For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me…As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them.”

John 17:8, 18

This week we are excited to begin a new sermon series on the letter of Paul to Titus. Each time we begin a book study we are afforded the opportunity to consider the nature of Scripture itself. In light of this, we want to kick off our Titus series by considering the importance of apostolic authority and its relationship to the reception of NT letters such as Titus as Scripture. We live in a day where it is common place to question established authority in order that we might be our own authorities. It has therefore become fashionable to undermine biblical authority by questioning why it is that we should submit ourselves to Scripture. It would seem obvious, say the critics, that at some point a certain group of powerful people in church history simply chose the writings that they liked in order to strengthen their power over others. In light of such criticism, we must consider by what authority the church came to recognize writings such as Titus to be the Word of the Lord to His people.

The reality is that the church always had biblical authority with which to establish a rule of faith. First, they church was never without a scriptural authority because they possessed the writings of the Old Testament. Second, the church knew the teachings of Jesus which had been passed down by the apostles and formed the earliest body of instruction for Christians. Finally, the teachings of the apostle Paul came to carry the same weight as those of the other apostles because the Lord had appeared to Him and established Him as an apostle along with the others. As time passed and the apostles began to write to the churches, it was only natural for these writings to bear the same authority as that of their authors. These writings expanded the scope of the ministry that the apostles could engage in and allowed the mission of proclaiming the Gospel (Acts 1:8) to continue after their deaths.

As a Christians, we can trust that God has spoken to us through the writings of Scripture such as Titus because these writings reflect the authority of the apostles who were chosen and equipped by Jesus to both build up and guard the church. It is to the Scriptures that we must turn as we seek to both know and live the truth!

Join with us this Sunday as we consider these things together as we begin our new series that will carry us all the way through to Advent.

Soli Deo Gloria.

-Thomas