There aren’t too many issues that supersede the issue of authority in people’s lives. The most likely reason authority is a huge deal for most people is because, on some level, it conflicts with autonomy, the right to self-rule. Some of today’s most hotly contested issues – abortion, gun rights, and LGBT concerns – center around authority. They are not only “hot-button” issues but have been the impetus for some horrific acts of violence.
Thinking through this issue from a biblical lens, one does not need to read too far into Genesis to find the issue of authority rise to the surface. The Bible records Adam and Eve stretching their autonomous wings and eating the forbidden fruit. A chapter later, Cain kills his brother Abel because God’s authority confronts his autonomy. And then, just two chapters later, the issue of man exerting his independence is so great that God exercises His authority by sending a flood to wipe out all humanity except eight people. Authority is a huge deal with massive ramifications.
The issue of authority does not become any easier after someone responds to the Gospel by repenting their sin and becoming a member of the local body of believers, i.e., the church. If anything, they bring issues related to authority into the church. Those issues could stem from how their parents raised them (parental authority), what kind of spouse they have or had at one time (spousal authority), the kind of society or culture in which they were raised (societal authority), and interactions with the judicial system (governmental authority). They could even bring issues from past church experience (church authority). Issues flowing from just one of those five categories could discourage trust in all forms of authority. However, if someone comes into the church with multiple forms of authority issues that have intersected throughout a lifetime, responding to authority might seem downright impossible.
How might a pastor respond to someone who grew up in a home where dad physically abused mom and the kids (spousal and parental authority), was constantly in trouble with the police (governmental authority) and lived with societal pressure to do whatever was necessary to survive (societal authority, i.e., “just don’t get caught”)? When a pastor says to such a person, “You must do such and such because God’s Word says so,” what is to keep this person from responding in the way they have responded to every other form of authority in their life?
Those are great questions that demand solid answers that are not dependent upon any of the five authoritative categories listed above. Rather, the answers need to be dependent upon God, who is outside of those five categories and has authority over those five categories. Pastors can find answers to those questions in the only document God has given us that reveals His authority, motivation, goal, and outcomes of His authority. These are vastly different from any of the motivations, goals, and outcomes stemming from human authority.
If a pastor is to have confidence in the authority of God’s Word, and if a congregant is going to respond with joy, they must understand the significant differences between God’s Word and all other forms of authority. At the top of the list of differences is the origin of the authority. With the Bible, God is the origin of the authority. According to 2 Timothy 3:16, God breathed out all Scripture. He used men, carried along by the Holy Spirit, to reveal His will (2 Peter 1:21). As God carried men along, He revealed His words, which are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous (Psalm 19:7-11). Attributing these characteristics to God’s authoritative Word creates a significant difference when one realizes that the One who breathed out the very words of the Bible is loving, merciful, gracious, just, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present, incapable of lying, misleading, or exaggerating the truth. Since the Author is perfect in every way, His authority is perfect in every way.
Not only are the very words of God immensely different, but the motive behind the words of God is vastly different from the motive behind human words.
This is not always the case with the five forms of authority previously highlighted. In each of those cases, those with power demand worship and love from those over whom they control. Husbands demand the attention and affection of their wives, mothers demand glory and the obedience of their children, churches demand obedience in action and attitude to extra-biblical mandates, and on and on it goes. The Bible’s authority, which flows from God Himself, is motivated by the Glory of God and the love of God’s creation.
The goal of God’s Word adds to the power of its authority. As revealed in Romans 8:28-29, God’s goal is that His creation, fallen through the act of one man and one woman (Genesis 3:1-7), would be reconciled to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:18) and become more and more like His Son Jesus, the very reason for our existence (1 Corinthians 10:31). God’s Word containing narratives, indicatives, prophecies, poetry and so much more, all combine into one authoritative Word aimed at saving mankind from sin and the wrath of God to the image of God Himself. And this goal has remained the same from Genesis 3 until the present day. This goal is overwhelmingly different from any authoritative human goal, which will always contain measures aimed at forcing compliance through manipulation, intimidation, or in some cases, destruction. In situations where God’s authority oversees and governs human authority, the love of God replaces forced compliance with biblical order, driven by the love of God and the love of others.
