In The Name

“…but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God " (John 5:42-44)

          In the name of … When you come “in the name of” someone or something, you come with all the authority of that someone or something. People don’t tend to like anyone to come along with authority. We don’t want the police pulling us over or coming to our doors. My problem with authority may not really be any bigger than anyone else’s, but to me, it seems huge. Because of this, I can understand when individuals in our society (and society, itself) say that we should go along with people who identify as something other than what we perceive them to be. They’re rejecting anything that comes in anyone’s name but their own.

         And then I come along and make it worse, not only by insisting on objective reality and logic but by insisting that if they want me to accept that they speak in God’s name (declaring what is true reality) that they’ll have to show me both in Scripture and science. The problem is that neither Scripture nor science supports their claim that they are God and therefore have the right to declare what is or is not reality.

          Jesus declared that He had come in the name of God, the Father. He acted in accordance with His claim. It was because of His claim that the authorities hated Him. He was hated because He chose to live in God’s name, according to God’s principles, perspectives, and purposes, not according to the Pharisees', or to ours.