Authority of Man?
The false illusion that is the authority of man has thrown off believers since the beginning. I would have a hard time finding a church, religion, or denomination that doesn’t claim some kind of authority. Whether it is Popes, Priests, Rabbis, or Pastors, all religions seem to fall under the same problem. They claim authority over things they have no right to.
But do men have any authority? And if they do, does it exist outside of the power of God? I think Yeshua stated it best when he said give unto Caesar that which is Caesars, and give unto God that which is God’s.
Mat 22:21 They said, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
Although admittedly here, Yeshua is speaking of taxes. But aren’t taxes only claimed through authority?
Is their authority in this world outside of God? I believe the answer is yes, as of now unfortunately. Not that any man has authority over God, but many men have authority in their lands, such as your local criminal court, or the governments of the world. There are defiantly groups we have to submit to in this world outside of our faith.
So how are we to act when submitting to the authority of the world that governs so much of our worldly lives?
I believe this is where reading the Tanach (Old Testament) can really help. Look to all the stories from the different exiles we have. In Genesis chapters’ 39-47 when taken as a salve to Egypt, Joseph submitted to his earthly masters will. The only time that he refused was when his Master’s wife continually tried to get him to lay with her. When he refused, she brought false witness against him, and because of this he was thrown in prison. Yet once again he submitted to his earthly masters will. Once again he was put in charge of the very prison he was forced to live in. Later because of God interpreting dreams through him, he was put in charge of all Egypt. He submitted to his earthly masters, and because of his faithfulness he was able to save his people in the time of great famine.
Daniel is another good example. He was so faithful that he was given great authority in the kingdom of Babylon. The only time he went against the laws of the land was when they went against the Law’s of God. We are given constant examples in our Holy scripture. They teach us to follow the Laws of the Land, to be good, and humble servants. The only time we are told to ignore or go against the authority in the land, is when that authority goes against the Law of God. This is how we must view all authority seemingly held by men.
Yeshua unlike most of us, actually practiced what he preached. Yeshua taught us to submit to civil authority. As long as, it did not go against the Will of God.
The real problem comes when man decides to claim authority over the very Word of God. We have to realize that there is no authority over our faith outside of God. The only time man has authority within our faith, is when he is acting within the Word of God. Man is never the authority. It is always God. It is my belief that the best place to see this in action is in:
Mat 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Here we see the Apostle Cephas (Peter) being in full agreement with the Will of God. In this moment he has declared, through revelation from our Father in Heaven, that Yeshua is the promised Messiah. In doing so he is in full accordance of our Fathers Will. Because of this proclamation, which is the key to the kingdom of Heaven, he is given authority to bind and loose anything in Heaven and Earth. That is huge. Because of this proclamation, many now say, Peter is given all authority. So now whatever Peter says all have to do right?
Yet in the next few verses it states
Mat 16:22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you."
Mat 16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
In a matter of a few verses’ Cephas (Peter) goes from having all authority to bind and loose whatever he sees fit in Heaven and Earth to being called satan. As soon as this man had one thought outside of the Will of God, he goes from having authority through God, to being called satan.
Man only has authority when they are living within the Will of God. Mans authority, as it pertains to the matters of faith and Spirit, only exists within the Will of God. It is the Will and Word of God, which gives and has authority, not the man his self.
We as disciples of our Messiah are not to seek authority over others we are to seek to be servants of man. We are continually reminded throughout our Bible to be humble
Psa 25:9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
Psa 76:9 when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah
Psa 147:6 The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.
Psa 149:4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.
Pro 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
We are to in all things humble our selves. We are not even to give ourselves titles.
Mat 23:8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Mat 23:10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
Mat 23:11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Yeshua taught us that we are not to give our selves titles. We are to put all titles of authority away. We are not to claim to be teachers for there is but one teacher We are not to be masters for there is but one Master We are not to be rabbis for there is but one Rabbi. Why would we want to follow men who claim authority when Yeshua commanded us to be humble? If they really had authority over men, wouldn’t they know this truth from our Messiah?
Why do we insist on following those who refuse to humble themselves? Why do we follow men with the very titles that Yeshua taught his followers not to take? If we put our faith in men, they will let us down every time, because all men are flawed.
Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
Mat 20:26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
Mat 20:27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
Mat 20:28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Mar 10:42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
Mar 10:43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
Mar 10:44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
Mar 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Man-made LABELS need to be removed from our lives, it is the labels that separate us more than any belief. We start to defend our particular brand of faith after we label it. Most of the time in the midst of this defense we lose sight of the truth, because it just isn’t as important as defending the faith.
Ecc 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
Rom 3:10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;
There was only one man whoever walked this earth and truly lived without Sin. There is but one true Messiah and his name is Yeshua (Jesus)! So why then do so many of us put so much faith in men? We all need to take a step back from the doctrines and theologies of men and spend some time in our Holy Scripture, seeking the Truth that can only be found in our Messiah!
The fact is no man can lead you to God. No man can lead you to truth. No man can lead you to salvation. You must seek in order to be found. We as individuals must seek after God in order to find him. We as individuals must seek the truth, in order for it to be given. We as individuals must seek salvation in order for salvation to be found.
Do not believe anything I write because I write it. Put all things to the test. To this day I have not met a perfect man outside of our Messiah. All have sinned, and fallen short. We must stop putting our faith in the hands of flawed men. We must seek our truth through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Which brings us to the next question?
Do we need men to teach us how to understand scripture?
1Jn 2:27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in him.
Let no man deceive you. Nobody needs the guidance of men to seek and understand scripture. We must put aside our traditions, and commentaries. And seek the Truth of God within the Word of God. There are no short cuts. Sure in walking out the Holy Scriptures on our own we are gonna fail often. We will get many things wrong in the process. But that is what growth is all about. If you read a book about riding a bike it will never compare to actually trying to ride one and falling a few times. It is in getting up that we learn to ride. It is the same with the Truth in our Holy Scripture. We must learn and fall for our selves. It is in fellowship that we help each other grow and get back up. If you learn a great truth from another man, or commentary then you never really learned it yourself. When Simons name was changed to Peter, and he was given so much authority it was from a revelation from God that made this possible. Not by what he had heard from man!
I am not promoting open rebellion of all authority, not even the authority of men of any faith. I am only pointing out that no man is above reproach. And when we do submit ourselves under the authority of a teacher, we must keep all things in their proper perspective. We must remember that no matter how holy, or righteous a man seems to be. At the end of the day he is only a man.
If Torah is the goal, and Yeshua is the living Torah, we need to stop lowering the bar to the ideas of man and keep our focus on the true target.
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our Father!
OK, buddy - I agree with you on about half of this, and I disagree with you on the other half.
ReplyDeleteFirst, labels are not the issue Messiah is addressing in Matthew 23. He is addressing the issue of us becoming the end-all to another person's needs. Labels are just a fact of life. Yeshua plainly says, "And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven." However, I'm not going to stop calling my earthly father this and start calling him by his first name. This would be completely dishonoring to him. He is my father, and therefore deserving of the title.
And myself and others are teachers. I don't shun that title (except for in the way James tells us in James 3:1), nor do I think others should. We have to have labels to function. Labels are merely descriptive words allowing us to understand the world around us.
Rabbis are called rabbis because they have completed their schooling and have received s'micha. Reverends are reverends because they have completed seminary. Pastors are pastors because they pastor a congregation. Doctors are doctors because they have completed medical school. I am not called a rabbi, a reverend or a doctor, because I've not fulfilled any of these requirements. They have, however, and it is a deserving title of respect.
However, to look to any one of these people as if my life hung in their balance would be the error of which Yeshua speaks. EVEN A DOCTOR. I think this is probably the more grave error we make in modern society. We completely believe everything doctors tell us and swallow it hook, line and sinker to our demise. This is the sin Yeshua is describing.
I also disagree with your conclusions regarding your next question, "Do we need men to teach us how to understand scripture?" My answer is an absolute YES. Why? Because of several reasons, two of which I will give here.
1) We have not fully entered into the New Covenant, because not every one of my neighbors knows the LORD (Jeremiah 31).
2) When we separate our Scriptural understanding from the historical interpretations of Scripture (from it's traditional Hebraic and Jewish understanding - which CANNOT be learned outside of a contiguous passing of knowledge, outside of a few divine revelations here and there), we are back to the age of the Judges of Israel, where "every man did what is right in his own eyes." God was not pleased with this a bit.
