Not Mere Opinion

Some who attempt to justify their view of Scripture as a mere man-made book with no particular, enduring authority sometimes cite Paul's wording in 1 Corinthians 7:12.  Supposedly, Paul admits to giving just his own opinion, one in a the mix to consider.  But this is a misconstrual of what Paul is saying.  He's not expressing an opinion; he's identifying two sources of authority.  As God's own Apostle, who learned directly from Jesus, he, along with the other Apostles, gave authoritative instruction.  That is how the early church distinguished between teaching that was normative for the church versus edifying instruction that was no authoritative.

Associate professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Kenneth Berding, explains it succinctly:

In the early second century, Polycarp of Smyrna, one of Christianity’s most famous martyrs, lists three sources of authority for early Christians. He writes, “So, then, let us serve him with fear and all reverence, just as he himself [Jesus] has commanded, as did the apostles, who preached the gospel to us, and the prophets, who announced in advance the coming of our Lord” (Pol. Phil. 6.3).

The three sources of authority for the earliest Christians were: (1) the teachings of Jesus passed on orally by the apostles; (2) the instructions of the apostles (cf. Acts 2:42); and (3) the words of the prophets, that is, the Old Testament Scriptures. These three streams of authority were different from each other stream, but each of the three was binding on early Christians.

So in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul distinguishes between source-of-authority No. 1 and source-of-authority No. 2. When Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:10, “not I, but the Lord,” he is appealing to the specific teaching Jesus gave about divorce when he was on earth....

So Paul gives authoritative instructions as God’s appointed apostle about what to do in this particular situation. In this case, his appeal is to source-of-authority No. 2, the authority of the apostles (of which he is one). His instruction is still a “trustworthy” word of the Lord, even if Jesus didn’t teach about it during his earthly ministry (1 Corinthians 7:25), because, as Paul says about himself, “I also have the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 7:40). Paul is a divinely appointed apostle who has authority to give such directions to the churches (1 Corinthians 7:17).

So despite the common assumption that Paul is just giving his personal opinion in 1 Corinthians 7:12, there are good reasons — as a glance at almost any good commentary on this passage will show — that we should not take this instruction, or indeed, any of the teachings of the apostles, as somehow lacking in authority.

Comments

[SocietyVs]

I would also include the 'Torah' as part of the earliest influences of Christianity - at least - Jesus seemed to be teaching directly from it.