The Conflict of The Liberty of conscience and The Authority of the church An excerpt from Reformed Theological Seminary If a church authority is requiring an individual to obey Scripture, the rejection of such teaching based on “liberty of conscience” is really a rejection of the authority of God as revealed in Scripture. A consistent rendering of the Reformation principle of sola scriptura, the declaration that the Bible is to be the Christian’s ultimate authority, should also establish the role of church authority in the life of the believer. The Bible reveals that Christ has blessed his church with leaders who strive to help bring God’s people to walk in holiness and so be conformed to the image of Christ. Not only does the Bible bind the conscience, but by inference it also authorizes church leaders to bind the conscience in areas in which the Bible explicitly or implicitly binds the conscience. The Bible in no way endorses using the guise of liberty of conscience to justify disobedience to legitimate church authority, especially in the proper exercise of church discipline. Nowhere do the Scriptures promote placing the conscience above the plain teaching of Scripture.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 23:37:22 +0000