The proof for #2 is all around us. There are hundreds of thousands of people on this earth claiming divine revelation. Yet they are all going in opposing directions.
In the angel's prophecy to Zachariah (father of John the Immerser), he intentionally misquotes Malachi 4:6 in order to teach us a point. He says,
"And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."
He is teaching us that we, as a disobedient and rebellious people, have to turn our hearts back to the "wisdom of the just". What is this? It is not only the wisdom of the fathers of our faith (the patriarchs), but the wisdom of the rabbis throughout the last two thousand years as well. They have faithfully passed down understanding of Scripture from generation to generation, something to which no Christian heritage can lay claim. But remember - just as I said we don't need to follow a doctor blindly, neither do we follow them in the same manner. We have knowledge of the risen Messiah. His instruction will outweigh theirs at any point. However, they authoritative, just like civil authority, only for the Jewish people. As non-Jews, and followers of the Messiah, we can glean from this wisdom without being completely subjected to this authority.
I knew you would disagree with half of this LOL.
ReplyDeleteYou said “First, labels are not the issue Messiah is addressing in Matthew 23. He is addressing the issue of us becoming the end-all to another person's needs.” This I agree with. But the problem that I am addressing is labels in the context of authority. There are many men who claim authority because of there title. And this is very wrong. I also agree that there are titles of description, but I do not see them as necessary. But what exactly are the titles used to describe? In most examples given, they are to describe some type of schooling, and unfortunately this leads to a since of self inflation in most arrogant men, or elitism. I think your example of father is mis stated. Of course my earthly father is still my father, but he is not the same as the Father in Heaven. This is why I call no man such as a priest father. And calling ourselves teachers, isn’t the same as driving authority from the title. A teacher is supposed to know the truth in the minds of most, and for most men it is hard to seek what you claim to know. Scripture shows us to go against titles and shun them as titles of authority. For there is but one Authority, Teacher, Father, Rabbi. And this is the context I am speaking of.
“1) We have not fully entered into the New Covenant, because not every one of my neighbors knows the LORD (Jeremiah 31).”
This is correct but we do have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, when it is truly asked for in the service of our Lord. And it is this Spirit that we must learn to rely on, and not man.
“2) When we separate our Scriptural understanding from the historical interpretations of Scripture (from it's traditional Hebraic and Jewish understanding - which CANNOT be learned outside of a contiguous passing of knowledge, outside of a few divine revelations here and there), we are back to the age of the Judges of Israel, where "every man did what is right in his own eyes." God was not pleased with this a bit.”
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree on this point. In the time of the judges few had access to the Scriptures as we do today. And I am not saying in this article that we do not use historical accounts. But we need to see them as just that, historical accounts. Not divinely inspired doctrine through the Holy Spirit. The verse you spoke of above as in there own eyes isn’t speaking of seeking truth in Scripture, but making it up on our own. It is like using the excuse I simply cant understand the Bible so why should I read it, when I have this man over here that is willing to tell me what I am supposed to believe. I did not say that we should forsake all knowledge outside of scripture, I am simply reminding everyone that there is no authority outside of God, no matter what title man gives himself. Just as when I do teach, it should always be taken as a perspective to study for yourself. If you go to any seminary in the country I believe that over 90% of the time the graduates are gonna believe, and teach whatever the major doctrines and theories are of that school. Its easier to gain our understanding from men, but we must learn to trust in the Holy Spirit more for our understandings and less on man.
“The proof for #2 is all around us. There are hundreds of thousands of people on this earth claiming divine revelation. Yet they are all going in opposing directions.”
But this is also proof that man should not claim so much authority. Many of the denominations and divisions we have, come from the simple fact that most people do not study for themselves. They go with what ever they are told by the men they believe have the authority to teach them. I also believe that it is ok for us to go in opposite directions in our search for the truth. Often we have to go down the wrong path to really learn our lesson, men are hard headed like that. But if we never allow ourselves the time and effort to grow, and we simply follow others, we will never truly learn, understand, and grow.
