This is the distilled version of 2015 e-mail conversations between Rich Geer and Brian Holda when a brother was asking about spiritual authority within the church.

God Delegates Authority

God does designate leaders (“authorities” if you will), and even provides much vision for the body through these leaders.  I have no problem with that.  BUT…look at the 5 major realms of delegated authority in the Bible:

  1. Parents over children,
  2. Husbands over wives,
  3. Kings over citizens,
  4. Master over slaves,
  5. Spiritual shepherds over spiritual sheep 

There are roles of responsibility they all have, and injunctions for us to submit to these delegated authorities.  BUT…this does not mean we obey them over God.  BECAUSE…God is called our:

  1. Heavenly Father,
  2. Divine Husband,
  3. King of kings,
  4. Master of masters, and
  5. Chief Shepherd. 

He is the “trump” over all delegated authorities, and we must bow to Him above any delegated authority that gives a word conflicting with God’s word.

1 Example (Husbands and Wives)

Here is 1 (of many) examples: Husbands and wives. 

Sarah is seen as the model of submission (1 Pet. 3), yet she explicitly tells Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael, where Abraham refused to do so.  What did God say?  He said, “Abraham, listen to your wife!” (isn’t it intersesting that he didn’t listen to her here, but did listen to her when she said that he was to sleep with Hagar, and disobey God’s command?). 

Or look at Pilate’s wife.  God spoke to her in a dream not to harm Jesus, but he didn’t listen to her, and now his name is infamous as the one who sent Jesus to death.  See, husbands are called the head, and the wife is the body.  The head on your body needs to constantly receive input from the body, and largely makes decisions for the body based on other impulses the body is saying.  When there is a blockage of communication from/to the head/body, paralysis happens.  So, though I accept that there are delegated leaders, I think it’s wrong for them not to constantly receive input from those they lead…and those who are “under” them are never “under” them where God speaks contrary to the leader.  

Another Example: Kingly Authority

Consider another example…”The midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded…” (Ex. 1:17).  Do you see the precedent established?  Fearing God will sometimes mean disobeying authorities.  There’s no way around that, and people who do not see this principle are, in my estimation, very dangerous to kingdom work, because it becomes a form of thought-control and has cultic tendencies (Rich can tell you all about the Shepherding movement that ruined a lot of the work of God under the exact same sort of teaching about spiritual authority).

Scripture

Here are Scriptures that would directly speak to the issue of spiritual authority:

  1. Acts 17:11 says that the Bereans were more noble BECAUSE they investigated the words of Paul, and compared it to the Scriptures.  I brought this up one time with someone who was big into the spiritual authority, and he literally had no grid that even registered this Scripture.
  2. Gal. 1:8 – Paul said that you should reject his words, and those of angels, if they teach a different gospel.  That is, reject authorities who teach false messages, because the message is more authoritative than the messenger.
  3. In the story of the alabaster flask (which Jesus commends as a “gospel-worthy” story), all of the apostles thought it a bad idea for the woman to “waste” her costly perfume on Jesus.  In a sense, she was undermining the authority of all of the apostles…but Jesus said the apostles were wrong and she was right.  We go with Jesus over His delegated authorities, see?
  4. 1 of Jesus’ delegated authorities was Judas Iscariot.  He was an apostle, which was the highest honor and position Jesus gave out.  But surely we should not follow him.  By the way, this confirms what I said earlier, i.e. that no organization of humans will be perfect in their actions (if Jesus chose Judas Iscariot as leader, do you think you’ll do better than Jesus and have an organization that does not have some issues?  or have leadership that doesn’t have some issues?).
  5. In 1 Kings 13, a young prophet was told by God not to stop anywhere when he returns from his mission.  However, an older prophet (who was lying) said to him, God told me you are supposed to stop in and eat with me.  So the younger prophet listened to the older prophet, and shortly after was eaten by a lion because of his disobedience.  In all respects, the older prophet was a “spiritual authority” over him (he was older and respected as a prophet).  But BECAUSE he heeded the man’s voice over God’s voice, he was killed.
  6. In Deut. 13:3 – God commands people to “not listen” to the words of a prophet who leads them astray (even if they do miracles to confirm their message).  Again, this is “undermining” their spiritual authorities, and God commands them to do so, because the message has more authority than the messenger.  And God’s word has more authority than man’s words.
  7. In Mark 10, Jesus says the world rules by lording it over each other, but IT SHALL NOT BE SO among you.  If you are truly a leader after God’s own heart, you don’t lord it over others and expect others to obey you no matter.  You serve others and elevate and empower them to discern truth for their own.

I believe a lot of the spiritual authority stuff is a reaction against another false gospel–that of individualism and doing whatever you want to do.  God operates through a body of people that are dependent on one another, and He does give leaders to help shepherd these people.  That is all true.  But I think people take a fleshly remedy to react against the hyper-individualism and it makes them feel safer about people not being led astray.  That’s my theory at least.

Shepherds

I have studied this very issue for many years and the arguments are many and too involved to go thoroughly through at this time. I will just give you a couple of thoughts here, although I haven’t been involved in the debate for several years.

There is a very long and involved history that goes along with what I believe in the areas you have been talking about, but I will cut to the chase and tell you that I do not believe in actually putting oneself “under” any supposed human authority. There is only one true shepherd even though pastors do shepherd the flock in a limited sense and the very word, pastor implies this very thing. It is limited however and never implies being over someone. Jesus has always told us that the greatest among us shall be least, and the master the servant of all. That being the case why would we ever put our self under someone who is as flawed as we are our self.  Jesus, I believe never envisioned that kind of church even though it has been practiced that way for centuries.

