Professor: Rushdoony Dr. R.J.R.

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Lecture

Lesson: 1 of 19

Track: #01

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[Rushdoony] Let us begin with prayer. Oh Lord our God unto whom all glory belongs we come into Thy present again looking for the day when the glory that is Thine shall fill the earth and Thy righteousness cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Make us thine instruments towards this purpose, that we may proclaim Thy word, Thy salvation, Thy justice unto the ends of the earth, and that we might be instrumental in bringing men, woman, children, and nations under the dominion of Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, amen.

We have been dealing with a theology of work and today we begin a study of the doctrine of Authority. The doctrine of authority, and our subject this morning is author and authority. Our text is Hebrews twelve, one and two. The first two verses of Hebrews twelve.

“1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The words author and authority are of course related words. The word author of course comes from the Latin, almost unchanged, and it means to increase or to produce. Its meaning thus is that an author is a creator, an originator, a producer; and an authority is one with the right to command and to exercise dominion, to have jurisdiction. There is however still another word that is commonly used in the New Testament and is translated as author. This particular word appears in Hebrews 12 verse one and two. Here we have a Greek word, not a Latin one which comes from a root archa, as in archangel and it means a prince or a tribal leader. Its root archa means the beginning, or the cause. So the New Testament uses one word from a Latin derivation and another from a Greek derivation and we use these words in the English today. And these word both point to the Creator. 

The basic New Testament word of course is the one used in Hebrews twelve. Thus an author is a creator and an authority is the creator and therefore the one who exercise dominion, makes the law, and has jurisdiction. 

Now religious perspective is always determined by our doctrine of authority. In the Greco-Roman world the autonomous reason of man was the source of authority. So that when we look at Greco-Roman thinking authority is ultimately from man. Thinkers such as Galen, Celsus, Porphyry, and others judged the Bible in terms of their rationalism. In the century before Christ the philosopher of acrecia {?} said, and I quote “nothing can ever be created by divine power out of nothing.” For him all forces in the universe were inherent forces, naturalistic forces, there was no power from beyond nature.

Now this did not mean the Greco-Roman man did not believe in marvels; in things that to us would appear to be supernatural. Their interest however was totally different. They were ready to believe all kinds of marvels could take place because nature had divine power inherent in it. Thus Aristotle was interested in every kind of freakish birth, because that freakish birth could represent the next step in evolution. This is why when Paul at Athens spoke about the doctrine of the resurrection the philosophers were immediately interested because he...