Jesus speaks "with authority"

[AlanFromWichita]

When Jesus was teaching in the temple as a child, all were amazed because He spoke with authority.

What does that mean?

“Authority” as I understand, used to mean that the person speaking is truly the “author” of his/her own words. So if I speak truth from my own heart and mind, I am speaking “with authority.”

Unfortunately in our credential-crazed world, we have corrupted the meaning of “authority” to mean that what is being presented was authored by somebody else, who usually isn’t here btw in case there are questions. Somebody else whom we can both agree knows more than both of us.

So under what authority do I speak, as a father, or as a citizen, for my department, or in the name of God? At any given time, if I am to be considered “with authority” in this day and age, I must explain who or what gave me permission to say these things.

Debates are no longer a juxtaposition of two different views, but analytical studies of two views of people or other entities who are Not Here. So we have to explain our credentials to each other. It’s less frightening to defend against, “where did you get this information,” then to defend against, “how can you possibly think this way?” The first reveals you’ve made an error in parroting another person’s opinion. The second implies you personally have wrong thinking. Is it any wonder that in polls, people fear public speaking more than death?

This has the benefit that we never have to reveal, much less be socially responsible for, our own personal convictions. We keep them tucked away and only speak like one friend of mine – took me a year to get him to give own opinions. He’d say “St. so-and-so wrote this,” or “Father blahblahblah told me another way to look at it.” I’d say, “but Jerry, what is your own opinion?” He’d say, “well, I kind of like that way Father put it.” In fact, it took a serious problem in the parish between two powerful organizations until he finally “blew his cover,” and said to one of the leaders, “I don’t care what anybody else thinks. This is just not right.” From then on, he opened up and became bold enough to speak for himself.

This is one way we can hide ourselves from each other. Never give a personal opinion. After all, aren’t we all trained to say what the teachers want to hear and not even consider our own opinions?

Mark 6
1 He departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
2 When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
3 Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”
5 So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.

But if we speak honestly out of our own minds and hearts, then we too can speak “with authority.”

Alan

 

[thistle]

When Jesus was teaching in the temple as a child, all were amazed because He spoke with authority.

What does that mean?

“Authority” as I understand, used to mean that the person speaking is truly the “author” of his/her own words. So if I speak truth from my own heart and mind, I am speaking “with authority.”

Unfortunately in our credential-crazed world, we have corrupted the meaning of “authority” to mean that what is being presented was authored by somebody else, who usually isn’t here btw in case there are questions. Somebody else whom we can both agree knows more than both of us.

So under what authority do I speak, as a father, or as a citizen, for my department, or in the name of God? At any given time, if I am to be considered “with authority” in this day and age, I must explain who or what gave me permission to say these things.

Debates are no longer a juxtaposition of two different views, but analytical studies of two views of people or other entities who are Not Here. So we have to explain our credentials to each other. It’s less frightening to defend against, “where did you get this information,” then to defend against, “how can you possibly think this way?” The first reveals you’ve made an error in parroting another person’s opinion. The second implies you personally have wrong thinking. Is it any wonder that in polls, people fear public speaking more than death?

This has the benefit that we never have to reveal, much less be socially responsible for, our own personal convictions. We keep them tucked away and only speak like one friend of mine – took me a year to get him to give own opinions. He’d say “St. so-and-so wrote this,” or “Father blahblahblah told me another way to look at it.” I’d say, “but Jerry, what is your own opinion?” He’d say, “well, I kind of like that way Father put it.” In fact, it took a serious problem in the parish between two powerful organizations until he finally “blew his cover,” and said to one of the leaders, “I don’t care what anybody else thinks. This is just not right.” From then on, he opened up and became bold enough to speak for himself.

This is one way we can hide ourselves from each other. Never give a personal opinion. After all, aren’t we all trained to say what the teachers want to hear and not even consider our own opinions?

But if we speak honestly out of our own minds and hearts, then we too can speak “with authority.”

Alan

Modern Catholic Dictionary:

AUTHORITY. The right of a society to direct and compel the members to co-operate toward the attainment of the end of that society. Ultimately all authority in a society comes from God but in different ways, depending on the kind of society.

