Numerous controversies can be traced back to one crucial issue: authority.  Since the sixties, authority has been attacked from every angle.  Socially, the results have been feminism, homosexuality, divorce, drugs, and the sexual revolution.  Spiritually, this attitude has precipitated change in the churches of Christ: women serving in leadership roles, instrumental music in worship, lax morality, and doctrinal compromise.

Christ, however, still holds an authoritative position (Mt. 28:18), whether we admit it or not. And he communicates that authority to us even today.  Where does this authority lie?

Not in the Old Testament.  At one time the Old Testament was the embodiment of God’s authority, but today a new covenant has been established (Heb. 8:6-13; Col. 2:14).

Not in red letters alone.  “Red letters” refers to the words of Christ.  There has been a push in recent times to put more emphasis on the words of Christ found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John than on the epistles penned by his apostles. 

We must be careful about emphasizing certain matters in scripture to the exclusion of others.  Before the Lord ascended into heaven, he promised to send the apostles a “Helper,” the “Spirit of truth,” who would “guide them into all the truth.”  Therefore, the words of the apostles came from a divine source, just as their Master’s.

Not in silence.  When innovations are introduced into worship, for example, we often hear this excuse: “The Bible doesn’t say we can’t do it.”  This is very different from the slogan that has characterized the churches of Christ for the last 200 years: “Speak where the Bible speaks; remain silent where the Bible is silent.”

The scriptures make it clear that God considers silence to be prohibitive.  Consider some examples:

• The Hebrews writer argued that Christ was better than the angels based on what God did not say concerning them (Heb. 1:5, 13).
• Jesus is shown to be a priest after a different order than that of the Law of Moses, since Moses said nothing concerning priests from tribes other than Levi (Heb. 7:14).
• Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, were struck dead because they offered strange fire, which God commanded them not (Lev. 10:1-2).

Not in cultural shifts.  The church must shift with the times, we are told.  Otherwise it will become irrelevant.  But the church is transcultural; it surpasses culture to subject itself to a higher law.

Where does authority lie?  It remains where it was when Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt. 28:18).  Nothing has changed, for he also said, “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day” (Jn. 12:48).