Authentic, Authority, Primacy, Decisive, Verbal icon, and Original Autographs

Words About The Word

ver. : 20 February 2008

When used of the Bible, what is the meaning of :
Authentic, Authority, Primacy or Primary Authority, Autographs,
Decisive; 'Scripture interprets Scripture', verbal icon ?

What Is Authentic ?

Authentic [ Greek authentikos (of the author)]. Real; matching the truth or fact, and thus reliable or verifiable.

The Bible is what it claims to be, and is not an imitation or con job. It really is from God, and really is what God reveals to us about us, about our world, and about God. There are some well-publicized forums where they vote on what they believe is and isn't really historical or is and isn't really said by Jesus or the disciples. Their conclusions have at times been helpful in stripping away some of the illusions which have been shielded by Christian tradition. Yet, they seem bent on trying to create a new image of what Jesus was, and that image has a surreal feel to it. A sense develops that their 'historical Jesus' is a fascinating guy but not someone I'd be inspired to follow, much less die for. Yet the hard and unavoidable fact is that this is exactly what the people around him were inspired to do. The New Testament conveys an inspirational Jesus, an authority Jesus, a Spirit-empowered Jesus, a Jesus who would inspire what we know happened thereafter. An authentic Jesus. And it says this Jesus did the one thing most ultimately worth doing, setting us back aright with the Father who loves us. It would take something that big, that real, to be worth more than a passing glance 2000 years later. Through the Bible, the Spirit gives you the authenticity of Christ Jesus, from which comes authentic happiness.
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The Bible as the Authority

Authority [ < Latin auctoritas, < auctor (the one who created it) < augere (to create < to grow something)]. Who/what we turn to in order to settle questions. Typically, we turn to the one(s) who made it to find out what was really said or intended.

Authority figures have wide influence in their field, sometimes using it to bring order to otherwise-chaotic situations. The Bible is held by most churches to be the sole authority for most matters of faith and Christian living. Christians can argue, but they turn to the Authority to make their case. Christians in developed countries are becoming ever more restless with the idea of an 'authority'. They fear any 'authority over' them. But the Bible is firstly an 'authority to' or 'for'; it has a purpose for which it and it alone is well suited. Also, there is One who is 'authority over' us (unless we are foolish and egotistical enough to think of ourselves as if we are God), and this One communicates to us through the Bible. The Bible is authoritative because of the One who stands behind it - the Author of all.

There are many terms used for saying what the Bible has authority for. The most common words which describe what's been meant by that over the years are :

• life (that is, how Christians live day to day in the world)
• doctrine (that is, what Christians teach each other about the faith)
• practice (that is, what Christians do as acts of faith : worship, devotions, social ministries, prayer, and anything else we do when gathering or acting specifically in Jesus' name)

Primacy Of the Bible

Primacy or Primary Authority [ Latin primus (first-rank) ]. First in rank; foremost, above or beyond all else.

When used of the Bible, it means that the Scriptures rank first. Because the Scriptures are specially inspired by God for the task of communicating God's ways, they are the home base from which all other matters of life and spirituality travel out. They rank over the other writings of the Jewish and early Christian faiths (even such hallowed works as the Didache or the Mishnah). Over tradition as a whole. Over your spiritual experiences, and over anyone else's. Over moral codes, canon law, or administrative rules. Over what you think can or must be done in the current situation of your life. Over your conscience (indeed, they are what to use to train your conscience). Over theologies, psychologies, sociologies, and ideologies. Over culture and trends. Over mystic dreams, insights, and prophecies. Over saints and popes and councils and assemblies. The Bible stands as the ultimate corrective -- the Spirit uses it to tell us when and how we are going astray, and what and how to do as God wills.
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What's Meant by Original Autographs of the Bible ?

Autographs : The original written parchments/slabs/papyri used by the Biblical authors when first authoring the Biblical books. This is supposedly the 'most purely inspired' -- and thus most 'infallible' -- form of the Biblical books. These are long since all gone, and were in fact probably all gone within several generations of being written. Thus, reference to them in defending the authority of a text is an act of fiction. What we have now is all we ever will have : a set of written works whose oldest existing copies are many generations of copying from being original. It is these Nth generation copies, with all their occasional scribal errors, expansions, and such that are translated into the written materials through which the Spirit speaks today. If we found 'autographs', that would be wonderful, but we haven't and probably won't. The Spirit works through our copies, and thus our copyists' errors.
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Is the Bible Decisive ?

Decisive : When something is called the decisive factor, it means that it is what causes things to be the way they become; it sets the path, tips the scales. When someone is a decisive leader, that person is someone who leads without blind impulse but also without waffling. Such a leader is focused, direct, and purposeful; any differing thoughts in that leader's mind are harnessed to make the decision wiser, better, clearer and fuller. A decisive moment is a turning or tipping point, when the changes stop being potential and start taking effect.

And so it is with the Bible. When you're waffling on how to live your life, or even on knowing what a Godly life is, Scripture is decisive. It shows the way to go; it is what is given to you by God to set your path and tip your scales. And it is bypassed only at great spiritual cost.
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Scripture Interprets Scripture

the "Scripture interprets Scripture" approaches : Through this approach, what the Spirit is trying to tell us through Scripture is unlocked by, tested by, qualified by, and balanced by, the whole of Scripture. No part of the Bible is slighted or ignored -- but no part of the Bible stands on its own, apart from the meaning of the whole and apart from other specific parts which deal with related matters. Since the Bible is the way the Spirit reaches us, the rest of the Bible is the most reliable resource for finding what the Spirit is saying in any one section of the Bible. This often forces us to accept some amount of vagueness and paradox, since both are found all over Scripture and cannot be wished away. Some (especially fundamentalists) hold that only Scripture interprets Scripture; however, that's not how the people in Scripture used earlier Scripture, and that doesn't help us learn how to live by it today. Narrative methods are a modern reflection of this approach.

What is a Verbal Icon ?

Verbal Icon : This is a term rooted in Eastern Orthodox ideas. The Orthodox treat certain pictures, paintings, and other visual art of holy people and events of the Bible, especially of Jesus and Mary, as windows from which to see Jesus and the Kingdom of God. The Bible is, in this view, the earthly window onto God's love and God's intent for the created world. More precisely, through it we can discover who God-with-us, Jesus, really is. Just as we can envision spiritual matters by meditating on a visual icon, so also the Spirit uses the Bible as the window through which the Spirit reveals Christ to us. The Bible ranks above visual icons, because it is the source of what is depicted in them.
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