In a conventional society, founded by the free agreement of men and women who set its purpose and choose its means, God is the final source of authority, but indirectly, in the sense that he is the source of everything. He created the persons who form the society and gave them the faculties by which to direct the society.

In natural societies, such as the family and state, God is the source of authority directly and immediately. He established the natural law that requires that people organize themselves. The authority passes from God directly to the society and not through the personalities of the founders.

In theocratic societies, such as the Catholic Church, God founded a particular society by supernatural revelation. He specified its structure and determined its leaders. Here God is most directly and immediately the source of authority, not only in governing but also in teaching the faithful who belong to the society. (Etym. Latin auctoritas, source, authorship; authority, weight, might, power.)

 

[mercytruth]

Alan, I think Thistle has a better understanding of authority as it relates to the Catholic Church.

When Jesus spoke with authority it was because he was speaking the words which God the Father commanded him to speak…now that’s authority from on high.

Sacred scriptures are our primary source of authority along with sacred tradition. I may not be a very good Catholic in this regard, because I have a few differences of understanding regarding certain doctrines of the Catholic faith as interpreted by sacred scriptures and early church tradition. However, for the vast majority of moral teaching, I am in agreement. (I have the liberty to say these things because I have literally spent thousands of hours studying the scriptures and the early church fathers… it is a gift of God… what am I to do, pretend that it does not exist and humbly keep silent?)

Now honestly speaking and without authority, it does grieve me as one who was baptized and confirmed Catholic (according to the desires of my parents), that half the body of our Lord Jesus Christ has been anathamatized because it does not concur with the jurisdictional supreme authority of the Papacy of Rome. This I think, is flat out wrong.

God’s peace

Micah

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Alan, I think Thistle has a better understanding of authority as it relates to the Catholic Church.

When Jesus spoke with authority it was because he was speaking the words which God the Father commanded him to speak…now that’s authority from on high.

Sacred scriptures are our primary source of authority along with sacred tradition. I may not be a very good Catholic in this regard, because I have a few differences of understanding regarding certain doctrines of the Catholic faith as interpreted by sacred scriptures and early church tradition. However, for the vast majority of moral teaching, I am in agreement. (I have the liberty to say these things because I have literally spent thousands of hours studying the scriptures and the early church fathers… it is a gift of God… what am I to do, pretend that it does not exist and humbly keep silent?)

Now honestly speaking and without authority, it does grieve me as one who was baptized and confirmed Catholic (according to the desires of my parents), that half the body of our Lord Jesus Christ has been anathamatized because it does not concur with the jurisdictional supreme authority of the Papacy of Rome. This I think, is flat out wrong.

God’s peace

Micah

Dear mercytruth,

For the numbers, I suppose I can claim the “authority” of having focused over 50,000 hours directly on the spiritual journey, since I began it in July 11, 2001, under Redemptorist priest Father Gerry Pecht. An amazing person who knew as much about modern psychology as he did theology. He was confessor to many of the priests in the diocese. He is now retired due to medical limitations, and living in Ligouri.

The facts I present are obviously not my own, because I wasn’t physically present in the temple with Jesus. So I have to go on some form of hearsay. But when you get right down to it, the only reason we “know” anything about Jesus of Nazareth, is that somebody else has told us and we bought the story.

That said, the ideas I’m REALLY trying to convey – but am limited by my use of the language – are, in fact, my own and I speak from personal experience. FWIW.

Here’s the idea I’m REALLY trying to convey: few people I know actually speak from the heart, or say what they honestly and personally think, and I think they are missing out, always subjecting their own opinions to the shadows so that those more “approved” ideas are the only ones I ever confess.

That’s like being in a mental prison. Have you ever been freed conspicuously from something that held you in one form of bondage or another? Imagine if all of a sudden you realize that you do not have to constantly fight your own brain – like wrestling with issues that get you confused, down, or distracted. It’s kind of hard to imagine if you haven’t actually felt it, because we don’t even necessarily know when we’re doing it. But I have been so freed, and it’s wonderful. It came as a package deal the Lord gave me in the healing department. I’ve told my story many times, and it’s still just as miraculous to me! :heaven:

So I’m not hear to argue terminology. I’m here to tell you how wonderful it can be to learn how to think for ourselves and speak our own thoughts.

