But, it is objected, does not the Christian stand directly under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is not Jesus Christ Lord also of the Scriptures? And if so, how can the Christian be said to be bound to the authority of the Bible?
The answer is very simple. The antithesis is a false one. Jesus Christ is Lord of the Scriptures in the same sense in which any absolute monarch is Lord of the laws and proclamations which he sees fit to issue for the government of his subjects. The ruler's laws carry his personal authority, and the measure of one's loyalty to him is the consistency of one's observance of them.
But Holy Scripture...is Christ's instrument of government: it comes to us, so to speak, from His hand, and with His seal upon it, for He Himself commended the Old Testament to us as having His Father's authority, and He Himself authorized and empowered the apostles to speak in His name, by His Spirit and with His own authority. So the way to bow to the authority of Jesus Christ is precisely by bowing to the authority of the inspired Scriptures.
('God Has Spoken', J.I.Packer, pp.96-97)
see also - http://www.aletheia.org.uk/sole-authority-in-all-matters-of-faith-and-practice.php
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