As a practical matter, being a Christian means living under
the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and living under his lordship means living in
accordance with his teaching and commands (John 8:31; Matt. 28:20) -- and the only place to find those teachings is the Bible.
This practical principle is true for individual Christians,
but also applies to churches, to congregations as a whole. It applies to pastors, ministry leaders,
board members and members of the congregation.
This means that, in any given decision that a church faces, the most
important and relevant question for each leader and lay member to ask is NOT,
what do I prefer, or what do most people I know prefer, or even what does a
given leader prefer. The crucial
question for all involved is: "In the decision we now face, what would be most
faithful to the teaching of Scripture?"
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As J.I. Packer has written,
“The Christian principle of biblical authority means, on the one hand,
that God purposes to direct the belief and behavior of his people through the
revealed truth set forth in Holy Scripture; on the other hand it means that all
our ideas about God should be measured, tested, and where necessary corrected
and enlarged, by reference to biblical teaching…..
"Authority in Christianity belongs to God the Creator,
who made us to know, love, and serve him, and his way of exercising his
authority over us is by means of the truth and wisdom of his written Word…..
And since the Father has now given the Son executive authority to rule the
cosmos on his behalf (Matt.28:18), Scripture now functions precisely as the
instrument of Christ’s lordship over his followers…." [Matt.28:18ff.; 2
Tim.3:16-17]
-- J.I. Packer "Concise Theology" (p.16)
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