Basis of Authority

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     It would appear from articles in partisan journals and from radio addresses on partisan programs that members of "The Church of Christ" feel that the real strength of their appeal in this generation lies in their emphasis on the authority of the revelation of God and its implementation in their practice and conduct. A realistic appraisal of our condition will reveal a great gulf between the facade presented to the world and the actual state of affairs among ourselves. If the new covenant scriptures, as a sole rule of faith and practice, constitute a proper foundation for unity, members of "The Church of Christ" should be of all people the most united. Instead, they constitute the most divided religious movement on the contemporary American scene. There are more than two dozen distinct factions in the non-instrument group alone.

     It borders upon hypocrisy for "front men" and publicity agents of these groups to go before the world with an appeal for all to unite upon the authority of the scriptures when they are in constant turmoil and confusion among themselves over the implications of God's Word. There are more public debates in the United States each year between members of the various "Churches of Christ" than all the rest of the religious world put together. They have not only divided in the past but their philosophy will continue to divide them in the future. This sad state is an open demonstration of what happens to those who proclaim one thing and practice a wholly different one.

     Our brethren are sincere in their contention that the word of God is our only source of authority but they cannot distinguish between revelation and interpretation. Revelation is what God has said. Interpretation is what men think he meant by what he said. Revelation is divine. It is the disclosure of the infinite mind. Interpretation is the application of the human mind in an attempt to fathom the divine disclosure. We are bound to recognize revelation as our source of authority because of our relationship to God.

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We are not bound to recognize the interpretation of any man as authoritative to us unless it commends itself as truth to our own mind and conscience. We are not to be judged by any man in that realm because in it no man is master of another.

     We are not at all divided over what constitutes authority. All of us acknowledge that "God is the head of Christ and Christ is the head of every individual man" (1 Con 11:3). It is only when some seek to exercise lordship over others that difficulty arises. Practically every division among us has occurred when men placed a certain interpretation upon some portion of revelation, then substituted it for the revelation and sought to bind it as the will of God. Separation comes as the result of interpretation, not revelation. Every party among us has access to the divine revelation. Each one of them contends fiercely that it is following that revelation. Actually, each faction thinks it has an infallible interpretation and all must kneel to it. This amounts to making our faith stand in the wisdom of men and not in the power of God.

     There is little difference in essence between "the infallible interpreter" of the Church of Rome and "the infallible interpretations" in "The Churches of Christ." The first does make for a united front, whereas the second creates and then multiplies divisions. Both are dogmatic and authoritarian. Both make their traditions as binding as God's revelation. Both are instruments to produce conformity by threats of damnation to those who resist. Both employ the carnal weapons of thought-control, censorship, boycott and excommunication for divergent opinion. Both exercise power over the masses by a top-level dictatorship which stifles original thinking and makes the members mere pawns in the frightful game of political factional feuds.

     We must do nothing to undermine faith in God's revelation as our basis of authority. That revelation must be our final court of appeal. As such, it must be magnified and elevated as the communication of God. At the same time we must recapture and re-affirm the right of every child of God to hear the voice of God speaking to him and not through an interpreter. Each must be allowed to approach that revelation for himself free from coercion exercised by any other human being. We will be judged in the last day as individuals, not as groups or congregations.

     The understanding is a natural faculty. It can never he made the subject of any command except as that command is itself a reason adapted to satisfy and persuade it. To build up a congregation of "loyal brethren" kept in line by fear of reprisal or by force is to create a congregation of hypocrites. The only truly "faithful church" is one composed of those who are free men and who associate with each other in a congregational capacity because of their mutual love for Jesus our Lord. They are drawn together by him, not driven together through fear. The plea for recognition of the authority of divine revelation is good and wholesome. It needs to be heard in every corner of our land. The practice of substituting partisan interpretation for revelation is evil. It needs to be banished forever from our lives. No man can be trusted to judge for all others, not even an editor, but every man may be trusted to judge for himself. This is the divine order and we disregard it at our peril. Truth is the heritage of free men. It is not as we conform to party norms that we either discover or defend truth, but rather is it in the free exchange of thought. Differences should be stepping-stones not stumbling- stones.

     Every factional leader on earth, driven by aspiration for control of others, has a Messiah-complex and indulges in "playing God." Men who wonder what will happen to the cause of Christ when they die, and who predict its departure upon their demise, end up by being tyrants while they live regardless of good intentions or high motivations. In 1800 Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the

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mind of man." With this as our motto we can truly assert the authority of divine revelation free from the domination of partisan spirit.