Church History

It is unfortunate that the church has never fully come out of Romanism which is hierarchical in nature. How can you be under someone who supposed to be holding you up. This has led to a very bad outcome in many cases, and even in the churches where the pastor is good he is in one sense  merely a benign dictator. It is unfortunate that most of the Charismatic churches have continued the tradition established over so many years by pretty much all the non-charismatic and Roman Catholic churches alike. As you know I definitely believe that the Holy spirit gifts are for today, but I have seen many a Pentecostal faith destroyed by this issue of what spiritual authority is all about. There have been times that because one has put oneself under one pastor or another that they have gone into serious biblical error just because the pastor is the “anointed one” and he or she is not to be touched or spoken against, even when they are directly contradicting scripture. Now this is an extreme, granted, but I find that this kind of thing has happened precisely perhaps because these very folks are truly zealous for the things of God so an error that might not damage one too severely in someone who is already dead or comatose will seriously hurt the aforementioned Christian. You can’t feel anything if you are already dead.  I have seen as I’ve said faiths shipwrecked badly when a bad teaching comes to full light, but then it is often too late or a lot of spiritual damage has to be repaired for the shipwrecked one.

Leaders, Not Overlords

I acknowledge that there are leaders and those that God has given more gifts (talents) to, but this does not allow them to be overlords of our faith, we are responsible for that ourselves. These elders are needed for the growth and health of the church but they are not to be usurpers of what Jesus reserves to Himself. Anyone who says differently in one sense has become the thief and robber that Jesus warned us about, though most would not realize that this is what they are in fact becoming. Saying all the above I would not ever say the opposite either.  Just because the pastor is a servant does not mean that everyone is over him either, as we are warned that no one should try and usurp authority over another, but in mutual submission build one another up in the most holy faith.

Temple, Not Pyramid

Just because we do not assume the symbol of Egypt (the pyramid, representing hierarchy), we do not assume that we should be an upside down pyramid. That is just plain silly and doesn’t even work! I’ve seen that role model as well in churches and leads to nothing but frustration and burnout. The world’s model is the pyramid and allowed by God, but the churches model is a temple where God places everyone as He wills. Although it will be acknowledged that the leaders should be on the bottom starting with Christ who is the foundation stone, they are not to be working alone or in isolation, but with the help of all the saints.

This is different from the world that IS hierarchical in nature as established by God. The authorities DO lord it over one another and God has allowed this to be true, but such is NOT to be with us! And yet it far too often is. Even a “good” Pope is still a blasphemy, and even a good pastor is still placed where God will’s him and if error is taught he is not to be respected and propped up just because he is the “shepherd” or the pastor. I also don’t really believe that the pastor any more than any ministry whether it be Prophet, Teacher, Apostle etc, is an office, but rather a gift bestowed upon the church, by Christ Jesus, in human vessels. 

Ministries

Even these ministries are to be received with gladness, but the truth of what they say must be verified by the scriptures for oneself. Not for contentiousness sake but that we would be included in the more “noble minded” like the those of the Berean church. They received the word with gladness AND searched the scriptures to see if what Paul had preached was true. Also Paul himself warned that if he (an apostle) or even an angel preached contrary to what has been established then let them be accursed. So even in an established ministry truth is the overarching principle in submission not an office. If we really feel the need for an office in the church, I would choose Elder, and Deacon.  This is the closest I can come in scripture to an office, but notice that these are established more by good character than ministry gifts. In other words if the character lapses they no longer qualify as an elder or deacon.

Church Membership?

I will tell you that I also have issues with the whole idea of church membership as well. For both pragmatic and biblical reasons. The pragmatic reasons being that the bad things membership (as practiced today in the visible church) is supposed to prevent it doesn’t, and the good things it is supposed to bring about it doesn’t either. It doesn’t prevent folks leaving a particular church in anger, it doesn’t prevent church splits, it doesn’t prevent folks from teaching error, and it doesn’t stimulate folks to always be vigilant for truth. I have actually seen the opposite to be true where someone who has fellowshipped in a local church and is known to be a good teacher and sound in doctrine and living truth is prevented from teaching because he or she is not an official member. Also, when a bad teaching does occur there is often a certain laxness that happens because members think they are safe among these other members who have joined their local Christian club. They are safe among those of like mind who have joined up. It happens far too often that wolves in sheep’s clothing get planted among the flock. Wheat and tares will grow side by side until the day of the harvest we are told and I think that church membership often allows folks to assume a false position of security.

The main biblical reason for my objection is the clear statement by Paul that we are already members by being born again. There is no other membership other than being part of the body of Christ just as there is no other covenant we are to make with each other than the New Covenant that Christ has established with His blood. Again I am not talking about secular covenants, such as rental agreements, contracts etc. This is again allowed in that arena and highlights as well the differences between spiritual and secular authority.

Saying the above I have joined some local churches in the past and will always submit to the local church practice and governance  while in their building or facility. However when I did join a local church after my present understanding of what membership is had been realized, it was with the understanding that it is really up to the local congregants to recognize who I already am in the body of Christ both by my testimony and by my actions. This does not happen when someone just stands up and recites some litany good as that litany might be. The other reason is that these churches actually encouraged me to do ministry among them without membership. Those are local bodies that I can do business with. Even with that understanding there are still many who just don’t get it, and that’s okay as I still will work among them, and gently try and get them to understand the true nature of the church and that is to create a bunch of son/servants for the kingdom who are fit to be a part of the bride of Christ.

Working Within

I know that much of what I have written may seem strange and even incendiary though that is not my intent. I never separate myself from the local church even though I have many issues with how they are set up. I will always work for the betterment of the church local and otherwise, but these are just some of the initial thoughts off the top of my head that you may want to consider.

-Brian Holda and Rich Geer

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