. That's pretty cool, so that they could know that He had authority, He didn't offer proof texts, He offered the power of the Kingdom.

Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” - Mk 1.25-27 ... bang! Again, proclamation and demonstration of the Kingdom.

And here's a cool thing, Jesus gave this authority to his disciples (Mt 10.1). What was it he gave them? The ability to read Scripture and to teach it better than others? No - they were to go out to proclaim and demonstrate the power of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

And guess what - He has passed that authority to all that are His.

So back to MacArthur - he is absolutely correct in that God is not calling His people to compromise the truth contained in His Word. But he is also absolutely wrong in that God is not calling His people to be better expositors of the written Scripture. God is calling His people to live the Truth. To walk in the light and to live lives of demonstration and proclamation of the Kingdom.

After posting the above I read Dan Edelen's post on The Church God Uses - it fits nicely. His post is worth reading. I'll simply quote the teaser verse which really hammers home the point above. Acts 1:8, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Folks - you have to get this, God isn't talking about learning Greek and Hebrew to become better Bible expositors when He says you will receive power.

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