Biblical Authority In
A Situational Ethics World

Biblical Authority in a Situational Ethics World

By: Pastor Barry Click

I recently saw a television show about a woman lawyer in New York whose husband, also a lawyer and high powered politician, committed adultery which resulted in their divorce. She is making her way in a major law firm, with all its intrigues, while trying to properly, in her secular opinion, rear her son and daughter who are both of high school.

The show was unique in that she and opposing lawyers, all unbelievers, found themselves trying to use the Bible to win their cases. They were lost and very clumsy in trying to use verses of Scripture as proof texts to win arguments in the case between two Christian farmers who had mistakenly found themselves trying to solve a disagreement within the secular court system.

The situation that had caused the lawyers to try to clumsily use Scripture was that the farmers realized the error of being in the secular court and insisted they and their legal counselors sit before a Christian arbitration representative to hear their problem.

They had remembered the Scripture that says to all Christians, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?” (1 Corinthians 6:1, NKJV). The farmers, even with this, discovered that it was ridiculous to have unbelievers involved and looked at each other, smiled, shook hands and decided they could solve the problem themselves.

But, the saddest part of the story was that the woman lawyer consulted with her teenage daughter in preparation for the arbitration, because her daughter had become a Christian and had been involved in Bible studies at church. The reason this was sad is that her daughter, who confirmed to her mother that she was a serious believer, had not been taught that the Bible is the absolute Word of God, without error, and is completely authoritative.

She had been led, possibly due to pastoral neglect, to believe that the Bible could have stories that may not actually be true, such as Noah and the flood, or the tower of Babel, but that they still had good spiritual insights. Sadly, her faith cannot stand on complete authority. It can and will falter, because she has been led by the error of liberal thought that provides dangerous openings for people with good intentions to pick and choose whichever Scriptures they want, and doubt some, which will allow them to follow their own or Satan’s inclinations instead of God’s commands.

Their ethics will be situational, and backed by Scriptures they pick, out of context, which will lead them to miss the mark and find more misery than victory in life. We must help avoid this tragedy. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16,17, NKJV).

The inspiration of Scripture is attested to by Old Testament writers and by Christ. The inspiration of the New Testament was pre-authenticated by Christ and the apostles themselves claimed inspiration for their writings in the New Testament. The early church received the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the epistles of the apostles as divinely inspired.

Search the Scriptures and see the many validations of this Spiritual fact. We must all prayerfully stand upon the Scriptures which are without any error, literally God’s truth, and therefore the unquestionable authority that shows us how we should live and how we should speak.