I’ll present the same argument in non-religious language. This time I can’t be sidetracked by sacred definitions:

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts. – Albert Einstein.

Alan

 

[Gabriel_Serafin]

When Jesus was teaching in the temple as a child, all were amazed because He spoke with authority.

Just to be clear, the verse in Scripture about Christ as a child does not state the word authority. * Here is the passage in Scripture:
*
" After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.’ ‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. " Luke 2:46-51

You may be thinking about other passages where Christ is already a man and Scripture speaks about how He taught with authority. Jesus began teaching after the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. The word Messiah itself means “Anointed One” The prophet Isaiah prophesied that the promised Messiah would be specially anointed with the Holy Spirit:* “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:1-2).*

Jesus them testifies to this in the New Testament stood when He stood up to read;

"and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14-21).

After His ascension into heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon His Church at Pentecost, after which the apostles were filled with truth and taught without fear. And those to whom Christ had given special authority to teach (Peter and the apostles) were commanded to go and preach the gospel to the whole world, beginning in Jerusalem.
http://www.dodsonlumber.com/acts242/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pentecost1.gif

At Baptism, we become members of the Church; and at Confirmation we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Click on the audio link below to listen to a brief explanation of what your role as Catholic Laity is after you receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit:

Activate Your Christianity

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Activate Your Christianity

Hey, this is great homily! Thank you for it! I do like Sheen.

You all are welcome to discuss the Biblical and theological implications. I withdraw my concern over the word “authority.”

I’m rapidly losing interest in academic arguments, as I’m moving into a new phase where truth is more subtle than my words, and wonder and glorious mystery is omnipresent.

So you could say I found my “looking glass,” or I feel like I’m “over the rainbow.”

Or you could say these are the ravings of a psychotic who has convinced even his own doctor and pastor that he is really OK. Bwahaha.

But either way, I’m interesting in having discussions with people based on what they think and feel, not just sterile academic discussions.

I love academics. I have a master’s degree in engineering. But is was in unlearning, in the Cloud of the Unknowing, where I found healing.

There are ways to share this healing that do not involve becoming psychotic, which can be inconvenient when trying to raise six children.

Here’s my mantra (hee hee j/k) fot this thread: be honest with yourself and your brothersw about what you really think, what you really fear, and how you really feel deep in your hearts, without worrying about how you compare to a standard. Once you have become honest with yourself and quit feeling defensive about such personal things as how “should” you think and feel about something that you see differently than others, you can be more sober and less emotionally charged, to do an accurate assessment of self. Or even an examination of conscience, for that matter.

Still think I’m crazy talking? Could be. But I’m happy, happier than I’ve ever been before. My son’s the Grand Knight, the pastor’s giving me new authority to deal with things he’s never delegated before. My family has seen it, my wife is ecstatic after 11 grueling years of watching me when all the experts said I would never come back from wherever it was that I was. But I did come back, healed by the work of the Holy Spirit. And not managed or controlled, but healed. Better than before it ever happened! :dancing:

Here’s a bonus message: if there is no physical brain damage, then don’t believe that mental illness is incurable. With God all things are possible. Believe and be healed.

Alan

 

[mercytruth]

Dear mercytruth,

For the numbers, I suppose I can claim the “authority” of having focused over 50,000 hours directly on the spiritual journey, since I began it in July 11, 2001, under Redemptorist priest Father Gerry Pecht. An amazing person who knew as much about modern psychology as he did theology. He was confessor to many of the priests in the diocese. He is now retired due to medical limitations, and living in Ligouri.

The facts I present are obviously not my own, because I wasn’t physically present in the temple with Jesus. So I have to go on some form of hearsay. But when you get right down to it, the only reason we “know” anything about Jesus of Nazareth, is that somebody else has told us and we bought the story.