Finally, a major distinction between the authority of the Bible and all other forms of authority is found in the outcomes.
Rounding out those wonderful outcomes, 2 Timothy 3:17 states that God’s authoritative Word blesses His children and equips them for every good work. No other form of authority promises those types of outcomes.
Applying these distinctions to the role of the pastor means the pastor can have confidence as he proclaims the authoritative Word of God, fully convinced he is acting as nothing more than a conduit through which God calls men and women to repent, worship, and love. Applying these distinctions to the child of God means joyful obedience to God’s authoritative Word is possible because the authoritative call comes from the One who creates and orchestrates everything that has come into existence for His own good pleasure and the good of His creation.
Therefore, a pastor can call a husband to serve his wife joyfully, without hesitation, knowing that his service is an act of worship to God and beneficial for his wife. A pastor can highly encourage a mom to zealously love her child, being fully convinced that her Christlike love for her child brings God glory and communicates unconditional love to her child. A pastor can emphatically charge a college student to pray for and even submit to local government mandates, knowing that the prayers and submissive acts reflect Jesus and benefit the community in which the college student lives. These applications, and millions more like them, never change in origin, motive, goals, and outcomes because the Authority behind the Word is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Pastor, stand and proclaim the authoritative Word of God both corporately and individually, not because you are a good communicator or have an authoritative, commanding voice. Rather, stand and proclaim the authoritative Word of God out of Worship of the Creator and love for His creation, trusting that the authority behind what you are saying has the power to divide soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and distinguish between thoughts and motives (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is all you have, the Word of God is all you need, and the Word of God is what will outlast what you and I do for the short time that we reside on the earth (1 Peter 1:24-25).
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Battling Bitterness in Church Conflict with Forgiveness
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The post The Pastor and the Authority of Scripture appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
Thinking through this issue from a biblical lens, one does not need to read too far into Genesis to find the issue of authority rise to the surface. The Bible records Adam and Eve stretching their autonomous wings and eating the forbidden fruit. A chapter later, Cain kills his brother Abel because God’s authority confronts his autonomy. And then, just two chapters later, the issue of man exerting his independence is so great that God exercises His authority by sending a flood to wipe out all humanity except eight people. Authority is a huge deal with massive ramifications.
The different issues with different types of authority
The issue of authority does not become any easier after someone responds to the Gospel by repenting their sin and becoming a member of the local body of believers, i.e., the church. If anything, they bring issues related to authority into the church. Those issues could stem from how their parents raised them (parental authority), what kind of spouse they have or had at one time (spousal authority), the kind of society or culture in which they were raised (societal authority), and interactions with the judicial system (governmental authority). They could even bring issues from past church experience (church authority). Issues flowing from just one of those five categories could discourage trust in all forms of authority. However, if someone comes into the church with multiple forms of authority issues that have intersected throughout a lifetime, responding to authority might seem downright impossible.
How might a pastor respond to someone who grew up in a home where dad physically abused mom and the kids (spousal and parental authority), was constantly in trouble with the police (governmental authority) and lived with societal pressure to do whatever was necessary to survive (societal authority, i.e., “just don’t get caught”)? When a pastor says to such a person, “You must do such and such because God’s Word says so,” what is to keep this person from responding in the way they have responded to every other form of authority in their life?
Those are great questions that demand solid answers that are not dependent upon any of the five authoritative categories listed above. Rather, the answers need to be dependent upon God, who is outside of those five categories and has authority over those five categories. Pastors can find answers to those questions in the only document God has given us that reveals His authority, motivation, goal, and outcomes of His authority. These are vastly different from any of the motivations, goals, and outcomes stemming from human authority.
What makes the difference?
