The Blessing of Living Under Authority

One of the essential lessons that must be taught in a Christian household is that all people are under authority. Failing in this area, whether through abdication or a twisting of the biblical doctrine, is the great generator of all the social and spiritual problems that haunt people for a lifetime. Whether an unhappy marriage or a divided church, feminism or Marcionism, these are but tributaries that flow from the fountainhead of rejecting this most basic fact of God's creation. You are designed to live under authority. And to rebel against this is to rebel against reality itself. Therefore, the Christian home that teaches this doctrine through example and positive teaching rescues its members from all the miseries that flow from living in a fantasy world.

Now, I know the most obvious place to go to explain this is the first couple of chapters of Genesis, and I'll get there. But instead, let's start with Matthew 8 and Luke 7. There we have the account of the centurion, whose concern for his servant drove him to ask Christ to heal him. Christ says, “I'll come to your house and do so.” And the centurion says that he isn't worthy to have Christ under his roof. He says, “Just say the word, and I know he’ll be healed.” And he says, “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” This man gets something that very few get, and you can see the evidence in the incredible response of Jesus: “Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, ‘Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.’” Christ tells him he can go and that his servant is healed. And so he was.

The centurion knew he was a man under authority. There were people above him in rank whom he must obey completely. And there were people below him who must obey him completely. He wasn't a free-floating independent operator who was at liberty to do whatever he pleased. He was under certain immutable obligations to those above him, and likewise, those below him were under obligations to him. He had learned one of the great lessons, and it helped him understand the nature of Jesus. Jesus was far above him, and therefore, in this man's opinion, he wasn't even worthy to have Jesus enter his household. He also understood the absolute authority that Christ had. Elsewhere in the Gospels, it says even the demons obeyed him. But here this man realizes that even diseases are subject to his complete authority. Jesus refers to this man's way of thinking as faith. In short, this man trusted Jesus not just as an authority, but as a benevolent authority, someone who cares deeply for his subjects. So the man came not making demands as an entitled equal, but humbly with a request as a man under authority.

Oh, how few understand this. How many live in a fantasy world where they believe they are subject to no one. So many have been twisted by this evil culture that any call to submission is treated as tyrannical overreach. And such abusive authorities do exist. But one of their strategies for gaining unchecked power is to slyly and subtly undermine subjects' trust in their God-given authorities. This brings us back to Genesis.

God is the ultimate benevolent authority, from whom all authority comes. He made Adam to rule underneath him, and Eve was to be Adam's helper underneath his headship. Together they would rule over the creation and all the animals. Mankind was under the love and authority of God. Eve was under the love and authority of Adam, and all creation was under the love and authority of mankind. And in the fall, we have a serpent that is part of the creation, who deceives the woman. The man then listens to her voice instead of the voice of God, and they come to question the goodness of God. In short, you have a reversal of the flow of authority in Satan's sly attack. And his stratagem has not changed. Get people under authority to distrust those whom God has put over them. Get them to believe that any authority over them is on a power trip.

That authorities ought not be trusted has become a basic assumption of our culture. And certainly there are bad husbands who abuse their authority, bad fathers who abuse their authority, civil magistrates who abuse their authority, and elders who abuse their authority. There is massive failure in these most basic institutions of family, church, and state. But the breakdown that we see isn't because authority itself is a problem, but rather because people don't recognize themselves as men under authority. Just like the centurion, we are somewhere in the middle. And there is always God at the top, the only absolute authority. And the abuse of authority happens first and foremost when someone rejects His Word, much like our first parents did, in part due to the deception of the devil. So to reject authority is to misunderstand the issue. And just because one father fails doesn't mean all will fail in the faithful fulfillment of their duties. In other words, the abuse of a good thing is not grounds for the rejection of its right use. As a matter of fact, it is the failure of authorities and the chaos that flows from it that underscore the importance of living as a man under authority.

Returning to the household, Ephesians 6:1 emphasizes that this is one of the central lessons of the home. Paul says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Children are to obey their parents because God has set their parents over them as their rightful authority. Parents, not unlike the centurion, are middlemen. They are, at the very least, under the authority of the Lord. But if they are faithful to Scripture, they are under the authority of elders and under the authority of the civil magistrate. Not in all ways, but in specific ways that God has allotted to those institutions. So children are to obey their parents because it glorifies God. This is God's design for their good. And after all, as parents obey God and obey those He has put over them, so should children obey their parents.

Note one of the reasons Paul cites for children to obey and honor their parents. He says, “Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.” When children honor their parents as their God-given authority and submit to them, it has practical benefits in their lives. This is one of the main points that Hebrews 12 makes:

“It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

One of the evidences that you are a son loved by your father is that he disciplines you. And he does it for your good as best he knows how. Obviously, our heavenly Father knows perfectly how to discipline us. And if we respect the authority of our earthly father, as expressed through his discipline, so much the more should we respect our heavenly Father. And of course, to be subject to their discipline is to experience temporary pain. But when discipline is done wisely, it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness. This is why those who have not experienced discipline walk in a crooked way and live in a cloud of chaos they kick up as they rebel.

We must live as men under authority and respond to God's discipline that He brings to bear in our lives, generally through His appointed authorities, whether a parent, a pastor, or a local governmental authority. We mustn't live as independent men and women, but as those gladly in subjection to the world God has made. And we must discipline those under our care to live under authority just as we do. We do it not out of anger or on a power trip, but out of love, that they may have a life that possesses the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Yes, that will bring pain into their lives, but it's temporary pain. Those who refuse to discipline those under their care sentence them to short-term pleasure and ease, followed by a life of pain and chaos.

Proverbs tells us, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” If you flatter and suck up to people under your care and withhold from them the benevolent love of discipline, you are their enemy. No doubt there are abusive authorities in this world who overreach their limits, but there are ditches on both sides of the road. And in my opinion, the deeper ditch is that carved out by the proud, who have no respect for God-given authorities. So teach your children well, run your churches well, be a good manager—whatever authority has been allotted to you. Never apologize for it. Never be ashamed of it. Know that rebels will resent it, but if you use it rightly according to the Word of God, it will be a blessing to all those under your care.

Painting: Nancy Moore