That said, the ideas I’m REALLY trying to convey – but am limited by my use of the language – are, in fact, my own and I speak from personal experience. FWIW.

Here’s the idea I’m REALLY trying to convey: few people I know actually speak from the heart, or say what they honestly and personally think, and I think they are missing out, always subjecting their own opinions to the shadows so that those more “approved” ideas are the only ones I ever confess.

That’s like being in a mental prison. Have you ever been freed conspicuously from something that held you in one form of bondage or another? Imagine if all of a sudden you realize that you do not have to constantly fight your own brain – like wrestling with issues that get you confused, down, or distracted. It’s kind of hard because most of us don’t even know we’re doing it. But I have been so freed, and it’s wonderful. It came as a package deal the Lord gave me in the healing department.

So I’m not hear to argue terminology. I’m here to tell you how wonderful it can be to learn how to think for ourselves and speak our own thoughts.

I’ll present the same argument in non-religious language. This time I can’t be sidetracked by sacred definitions:

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts. – Albert Einstein.

Alan

Alan, now what you are saying connects. My own spiritual journey began when I was a teenager raised Catholic, but I left the faith and went on a spiritual journey to find the ‘truth’. I realized early on that the ‘truth’ had to speak to both my mind and my heart.

I was miraculously saved from an encounter with physical death in 1972, and my spiritual liberation began as it was divinely revealed to me that ‘sacred scriptures were the source of truth I was looking for’, and to this day, they speak to both my mind and my heart.

It has taken me much longer than 10 years to be able to speak freely from my heart and mind in humility and without anger, and it is still a learning/healing process for myself.

So, for us to communicate honestly and humbly from the heart and mind, perhaps require a combination of the Word of God, spiritual directors/confessors, self-examination, contemplative prayer, and maybe most importantly a time of suffering. Until then, we are all in a prison of emotional, psychological, or spiritual bondage trying to break free.

When we do break free, we will be living in the authority of being set free from our past bondages and then living in the Spirit of God.

God’s peace

Micah

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Alan, now what you are saying connects. My own spiritual journey began when I was a teenager raised Catholic, but I left the faith and went on a spiritual journey to find the ‘truth’. I realized early on that the ‘truth’ had to speak to both my mind and my heart.

I was miraculously saved from an encounter with physical death in 1972, and my spiritual liberation began as it was divinely revealed to me that ‘sacred scriptures were the source of truth I was looking for’, and to this day, they speak to both my mind and my heart.

It has taken me much longer than 10 years to be able to speak freely from my heart and mind in humility and without anger, and it is still a learning/healing process for myself.

So, for us to communicate honestly and humbly from the heart and mind, perhaps require a combination of the Word of God, spiritual directors/confessors, self-examination, contemplative prayer, and maybe most importantly a time of suffering. Until then, we are all in a prison of emotional, psychological, or spiritual bondage trying to break free.

When we do break free, we will be living in the authority of being set free from our past bondages and then living in the Spirit of God.

God’s peace

Micah

 

[DaveBj]

The rabban of Jesus’ day would not speak on their own authority; rather, they would quote what others had written, going back to the Torah. (And I am doing the same thing, retelling what I have read in commentaries ) However, Jesus would say things on His own authority. The clearest examples are in the Sermon on the Mount where He tells His listeners what they have traditionally heard, and then says, “But I say unto you. . .” This kind of reliance on His own authority was unheard of in His time.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

The rabban of Jesus’ day would not speak on their own authority; rather, they would quote what others had written, going back to the Torah. (And I am doing the same thing, retelling what I have read in commentaries ) However, Jesus would say things on His own authority. The clearest examples are in the Sermon on the Mount where He tells His listeners what they have traditionally heard, and then says, “But I say unto you. . .” This kind of reliance on His own authority was unheard of in His time.

Amen!

