Authority is not a very popular word today. Yet nevertheless, it is a subject dealt with extensively in the Bible, which makes it an important topic.

Different Realms of Authority⤒🔗

There are a number of different areas of life where lines of authority are estab­lished. For one, there is the home. The Bible speaks clearly about how hus­bands are to have a certain measure of authority over their wives. “Wives, sub­mit to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22). Also, parents have authority over their children. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1). The Bible also talks about authority in the church. We read in Hebrews 13:17,

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

The elders are the spiritual overseers in the congregation. As those given this authority by God, they have the respon­sibility to oversee the spiritual condition of the congregation, and they have been entrusted with the responsibility to serve in a governing capacity and exer­cise church discipline when necessary, in order to maintain purity, and for the building up of the church.

Then there is the authority of the state. Romans 13:1 states very clearly — “Let every person be subject to the govern­ing authorities.” And as 1 Peter 2:17 tells us — “Honor the emperor.”

The government has the responsibility to protect its citizens by punishing crime. It is given a certain function to fulfil and has been given the authority it needs to fulfil that function. It has the right to expect the citizens in its land to submit to its authority in those matters where it has lawful authority.

There is also a measure of authority that employers have over employees. As Ephesians 6:5 states: “Bondservants, obey your earthly mas­ters with fear and trembling, with a sin­cere heart, as you would Christ.” Em­ployers have the right to expect that those in their hire will submit to their appropriate authority on the job.

All right then, the husband has authority over the wife, the parent has authority over the children, the elder has author­ity over the congregation member, the government has authority over the citi­zen, and the employer has authority over the employee. There are more examples we could give, although most of them would probably be delegated subsets of the various realms of author­ity listed above. For instance, a teacher has authority over a student delegated to him by the child’s parents.

Limited Authority←⤒🔗

It is important to recognize the fact that having authority in one area of life might not mean that you have authority in other areas. For instance, the employer has authority over the employee and can tell him what to do, within reason, when it comes to doing his job. But he normally doesn’t have the right to go into his employee’s home and tell him how to raise his children. That’s not his area of authority.

Another example: the government has the authority to call on you to pay a rea­sonable amount of taxes, and it also has the authority to punish you if you commit crimes against society. But the government does not have the authority to come into the church and tell the church what it is going to believe, or who it’s going to call to ministry. That’s not its function. Having authority in one area does not give you authority in all other areas of life.

Mind you, sometimes the lines can be­come a bit blurred. If, for example, a husband beats his wife, does not the state have the authority to arrest him? Would not the church have the authority to place him under ecclesiastical disci­pline?

Authority Comes From God←⤒🔗

The primary principle undergirding dif­ferent areas of human authority is that all authority comes first of all from God. God is the sovereign Lord. He rules over all, and has supreme authority in everything. But the thing is, He confers authority onto others on his behalf. You might say that He delegates His author­ity to human beings and entrusts them with a measure of the authority which first of all belongs to Him.

This is crucial to remember. We have to keep in mind the ultimate source of authority if we are to have any sort of proper understanding of this subject. Sadly though, many have little under­standing as to what authority is or what it is based on.

For example, it would be easy for par­ents to think that any authority they have over their children is based on the fact that they brought those chil­dren into being, or because they are bigger than their children, or smarter. Or even worse, their authority over their children is granted to them by the state. But parental authority does not find its basis in accidents of birth, or on the child’s level of development, or any other factor. Rather, it is the great heavenly Father who gives au­thority to parents.

Physical power is not an adequate basis for authority. Might does not automatically make right. A wife’s ability to bench press more than her husband would not then automatically make her head of their home. Intelligence does not give people the inherent right to have authority. Even wisdom is not a sufficient basis. Of course, we want our leaders to be wise. We may recognize a man’s God-given wisdom, and so call him to a position of leadership. But his au­thority does not flow from his wisdom. Having all sorts of money is not a ba­sis for authority. Employers are likely to have more money than their em­ployees. But that is not why their workers are called to submit to them. Put simply, authority can never come from within ourselves, in who we are, or in what we have. Authority can only come from God.

As we read in Romans 13:1, 2 — “Let every person be subject to the gov­erning authorities. For there is no au­thority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has ap­pointed, and those who resist will in­cur judgment.”

Think about this: there is no authority except which comes from God. When you rebel against authority, you are rebelling against God. This is not an easy truth to submit to, is it? Those who rebel against the authority of the governmental authority are rebelling against God. Those who rebel against the authority of the office ­bearers in their church are rebelling against God. Those who rebel against their parents are rebelling against God.

Human Authority Always Conditional←⤒🔗

Now mind you, an important qualifica­tion must be added here. No human authority over us is ever unconditional. Only the authority of Jesus Christ is unconditional. Only the authority of Christ working through His Spirit and through His Word can be said to be a total and absolute authority.

The authority that is given by Christ to human beings does not give them the right to do whatever they like. Those who are in authority can, in a sense, give up their right to be in authority over us.

When those in charge try to use their authority over us to make us do that which is contrary to the will of God, then we cannot obey them. The leaders of the Jews at the time of the early church had a position of authority given to them by God. But the disciples could not obey them when instructed to stop preaching. Acts 4:19,20 — “But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’”

Submit Where Possible←⤒🔗

Children, if your parents try to make you do things that God has told you not to do, then you must obey God rather than them. Mind you, do not think that you now have an easy excuse to disobey your parents whenever you want. They have still been placed over you by God. Respecting them as parents means taking that authority very seriously and not just rejecting it whenever it is convenient for you. Your default position should be to obey them where possible, and only disobey them when it’s clear from the Bible that you have no other choice.

The issues involved in all of this be­come especially difficult when it comes to the matter of how we view the gov­ernment of the land, particularly when that government is blatantly anti­ Christian, as is becoming more and more the case in Western nations. But consider this: Paul told his readers in Rome to be subject to the civil authori­ties. The authorities who held positions of power at that time, well, they were far from Christian.

This does not mean we stand idly by and do nothing as governments con­tinue along an ungodly path. Christians privileged to be living in a democracy are called to be good citizens in a responsible, God-glorifying way. This means considering biblical principles when deciding who to vote for. And it may mean confronting the government when its laws conflict with God’s laws by such means as writing letters, being involved in politics, or peaceful demon­strations, etc.

And yet, we must still be very careful to remember that God is the one who has set up the government in its position of authority. We must still submit to that authority as far as biblically possible, because this is what the Bible itself de­mands of us.

How about submitting to authority in the workplace? This also is not very easy, especially in a society where the man­agement/worker relationship is as­sumed to require conflict. The think­ing is that if you don’t like what man­agement is doing, you just go on strike.

Is that the biblical option? Most of the time, it’s probably not. Does this give the employer the right to do whatever they like, pay their employees as little as they want, put them in hazardous jobs, sexually harass them, and other nasty things? Of course not. But the boss still has a measure of authority, and that has to be recognized.

Submit to God by Submitting to Proper Authority←⤒🔗

How do You View Authority? As we said, authority is not looked upon very highly these days. Leaders are often blamed more than followed. Some­times they deserve it. But let us never use the failings of our leaders as an excuse to ignore the command of God. Remember, so often our rejection of authority is in fact a rejec­tion of God who chooses to rule us using sinful human authorities. Submit to God, and to those in au­thority over you, in so far as possible according to the Word of God. Rec­ognize that authority comes from Him. Show by legitimate submission to others that you serve Him as Lord and master. Don’t do so on my au­thority. Do so on the authority of the Word of God.