Responsibility and Authority in the Spiritual Realm

The serious student of the Bible, and indeed all who would strive to please God, must deal with both responsibility and authority in their spiritual lives. A failure to understand or accept responsibility results in the failure to carry out the work which God has designated to be done. A lack of understanding of and respect for authority has been the basic cause of every departure from truth and the resulting divisions in the Lord's church. All religious denominations have come into existence because of these factors. These lessons have been prepared with the hope that they will help Bible students to accomplish three goals: 1. More thoroughly understand the responsibilities which every church and individual has towards both God and man. 2. Recognize the need for authority from God in every spiritual matter. 3. Learn how to apply the principles of biblical authority in the lives of both individuals and congregations. In order to learn how to apply the biblical principles which will be discussed in this study, after the prepared material has been discussed, the individual or class should examine many specific examples of doctrines, practices, and works. Our goal is that every student will then be able personally to determine the scriptural authority for everything that he or she believes and practices.