My most important point is that although such speaking of one’s own opinion is no longer “unheard of,” it’s still uncommon. I think in all but the brightest and/or most rebellious (“tough minded” maybe) kids, we all get pretty well cleansed of this way of speaking through socialization by our teachers and other authority – and peer pressure. So I think we are actually conditioned by academia to distrust and even reject personal opinions that are our own. I can only imagine how many times more impossible it was when Jesus walked the earth. There was no such thing as “freedom of speech” then.

If I have anything to do with it, though, this “speaking with authority” (aka “speaking openly and honestly about one’s thoughts”) will become more common, and I think here at CAF is a good place to start.

Alan

 

[TEPO]

I think there is a dilemma here. Everyone is merely a product of their influences, through experiences that they’ve had or things they’ve heard. I believe that God is the primary influencer, as well as the sole creator, and that people are restricted from creation here on earth. In the afterlife however,it appears that we can create new things to some extent, since God tells us that there have been fallen angels who went on to create outside of that which God has created. But here on earth we cannot “create” anything including thoughts… Even language itself was infused into our genes by God, which He gave us to spread His word.

I tell you this based on things I’ve heard… After picking and choosing through my influences, I put it here through my hands… To influence you.

 

[TEPO]

When Jesus speaks with authority, that means He speaks authentically -something “new” to man. Realistically though, nobody else can do this including Popes, as they must be influenced by the Spirit… Jesus spoke words that were not influenced upon Him, rather he is God.

 

[TEPO]

If I have anything to do with it, though, this “speaking with authority” (aka “speaking openly and honestly about one’s thoughts”) will become more common, and I think here at CAF is a good place to start.

Alan

Well, our ability to concentrate vast amounts of influences on specific target areas, such as these forums, will surely speed things up. When we take into account that God gave us the ability to communicate under His Natural law, we are surely fulfilling His plan.

But things are continuously picking up speed now, and have been substantially since about the time of the telegraph.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

I think there is a dilemma here. Everyone is merely a product of their influences, through experiences that they’ve had or things they’ve heard. I believe that God is the primary influencer, as well as the sole creator, and that people are restricted from creation here on earth. In the afterlife however,it appears that we can create new things to some extent, since God tells us that there have been fallen angels who went on to create outside of that which God has created. But here on earth we cannot “create” anything including thoughts… Even language itself was infused into our genes by God, which He gave us to spread His word.

I tell you this based on things I’ve heard… After picking and choosing through my influences, I put it here through my hands… To influence you.

I really like your line of reasoning. I’ve been using slightly different models that for me are more utilitarian, but I see how my models could be “purified” a bit. I’ve been using a model where “I AM” the sole arbiter of my consciously-directed thoughts. I’ve decided there are three things I have the illusion of control over: my next intentional thought, my next intentional movement, or my next intentional word to speak. Of course “word” can itself be substituted for anything word or words can describe, and beyond … but at that I’ll let the unspoken disclaimers take over of I could never express a thought for lack of a termination. Because I see thoughts as eternal, which I think also fits your model.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word lives forever. So the most “real” part of all of it is the Word, aka the Story, carried on in the Eucharistic prayer across generations, and embodied in the Eucharist. With a story, reality can be instantiated at any time and place, by a transducer that can convert thought energy to physical energy. For all intents and purposes, Jesus acts as that transducer. When me and my buddy mystics and scientists come up with the technology to add such action as converting thought to matter, energy, information, or other form to an app for our iPhones, then we will have a better understanding of reality and appreciate even more that Jesus can create beyond what appears to us to be creation … discovery of the mystery is like a big perpetual motion machine.

When Jesus speaks with authority, that means He speaks authentically -something “new” to man. Realistically though, nobody else can do this including Popes, as they must be influenced by the Spirit… Jesus spoke words that were not influenced upon Him, rather he is God.

True, but I can speak words that are so much a part of my thinking structure that I honestly cannot trace it to any one event, group of events, etc.

So I have the illusion of “free will,” the illusion of “creativity,” and the illusion of “originality” as in being the origin of something – I think that might actually be the context you’re using the word “authority” to imply?

