This is true from Genesis through Revelation, and provides the unchanging framework into which Christ steps. In Christ we see both God's justice (only the pure sacrifice of God in the flesh can satisfy God's wrath against us since we all rebel and serve other gods) and God's love (Christ's willingness to take a bodily form, live with us, and accept the penalty that God had levied against us).
In chronological order, several threads of authority emerge as God delegates (implicitly and explicitly) authority to various individuals and roles:
- First, all authority structures seem to have a strong relational aspect. This seems to reflect the fact that the Father, Son, and Spirit are (a) of the same essence and are equal in value, (b) have a personal relationship among each other, (c) have a distinctive authority structure (see, for example, John's gospel), and (d) are unchanging (pure being; no becoming).
- The first human relation we see is the family. God creates Adam, gives him a purpose (stewardship & subduing of the Earth), provides him with a helper to carry out that purpose, and a means to carry out that purpose (reproduction, etc. that involves and requires both male and female). The Bible defines clear roles within the family, with some aspects universal and unchanging and some aspects cultural.
- The second human relation that seems to emerge is government. These range from informal arrangements (e.g., tribes related by blood) to formal arrangements (e.g., kingdoms with civil and military functions). The Bible has much to say about these structures in the OT (e.g., prophets condemn nations that at unjust), but very little to say in the NT.
- A special relation arises when God makes a covenant with Abram, which leads eventually to a nation being formed when Israel leaves Egypt. This nation was destroyed in AD 70, and has not been re-established since (at least in the Biblical sense as directed by God in Leviticus, etc.). God has a lot to say about this in the OT, but not much in the NT.
- Finally, a special relation arises when God makes a new covenant with those who follow Christ, and a new nation (spiritual, not physical) arises with a highly decentralized structure.
- There are many other social forms with authority structures (e.g., voluntary organizations, ancient slavery and its modern counterpart the corporation, etc.), but, with the exception of ancient slavery, there's not much said in the Bible about them.
And, a short word on epistemology.
Some of what we know about relational structures seems to be in general revelation. This includes heterosexual marriage (in monogamous and polygynous forms; polyandry seems to be very rare) and government that ensures justice. Since all humans are fallen, abuse & transgression of these relational norms is pervasive.
The rest of what we know is from special revelation (the Bible). I'm not going to try to address why the canon in valid and reliable; that's a different topic and there's a lot of solid evidence that this view is far more reasonable that various alternatives that assert it's either invalid or unreliable. And, I'm not going to try to address (again) why we are all capable of understanding God's Word. I do feel an obligation to mention two items:
- Christ testifies that the OT is God's Word. If you accept Christ's authority, it seems clear you must accept the OT.
- Christ states plainly in John 16 that he has much more to say to his disciples, but that he will say it to them via the Holy Spirit after he's gone. So, it seems that every letter of the NT should be in red (if you're a red-letter kind of person). Attempts to ground parts of the NT in some authority other than Christ seem to assert that either (a) Jesus lied in John 16, or (b) John 16 is not trustworthy. Either approach would seem to remove all authority from the entire NT.
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