Governing, Guiding, and Refreshing

He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything (Col 1:18).

Since Christ is the Head of the Church, it is His Word that rules Christians. Scripture’s authority is as present and active as if the Lord Jesus Himself should open the skies and audibly direct us.

The rule of Christ is made effective by his Spirit, through whom he illumines our understanding of his Word, and gives us wisdom to apply it… The rule of Christ through his Word and Spirit is not the dead hand of human tradition reaching from the past. Rather, by his living truth and the abiding presence of his Spirit the Lord governs, guides and refreshes his people.

- Edmund Clowney, The Church, 202-03.

We only follow Christ when we are obedient to Scripture and we only honor Christ when we are faithful to Scripture. For us to follow any other authority or to look to any other source for direction, is nothing less than mutiny against our Lord, Jesus Christ.