If a pastor is to have confidence in the authority of God’s Word, and if a congregant is going to respond with joy, they must understand the significant differences between God’s Word and all other forms of authority. At the top of the list of differences is the origin of the authority. With the Bible, God is the origin of the authority. According to 2 Timothy 3:16, God breathed out all Scripture. He used men, carried along by the Holy Spirit, to reveal His will (2 Peter 1:21). As God carried men along, He revealed His words, which are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous (Psalm 19:7-11). Attributing these characteristics to God’s authoritative Word creates a significant difference when one realizes that the One who breathed out the very words of the Bible is loving, merciful, gracious, just, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present, incapable of lying, misleading, or exaggerating the truth. Since the Author is perfect in every way, His authority is perfect in every way.
The motive behind God’s Word
Not only are the very words of God immensely different, but the motive behind the words of God is vastly different from the motive behind human words.
This is not always the case with the five forms of authority previously highlighted. In each of those cases, those with power demand worship and love from those over whom they control. Husbands demand the attention and affection of their wives, mothers demand glory and the obedience of their children, churches demand obedience in action and attitude to extra-biblical mandates, and on and on it goes. The Bible’s authority, which flows from God Himself, is motivated by the Glory of God and the love of God’s creation.
The goal of God’s Word
The goal of God’s Word adds to the power of its authority. As revealed in Romans 8:28-29, God’s goal is that His creation, fallen through the act of one man and one woman (Genesis 3:1-7), would be reconciled to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:18) and become more and more like His Son Jesus, the very reason for our existence (1 Corinthians 10:31). God’s Word containing narratives, indicatives, prophecies, poetry and so much more, all combine into one authoritative Word aimed at saving mankind from sin and the wrath of God to the image of God Himself. And this goal has remained the same from Genesis 3 until the present day. This goal is overwhelmingly different from any authoritative human goal, which will always contain measures aimed at forcing compliance through manipulation, intimidation, or in some cases, destruction. In situations where God’s authority oversees and governs human authority, the love of God replaces forced compliance with biblical order, driven by the love of God and the love of others.
The outcomes of God’s Word
Finally, a major distinction between the authority of the Bible and all other forms of authority is found in the outcomes.
Rounding out those wonderful outcomes, 2 Timothy 3:17 states that God’s authoritative Word blesses His children and equips them for every good work. No other form of authority promises those types of outcomes.
Applying these distinctions
Applying these distinctions to the role of the pastor means the pastor can have confidence as he proclaims the authoritative Word of God, fully convinced he is acting as nothing more than a conduit through which God calls men and women to repent, worship, and love. Applying these distinctions to the child of God means joyful obedience to God’s authoritative Word is possible because the authoritative call comes from the One who creates and orchestrates everything that has come into existence for His own good pleasure and the good of His creation.
Therefore, a pastor can call a husband to serve his wife joyfully, without hesitation, knowing that his service is an act of worship to God and beneficial for his wife. A pastor can highly encourage a mom to zealously love her child, being fully convinced that her Christlike love for her child brings God glory and communicates unconditional love to her child. A pastor can emphatically charge a college student to pray for and even submit to local government mandates, knowing that the prayers and submissive acts reflect Jesus and benefit the community in which the college student lives. These applications, and millions more like them, never change in origin, motive, goals, and outcomes because the Authority behind the Word is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Pastor, stand and proclaim the authoritative Word of God both corporately and individually, not because you are a good communicator or have an authoritative, commanding voice. Rather, stand and proclaim the authoritative Word of God out of Worship of the Creator and love for His creation, trusting that the authority behind what you are saying has the power to divide soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and distinguish between thoughts and motives (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is all you have, the Word of God is all you need, and the Word of God is what will outlast what you and I do for the short time that we reside on the earth (1 Peter 1:24-25).
Related:
The Pastor and His Community
Battling Bitterness in Church Conflict with Forgiveness
Take Time to Explain Communion Clearly to the Church
The post The Pastor and the Authority of Scripture appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...