“He is teaching us that we, as a disobedient and rebellious people, have to turn our hearts back to the "wisdom of the just". What is this? It is not only the wisdom of the fathers of our faith (the patriarchs), but the wisdom of the rabbis throughout the last two thousand years as well. They have faithfully passed down understanding of Scripture from generation to generation, something to which no Christian heritage can lay claim. But remember - just as I said we don't need to follow a doctor blindly, neither do we follow them in the same manner. We have knowledge of the risen Messiah. His instruction will outweigh theirs at any point. However, they authoritative, just like civil authority, only for the Jewish people. As non-Jews, and followers of the Messiah, we can glean from this wisdom without being completely subjected to this authority.”
ReplyDeleteI disagree that the wisdom of the just if speaking of the Rabbis, im sorry I have seen no proof for that. I do agree that in the wisdom of the just does include the Patriarchs. But the wisdom that they showed was to follow and trust in God, and God alone. Now I am not against the Rabbis, I believe they have many truths to offer, but they are not the authors of truth. God is. It doesn’t matter what religion you look at, it is gonna have some truth, but because of our fallen nature all bodies of men will also have lies, and mis-truths.
You also know I disagree that the Rabbis have any authority what so ever . There was once a time when they had a controlling interest in the Sanhedrin, but the Sanhedrin has been disbanded for quit some time. And this is just the thing this article and the following articles of authority are meant to address. Man has put so much faith, and stock in what other men tell us. We must stop this and put our faith, and understanding back in the hands of our Living God. Seek not with our own eyes, but with the eyes of the Holy Spirit. We must stop looking at Scripture as if we know the truth, and start studying it as truth seekers!
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on this article. May we both be given eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the Glory of our God, in the name of our Messiah Yeshua.
Justin - here's my response to your first response.
ReplyDeleteThe difference in rabbinic authority vs. a school authority is that it is an authority than has been passed down generation after generation. It is not merely schooling. It's real authority, not something with which we are familiar in our self-proclaimed authority within our churches.
And in regard to the other titles, Scripture clearly states the appointment of "teachers" as positions of authority. See 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11.
And in regard to your last point (in your first response)…
While I agree that we truly need to rely upon the Holy Spirit 100%, we have to receive teaching from men, because of several factors (one of which I noted, that we are not fully in the New Covenant of Jeremiah's prophecy). Two more of these factors include 1) fulfilling Scripture and 2) discipleship.
First, we simply cannot fulfill Scripture if we are living an isolated existence, without being under biblical authority (a teacher, rabbi, etc.). I think this is why so many of us are so ineffective in our witness, and our knowledge is so limited.
Second, we cannot truly be a disciple of the Master until we understand being a disciple of an earthly teacher. Jesus used the discipleship model to disseminate his teachings to the apostles. He means for us to use this model as well. NOT to raise up disciples for ourselves, but for him. Paul says that we are to imitate him (Paul) as he imitates Yeshua (1 Corinthians 11:1). This is only in a discipleship context, and only when one can confidently be called a teacher. Not that he is without fault or without sin, or holds all truth. But he is one to whom we can look and be able to see an example of our Master, so that we can understand him better. Discipleship cannot exist without this relationship - something we have entirely lost in our culture. (This is my topic for this weekend, btw.)
One more thought to tie into what I just said…
ReplyDeleteIn Matthew 23, where Yeshua warns us not to desire to be called "teacher", etc. We stop there. We fail to point out his teaching that ties this all together. The very next verses (11 & 12) give us the context for this teaching:
"The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
This the context. Titles should not be received for power, but as a means of servanthood. I think this sums it all up, and may be a point on which we agree. :-)
The Idea of authority that I am speaking primarily against is when the authority of man is used to contradict our Holy Scripture, do we follow man in his authority or God? is the question to be answered. No man today has authority over God, and His Word.
ReplyDeleteI cant say I agree with you on the disciples of man issue. We have our example, and that is our Messiah, even as you stated earlier Paul teaches to imitate him only as he imitates our Messiah. Our Messiah is still our Master.
The context of the title issue I agree with and is the center of my argument. Titles are not there to give one all powerful authority over all things. We should not be eager to gain a title, and I still say that for most they are not needed. And we should be weary of any man that claims authority by his title!
But I knew when I responded to your comments that on most of these points we would have to agree to disagree, at least for now.
Thank you again for reading and commenting on this articles. If you would, go back and read some of the earlier ones, they are meant to be read in order from oldest to newest. Although you can skip the first 4, I went over them in the last open worship in the park.