Some thoughts from J.I. Packer as to how authority and freedom should be viewed.
To approach scripture as God’s authentic and infallible utterance, to put full trust in the Christ and the promises which scripture presents, and to revere biblical moral teaching as God’s orders to His children, is the entry into a life of joy and power which those who decline this approach…are going to miss. Authority has become a dirty word in our present culture – but what is really meant is authoritarianism, degenerate authority.
Authoritarianism is evil, anti-social, anti-human and ultimately anti-God (for self-deifying pride is at its heart). Freedom is the modern man’s obsession – rejecting authority and cutting loose from its limits. But no freedom is found apart from external authority, being our own authority enslaves us to ourselves. When historic Christianity receives the Bible as an absolute authority for creed and conduct, it does so on the basis that since God is a God of truth and righteousness, that which he lays before us in writing must have the same qualities. When Christians affirm the authority of the Bible, meaning that biblical teaching reveals God’s will and is the instrument of his rule over our lives, part of what they are claiming is that Scripture sets before us the factual and moral nature of things. God’s law corresponds to created human nature, so that in fulfilling his requirements we fulfil ourselves, and the gospel of Christ answers to actual human need as glove fits hand, so that all our responses to God make for our good and no touch of authoritarianism enters into his exercise of authority over us. Non-Christian authority principles, while having formative and integrating short term effects and giving life a target it otherwise would not have, but they do not succeed in achieving man’s chief end (glorifying God and enjoying Him forever). The anti-authority syndrome leads to the hedonistic life governed by my feelings of like and dislike, which is distant from our intended lifestyle. This tragedy is social, not just personal, as many basic values which stem from the Bible are unlikely to survive in the decadent west. For example the dignity of womanhood and duty of men to honour and protect – Women fight for professional interchangability, forgetting the Christian basis of their foundations (equal dignity of male and female image bearers), while men lapse into treating women as playthings, the playboy philosophy. This is a pattern of decline which Paul highlights in Romans 1:21-32, yet is socially acceptable today and is becoming more so. Another example is the sanctity of human life; that we honour God by protecting and preserving life he gives to his image bearers. Paganism holds life cheap: suicide, infanticide/abortion, genocide and euthanasia are all examples (some modern) where to quietly cull members deemed useless to society seems appealing. Only Scripture has provided motives for protecting the weak and helpless; take this away and there is no telling where neo-pagan pragmatism will stop. Freedom is conceived in two ways. The worldly way says break bonds, abolish hardships and seek freedom from or freedom not to. This ultimately leads to nowhere other than puzzlement and disillusionment. Christian freedom is freedom from guilt and the power of sin, and freedom not to be dominated by tyrannical self will, but is mostly freedom for God and godliness, to love and serve our Maker and each other, and for contentment in Christ. This freedom is integrity of heart in seeking God’s will and glory, free from self-regard, spontaneity to be resourceful in pleasing and praising God, unlike the Pharisaic concern to avoid doing wrong, and contentment, a joy that increases all life’s pleasures and stays with us despite our circumstances. This is the freedom found in Christ (If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36) if we hold to his teaching, that brings with it sonship to God and eternal security. While this second conception is certainly profounder, it also takes the form of accepting authority, that of God the Creator, who designed and sustains our human nature and alone can tell us what best to do with it; the authority of Jesus Christ, God incarnate to whom all authority is given (Matt 28:18); and the authority of the Holy Spirit, who opens and applies Scripture that we can discern Christ’s will and are enabled to do it. The Book of Common Prayer describes God as the one ‘whose service is to be free’, and it is only on God’s terms that we will receive this.
