Who Speaks for God?

Catholics trace the authority of the Pope back to Peter, who in the gospel of Matthew receives from Jesus the keys to the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 16:18-19). The charge given Peter in verse 19 ("whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven") is taken as authority for the church, by means of the Pope, to act on behalf of God. Church doctrine, at least concerning faith and morals, is thus declared to be inerrant or infallible, because it is linked directly to the apostolic authority and teaching of Peter.

Protestants ground the authority of the Bible on 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which asserts that: "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." Conservative Protestants argue that the Greek word translated as "inspired" means "God-breathed" and thus that all scripture is the inerrant or infallible word of God. The word "scripture" is taken to refer to the Bible read by Protestants, which uses translations of the Hebrew canon for the Old Testament and thus excludes the books of the Apocrypha (which were in the Septuagint and are, therefore, included in Roman Catholic Bibles).

Both Catholics and Protestants make assumptions that are questionable, when we read the Bible as the witness of the early church. Catholics assume that Jesus actually spoke the words in Mt. 16:18-19 giving authority to Peter, even though this statement is not verified in the other New Testament gospels or elsewhere in the New Testament. Protestants assume that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is giving authority to the Bible they read, rather than expressing the more obvious meaning that Paul finds the scripture he reads (the Septuagint) to be "useful for teaching."

Catholics subordinate the interpretation of scripture to the authority of the church, whereas Protestants claim to obey only the authority of scripture. Yet, Catholics have overlooked the fragmentation of authority in the early church, revealed in the New Testament by the conflict between Peter and Paul and by the role of James, the brother of Jesus, who succeeds Peter as head of the church in Jerusalem. (Gal. 2-3, Acts 15 and 21) Protestants tend to quote verses from the Bible, as if texts can be understood as the literal words of God and do not need to be interpreted contextually within the New Testament witness of the first century churches.

Reading the Bible, using literary and historical methods, challenges the use of texts by both Catholics and Protestants as proof of divine sanction for their teachings. Seeing the gospels as literary compositions implies that not all the words attributed to Jesus are historical, but instead represent diverse understandings within the first century churches. Moreover, conflicts among the churches revealed by the New Testament confirm its human authorship and undermine claims of its divine authority.

Once the Bible is read critically, can anyone speak for God? When we read the Bible as literature, which we find inspiring and are open to receiving as inspired, we must speak only of God, and perhaps to God, but not for God. In worship, Bible study and prayer we can inquire about God's will, as we understand it in scripture and in the witness of the church to this day, and we can seek the grace of God to live more faithfully. However, our witness to God must be marked by the humble confession that we do not speak for God, but for ourselves and for our church.

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1 in Faith: A Christian Bible Study † Copyright © 2000 by Robert Traer