So to me, my imagination is mercifully limited to a universe in which I think I believe I have some control, and this gives me the awareness and identity that could come from the divine nature of our physical instantiations. My flesh craves power/control, affection/esteem, and security/comfort. If I think I have control over those things, my flesh will be happy. Alas, that happiness is temporary and conditional. If my faith is good, I can recognize that I really have zero control over those things (Tempus Fugit Momento Mori) but still have (unconditional) peace and other spiritual fruit and go on about my day without fear, anxiety, shame, etc. So if God gives us each this parcel of His Divine imagination, the “image” of Himself, then He has arranged it so each of us can be as gods in our own “kingdoms.”

Alan

 

[TEPO]

True, but I can speak words that are so much a part of my thinking structure that I honestly cannot trace it to any one event, group of events, etc.

So I have the illusion of “free will,” the illusion of “creativity,” and the illusion of “originality” as in being the origin of something – I think that might actually be the context you’re using the word “authority” to imply?

So to me, my imagination is mercifully limited to a universe in which I think I believe I have some control, and this gives me the awareness and identity that could come from the divine nature of our physical instantiations. My flesh craves power/control, affection/esteem, and security/comfort. If I think I have control over those things, my flesh will be happy. Alas, that happiness is temporary and conditional. If my faith is good, I can recognize that I really have zero control over those things (Tempus Fugit Momento Mori) but still have (unconditional) peace and other spiritual fruit and go on about my day without fear, anxiety, shame, etc. So if God gives us each this parcel of His Divine imagination, the “image” of Himself, then He has arranged it so each of us can be as gods in our own “kingdoms.”

Alan

But the Church teaches us that we have a consciounce. Through our consciounce -Free Will is the eternal freedom that allows us to personally accept or reject our influences based on our willingness to choose between our knowledge of truth or our susceptibility to concupiscence… But this is not to say that our past influences never play a part in our choices, but rather there are two forces that we use which can work either independently from each other or interdependently with each other. One force is Free Will which is freedom to choose good or evil and the other is Personal Experiences which is worldly instinct. Both of these are very important and they work in different ways. One is memory based for worldly survival, while the other is infused into our everlasting soul for salvation.

…and I’d also argue that within this consciounce of ours, we’re also born with a unique combination of special gifts/talents or “Graces”, which also affect our picking and choosing of influence. Creativity and originality are Graces, and they are always given and never earned. No two people can have exactly the same Graces. Some Graces draw people directly towards Gods path such as Priests. Some Graces make people extra smart, in order to make things work to improve the lives of others, while others are great speakers or thinkers. Some are not given many graces at all, and yet some others reject Grace. Some are given at conception, while others later in life. Graces work a lot with Genes, but they’re not the same. Graces are the God given abilities while genes are the goo that makes Grace work physically… Course too, I wonder if the Graces we’ve been given here in this life follow us to the next…? I doubt it, since we’ll all be renewed by the Glory of God personally… We’d have every grace then.

 

[mercytruth]

Every prophet of the Tanach spoke with authority through the Spirit of God as led by the Spirit of God, but retained his genetic and cultural uniqueness with, or without the Spirit of God speaking through them.

Whether one is aiming at complete union with God, or theosis, each person of faith is ever becoming uniquely filled with the fulness of the invisible Eternal within the confines of their unique, imperfect human-print. At the point of complete union with the invisible Eternal, or theosis of the Eternal, such individuals will have authority, but it will not be their authority, it will be the authority of the Eternal One manifested uniquely through them.

Outwardly, such sons and daughters of God will be as the pristine snowflakes which fall to the earth, or as the shining stars of the universe, or as the angels of heaven, which appear the same, but on closer inspection are not.

The Son of God is the image of the invisible God, the only-begotten God of the only unbegotten God, the refulgence of the glory of God, as when God said, 'Let there be light".
He is the fulness of the authority of the invisible Eternal God. He is the glory of God as seen by Moses, and as seen by the apostles as Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Without him, we can do nothing, and for this reason we remain humble before Him, and all praise and thanksgiving belongs to the Almighty God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s peace

micah

 

[AlanFromWichita]

TEPO and micah,

Thank you both for your posts! I liked them both very much!

Alan