Week 33—Monday 2 Corinthians 4:2-6
2 Corinthians 4:2-6
THREE SUGGESTED PLACES—THE BIBLE,
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, THE CHURCH
We saw yesterday that the truth in the infallibility of the Bible is that if we take the Way it shows—Jesus as the Way—then we infallibly find God. This is vital infallibility.
The second answer is that the place of authority is in infallible Christian experience. There is a great truth here, for “he who says experience says science.” That which has gone through one’s own experience is firsthand and incontrovertible. One knows that one knows and is sure that he or she is sure. In “The Inner Light” Frederick Myers said:
Whoso has felt the Spirit of the Highest
Cannot confound nor doubt Him nor deny
Yea, with one voice, O world, though thou deniest
Stand thou on that side, for on this side am I.
Those who know Jesus “cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4: 20). So there is a real infallibility in Christian experience.
The third place of authority is claimed to be the infallible church. There is only one church that claims that infallibility. To be infallible this church claims to be Christ. This view expounded in the pulpit of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, by the Rev. Bernard P. Donachie says, “The Catholic Church claims to be Christ. She acts like Christ and she can prove from the Scriptures that she is Christ.” The answer to that is simple: A Hindu on board a British ship claimed to be Christ. The bluff British captain listened to his claim and commented, “Well, if you’re Christ then I’m going to change my religion.” If the Roman Catholic Church acts like Christ, is Christ, then I too would have to change my religion!
However, there is a truth in the infallibility of the church. But it is not the truth of an infallible pope, or the church being Christ himself. We hope to find that truth.
O Father God, guide us amid the maze of claims and counterclaims and let us see your face—your face in the face of your Son. For any other likeness is unlikeness and any other Face on you means that you are defaced. Save us. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I can let my full weight down only on the Divine—no human authority will suffice.