6: “LATER DEVELOPMENTS” TRUMP SCRIPTURE 57But this trajectory argument places authority ultimately in something
beyond the New Testament writings. It thus rejects the important
Reformation doctrine of sola Scriptura (“the Scripture alone”), the idea
that the ultimate authority for our beliefs is not anything outside of
Scripture but is only the words of Scripture themselves.
France supports his position by arguing (1) that we already see
change from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and (2) that
within the New Testament we see the apostles gradually growing in their
understanding of the way Gentiles can be fully included in the church
(as in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15).^10 So why should we not allow
change beyond what is in the New Testament?
The problem with France’s view is that it fails to recognize the
uniqueness of the New Testament. Yes, the New Testament explicitly
tells us that we are no longer under the regulations of the old covenant
(Heb. 8:6-13), so we have clear warrant for saying the sacrificial laws
and dietary laws are no longer binding on us. And yes, we do see the
apostles in a process of coming to understand the inclusion of the
Gentiles in the church (Acts 15; Gal. 2:1-14; 3:28). But that process was
completed within the New Testament, and the commands given to
Christians in the New Testament say nothing about excluding Gentiles
from the church. We do not have to progress on a “trajectory” beyond
the New Testament to discover that.
Christians living in the time of Paul’s epistles were living under the
new covenant. And we Christians living today are also living under the
new covenant. This is “the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor. 11:25),
which Jesus established and which we affirm every time we take the
Lord’s Supper. That means we are living in the same period in God’s plan
for “the history of redemption” as the first-century Christians. And that
is why we can read and apply the New Testament directly to ourselves
today. To attempt to go beyond the New Testament documents and
derive our authority from “where the New Testament was heading” is
to reject the very documents God gave us to govern our life under the
new covenant until Christ returns.
I agree, of course, that the church later formulated doctrines, such
as the Trinity, that are not spelled out explicitly in the New Testament.
(^10) France, Women in the Church’s Ministry, 17-19.