“BY WHAT AUTHORITY?” – Part 1 of 4

“By what authority are You doing these things,

and who gave You this authority?”

 (Mt. 21:23). 

The need for authority is at the crux of every issue dividing people, especially brethren. In Mt. 21:23-27, the issue was authority and the correct source for it. Authority is not merely an emotional issue based upon feelings. Nor is it merely a cordial religious discussion whereby the parties identify matters on which they agree and disagree.  They neither seek unity, nor view it as essential. Rather they are content to enter and leave the discussion as brethren. This attitude is at the heart of “agreeing to disagree”.

How could one read Mt. 21:23-27, and conclude that Jesus and the chief priests came away from their meeting agreeing to disagree? Read all the encounters of those who sought to entrap Jesus in his speech and convince me that they viewed each other as brethren at the end. They accused Jesus of blasphemy, empowered by Satan (Mt. 12:24; 26:25), and Jesus called them hypocrites, blind guides, extortioners, whited sepulchers, and children of Satan (Mt. 23; Jn. 8:44). They were indeed Jewish brethren but only one taught and practiced by authority from heaven.

Mt. 21:23-27 identifies two sources of authority: heaven and men. But don’t be deceived into accepting these two sources of authority as equal options. Heaven’s authority resides in the written word (2 Pt. 1:20-21). The gospel by which we attained status as brethren in Christ is the same gospel by which we, as brethren, are to walk (Phil. 3:16). Fellowship in the gospel is only possible thru the gospel (1 Cor. 1:10).