The criticism of the former passage by B. Weiss can hardly be regarded as invalidating it as a proper source of information as to our Lord's teaching concerning the Church (see his ^T Theol. i. p. 141). It is fair, we think, to assume that the charge contained in the latter passage was addressetl to the Apostles, not as such, but as representatives of the Church in all ages.
As will be observed, the judicial authority ascribed to the Church in these sayings of our Lord has a twofold aspect. In Mt 28 she is author- ized to declare the law of Christ to those without her fold with a view to bringing them into subjec- tion to Him. And in both sayings she is empowered to unfold that law to those within her pale. The necessity for both aspects of her judicial authority is as obvious as is the grant of it. If it be her function to extend the Kingdom, then it must also be her prerogative authoritatively to declare the nature and laws of the Kingdom. And again, if the term ' kingdom ' as applied to the Church is not a hopeles.s misnomer, then she must have authority to determine what the law of Christ demands of the citizens of the Kingdom, and when this or that citizen is conforming to the law. See, further, art. Church.
(3) Tlie s„preH,._. an, lonus (., til,' Ih.l,/ s,,ir
atcc
i.licial authority be- • linilings are medi- \ic Scriptures, and lirts. Apostles, and en that, while both
ultimately tlir..u-li tl Christ HiiiLsclf. ^Ve the individual and the Church may, in the proper use of their respective equipments, arrive at a knowledge of truth and right in reference to all matters of truth and duty iip(in which they are respectively entitled to fonmilatca juil;;niciit ; yet, as a matter of fact, neitlici tlic t liuicli nor the individual does always arri\c at such knowledge. Now the very statement of this position implies the existence of some standard by the use of which faulty judgments, when reached, may be detected rts sncli, and corrected. This standard, according 1 11 < 111 i-l , i.i;, in the last resort, to be found nowhere ' 1 ' I liin in the teachings of the Prophets, Apostles, ;iii'l lliiiis.-lf. The finality and the infallibility of these teachings are, so our Lord teaches, guaranteed by the fact that they proceed directly from the Godhead, through the immediate agency of its great executive, the Holy Spirit, whose instru- ments or organs the Prophets, Apostles, and He Himself were. If we may use the term ' Scrip- tures ' as a somewhat loose synonym for the teach- ings of the Prophets, Apostles, and Christ, then the Scriptures are, or, as with admirable accuracy the Westminster Confession puts it, ' the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture ' is, ' the Supreme Judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined . . . and in whose sentence we are to rest ' (ch. i. sec. x.).
(a) That Christ conceived of the teachings of the Prophets, or the OT, as constituting, as far as it went, a ccmrt of last appeal in matters of re- ligio.i, is stiikiiijl\- eviin.,1 in His two summaries of tliDsc Icarliiiri- .iliviidy referred to: 'Thou .■shalt love llic Luid tliy tlud, etc. . . . Thou slialt
158 AUTHOKITY IN RELIGION
AUTHOEITY IN RELIGION
love thy neighbour, etc. . . . On these two com- mandments hangeth the wliole law and the pro- phets ' (Mt 22»«r-, Mk \2^^; Mt 7'=). But God being love, it is just in love tliat religion finds its highest and fullest expression. That standard, therefore, which being adhered to leads to love, is the final standard.
The sair the words
them. ... If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will thev be persuaded, if one rise from the dead' (Lk 16=9. 31).' The implication in Dives' plea was that it was his misfortune that he had come to that place of torment. These words distinctly disallow that implication. Thev affirm both the sulficiency and the finality of the OT in all' matters con- nected with the sah ation of those to whom that revelation was pivcn. And so the Sadducees are told (Mt 2229), ' Ye do err, not knowing the ^>criptures,' eU:., which means, of course, that they need not ha\ c erred had they only gone to the Scriptures in the Ti'^ht spirit. I'pon all questions raised by His adversaries, it was to the tc.i..liin5,'s of the OT that Christ" Himself continually appealed as tlie final authority. Quoting: Hosea, He said to the Pharisees, * If ye had known what this meaneth, I desire mercy and not s.irrifice. ve would not have condemned the guiltless' (Mt V1-). Thin tlu' standard to which He briuL.-s their judgment of Hiiiis,lf atid li\ whiiii He exposes it.s falsilv and wickedness. is llir ti;uhiim "f the OT. His ' Woe unto von, scribes and Phan-tL>, h\ ii.n iitLS ! for >e tithe mint and anise and cummin, and lia\e left undone the weightier matters of the law, judg- ment, mercy, and faith : but these ye ou^ht to have done, and not to have left the other undone ' (Mt 23-!), jg but an applica- tion of the standard of the OT for the testing of Phari.saic teachings and practice. Further, He recognizes the owihfnp.^s of these teachings, when they concern the tithing of mint,