What Is Authority?
The Bible is Authoritative. But what does that mean?
For the sake of this discussion, I’m going to illustrate three kinds of authority. There are many more different kinds of authority, but three will serve our current purposes.
First, there is what I’ll call “Authoritarian Authority.” I tell you what to do and you do it. I set out the rules, and you follow them. If you break the rules, I punish you. Obedience is all that counts. There are times when obedience to rules is a good idea. When we tell a child eat their vegetables, don’t cross the street without a grown up, or go to bed, a parent usually does know something about what is best for the child and the child will prosper by following the rules.
For many, this is the only kind of authority that matters and it is the authority of the Bible. “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.”
The first problem with this notion of authority is that the Bible simply isn’t a list of rules. There are lists of rules. But most of scripture is narrative. No rules, just stories about people in places and times that predate us by thousands of years. If only the rules matter, what about the rest of the Bible?
Another problem is apparent when we think about the child not crossing the road. There comes a point when the rule “Don’t cross the road without an adult” becomes obsolete. If a child never learns to break that rule, they aren’t going to develop very well. In the same way some, if not many, rules laid out in the Bible had a context, and that context may no longer exist.
Further, folks who advocate for a literal acceptance of “rules are rules,” also tend to cherry pick which rules they follow and which they don’t. While they are ready to stone adulteresses, they continue to wear mixed fibers and eat pork. It is hypocritical to affirm a literal acceptance of the rules and only follow the ones that enforce your own prejudices.
Finally, as I hope this entire Bible 101 series will demonstrate, once we start translating a text (especially over thousands of years), all literalism falls apart. The semantic shift from one language, to another, from one culture to another, from one generation to another erodes literal interpretation. A “Butt Dial” and a “Booty Call” translated literally into another language mean the same thing. But please, don’t confuse a butt dial with a booty call. [for those who don’t know: a “butt dial” is when you sit on your cell phone and accidentally call or text someone; a “booty call” is when you call your intended sex partner and say I’m available now].
The Second form of authority I will call “Negative Authority.” Parents of teenagers might understand this authority well. It is when I tell you what to do and you do the opposite. It is still authority because you will go out of your way to do exactly the opposite of what I’ve said. Whereas, if I weren’t an authority, you’d just ignore me. When Atheists argue that God doesn’t exist, they are conceding God is still an authority, or they’d just carry on.
There is a great tradition called the hermeneutic of suspicion in which we read against the tradition of the text. We intentionally turn the text on its head to see what we find. We listen intentionally for suppressed voices (like women, queer people, people of ethnicities not included in the text). This not only reveals interesting nuances that we might have missed with the conventional more literal reading, but sometimes reveals that our previous reading was merely conventional and not literal at all!
Conventional reading is assuming “everybody knows this is what it means.”
We actually read Jesus using this “negative authority” when he says, “You have heard that it was said… but I say.” Jesus critiques the “conventional” or “literal” meaning of the text, often an interpretation that was cruel to the vulnerable, by giving an interpretation that is an illustration of loving our neighbour. “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27 is an example of Jesus himself preaching “against the text.”
Most preachers in mainline churches (like the UCC) are extensively trained in this interpretive tradition. The Hermeneutic of Suspicion has served generations of Feminism, Black and Indigenous Theology, and Queer Studies. When we are intentional reading the text always challenging the “conventional reading” through the lens of “God favours the vulnerable” we are able to undermine the centuries of colonial and imperial assumptions that have been wielded to oppress and exploit.
Paul’s letters when read from a colonial/imperial context are pretty horrible for women, slaves, and sexual minorities. But when he has been liberated from 2000 years of misinterpretation, He comes alive as an advocate for radical egalitarianism and profound love for every one of God’s beloved children.
The third form of authority I will describe as “Relational Authority.” Imagine how you communicate with a friend or adult partner. My friend is authoritative in that I don’t make significant decisions without talking to them first. They won’t tell me what to do (if they do, I’m likely to do the opposite), but they listen. They might tell me what they would do, or have done in similar circumstances. They’ll only offer advice if I actually ask for it. They never try to “fix” me. They are just always there to hear and to share my feelings, especially when I feel overwhelmed or burdened. I can trust that they aren’t judging me, or at least they aren’t judging me as hard as I’m judging myself. Their authority is through relationship. I trust that they love me, and I know I’m not alone. I hope that you have this kind of relationship with your spouse, parents or your adult children. It is incredibly fulfilling relationship.
This is the authority I believe scripture wields most effectively. I’ve read the scriptures my entire life. Often through tertiary resources like hymns, storybooks, movies and TV. The stories and scriptures have shaped and formed me. They don’t “tell me how to live,” but they shape how I live. They are a constant companion. I see the world through them. The scriptures connect me to the past, shape me out of the earth, and give me a vision of who I want to be. In the biblical narrative, I can see the best and worst, I have to offer.
The Bible is more mirror than window.
Literal readings of the Bible treat it like a window into the past. Rather the Bible is a mirror to the human soul, showing us who we are, who we can be, and how we relate to each other, to other peoples, to creation, and to the ground of our being.
Just like a friend or loved one can surprise us with characteristics or history or hidden talents we’ve never seen before, the bible can surprise us. My friend is human and can also disappoint me. The Bible is the product of human interactions and interpretations and can also disappoint me. Through the Bible, I can often see how I disappoint myself.
When I am struggling with how to be a minister in a post-colonial context as the imperial church diminishes and all our expectations around success and prosperity are being challenged, Paul is the best friend I’ve ever had, because he knew what it was to proclaim from the margins to the margins while his very life was on the line.
There is nothing more authoritative than the friends we keep. The friends we keep tell the world who we are. My hope is that by the end of Bible Study 101, you might start to nurture the Bible as an authoritative friend.
For further study
Read Matthew 25:1-13
Read "Ten Bridesmaids" from Spark Story Bible.
How do we feel about this narrative of the wise and the foolish bridesmaids?
What is the conventional/literal understanding of this story?
What do we hear in other parts of the New Testament about wisdom and foolishness? What does the Bible tell us about scarcity and enough?
How does Matthew 25 end? Do the "wise virgins" treat the "foolish virgins" the way the last story of Matthew 25 would seem to teach?
Jesus does not "interpret" this story for us. How else could we interpret this story so that the vulnerable are loved as one of Jesus' brothers and sisters, rather than shut out?
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