Not the last word on NT Wright's The last Word

Continuing our exploration of this great little book...

I met an interesting guy in a Christian bookstore not too long ago. We were both looking at Bible commentaries, exchanging small talk. After a few minutes he began to comment on the commentaries I was favoring, and it became clear he was a bit bothered because I was, as he put it, “maybe focusing on the wrong kinds of commentaries.” Now, I know he was trying to be helpful, and he was a nice guy, but once I discovered he was a fundamentalist Baptist something in me wanted to say, “This is a Methodist bookstore. All they have are the ‘wrong kinds of commentaries.’” Biting my tongue, I kept looking at the books, tried to sort of listen, and just let him talk. He told me why this commentary was “untrustworthy”, why that one was “liberal,” and why another did not respect the “authority of Scripture.” What I wanted to tell him, but did not, was this: The Bible is not the highest authority in the church. Now, if you grew up in a fundamentalist church, or if you had your faith formed in such a church you might be bothered by the statement that the Bible is not the church's highest authority. But if we are to be a Christian church we would do well to consider just what is the church's highest authority -- if it's not the Bible. Chapter One - coming up.