Supreme Authority

Supreme Authority is a book whose author's Commentary on the Gospel of Luke has been called by many Bible scholars the best modern commentary on the third gospel. This present volume deals with the subject on which the beginning and development of Christianity rests, the authority of Jesus and of his apostles. However obvious the relation between these two may seem to the reader, the author points out that in contemporary theology little appreciation is shown of the fact of the Lord's supreme authority in the New Testament and in the Early Church, and that much confusion exists in many modern theories concerning the history of primitive Christianity and of the formation of the New Testament. Second only to this, Mr. Geldenhuys shows, is the importance of understanding the authority of the apostles.

To bring out most sharply the authority of Jesus and his apostles, the author allows the two primary sources of his subject, the New Testament and other Early Church documents, to speak for themselves as far as possible, thus presenting a positive exposition of his subject. The theories of Harnack, Enslin, Bousset, Manson, and many others who try to escape full acceptance of the New Testament or Early Christian presentation of the authority of the Lord and of His apostles, come in for discussion and comment.

J. Norval Geldenhuys, perhaps best known for his Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (1951), was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa.

Ned B. Stonehouse was Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary and a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church until his death in 1962.