The last chapters of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians show us our need for understanding the true meaning of authority. In our New Testament churches today we will see the launching of this true exercise of authority. In the relationship of the submissive to those who have been commissioned to a function of divine authority, we will see greater impartation to the submissive. People will be brought into spiritual growth by foundational ministries who faithfully exercise their spiritual authority to impart their spiritual abilities.
Let us examine seven aspects of authority which will prepare us for the scriptural concept of authority. First we will consider authority in the sense of responsibility. This means that we must be responsible to exercise authority. If we have it, we had better use it, or our authority will be ineffective. Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Matthew 28:18b. The Greek word exousia was translated here as “authority.” Although power is involved, in the realm of spirit it does not mean power as much as it means authority. All authority in heaven and on earth is available to us, but unless it is exercised it is meaningless.
A policeman has authority, but if he does not exercise his authority, nothing happens. The exercising of authority is necessary for parents also. Although they have authority over their children, if they do not exercise it wisely, it is of no value. We are obligated to exercise our authority. Every time Satan raises his head, we have a responsibility to step on it. Every time we see sickness, every time we see sin, every time we see that which is satanic or does not conform to the will of God, we must exercise Christ’s authority to see it ended. We are agents by whom His authority is to be exercised.
The second aspect in our dealing with authority is our responsibility to be constructive. Although casting out demons is very constructive, we must remember that some applications of authority can become restrictive to a point of stifling instead of bringing forth. No matter who we are, we must remember to be constructive in the use of the authority that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must also have faith in our authority. One who is dedicated to his commission believes in his stewardship of authority. He has faith that he has that authority. He does not challenge or threaten anyone else with his authority, because he does not have to prove anything to anyone, especially to himself. However, he is responsible to be constructive with his authority. He is not defensive or restrictive with his authority—he does not control or restrain the people. He constructively uses authority to shield them, to protect them, and to help them come forth in what God has for them. To be wise in the use of authority is to be constructive with it and to bring forth the purposes of God.
A third quality of true authority is having a responsibility for the submissive. If you have authority in the church, use it to protect God’s people from the wolves that come to prey on the flock (Acts 20:28–30). Overseeing ministries have this responsibility because they have authority. Without true authority, there is not this evidence of responsibility. The Word of God is not to be perverted, and the people whom God brings forth are not to be as lambs for the wolves.
II Corinthians 10 is a chapter on authority, but notice how it begins: Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ… Verse 1. Authority must not be arrogant. Only in the meekness of Christ will His true authority be found. We must not destroy people; we bring down fortresses, the impasses that are created against the will of God coming forth in the people’s lives.
In verses 3 through 6 we read, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (but according to our belief in our authority in Christ), for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses (the King James Version says, “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds”).
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. Here we see that we can pull down fortresses and destroy speculations and everything else that comes against the will and plan of God.
Paul told the Corinthians, You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. (Here it seems as if Paul was boasting, but he began the chapter on the meekness and the gentleness of Christ.) For even if I should boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I shall not be put to shame, for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. According to this Scripture, authority should be constructive, to build you up, not destroy you.
Paul continued, For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive, and his speech contemptible.” Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present. For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. II Corinthians 10:7–12. We must not use the carnal, human yardstick of comparing people. People with this kind of thinking tend to feel they do not have a place unless they destroy someone else’s place. They step on others to gain a place of importance for themselves. They may feel so threatened that usually they “possess” only one friend at a time.
Once again, as in New Testament times, God is bringing forth an apostolic company of true apostles and prophets. You will remain in a carnal state, without true submission, if you are submissive to just one or two and refuse to be submissive to the rest. Wherever and in whomever Christ’s authority dwells, give Him honor. Authority is no longer a means to bring forth glory and praise to man; authority is to make all things submissive to Christ, until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord (Philippians 2:10–11). It is the authority and power in His name that we are to wield—not for our own praise, but for the glory of God—to bring forth Christ’s total Lordship over everything until every knee bows and the earth becomes His footstool (Isaiah 66:1).
II Corinthians 10:13 says, But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. Here Paul is speaking of the realm of authority in which everyone must move. We can be thankful that divine order in this day is bringing forth Christ’s authority, and people are beginning to define and determine the area of His authority that they are to move in. Woe be unto the person who does not assume his responsibility. A pastor may find it very difficult to be faithful to the authority that the Lord has given him. He may find it hard to tell a brother what he is doing wrong according to the Scriptures. It requires wisdom to be faithful in correcting a brother. Authority that is harsh is as foolish as burning a house down to kill one termite. Authority must be used constructively, but faithfully.
Some of the best examples of exercising divine authority are found in I and II Timothy. In these Epistles we see that Paul treated Timothy as a real son in the faith, and yet he exhorted him strongly at times. Paul was faithful to give him warning and tell him exactly what to do. May God bring us into this same faithful exercise of authority in His great family. May there be no abuse toward the submissive and no failure to exercise the true authority of Christ. This will bring all of us into a greater worship and love of the Lord.
II Corinthians 3:17 says, Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Wherever the Spirit is, there is true authority. Wherever the Lordship of the Spirit dominates, there is true liberty. This freedom will give you the release from your own sense of inadequacy. Do you wonder how you can be really responsible for yourself and move in God? Then come into submission to the Lordship of our blessed Savior. As you bow to Him and His divine order, you will begin to move in freedom immediately.
II Corinthians 10:14–18: For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we shall be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. But he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord. For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
Paul did not prey on another man’s work. He did not try to move in and take over the work of any other apostle, and yet it seems significant that other apostles came to the churches he had established and they had freedom in them. The Corinthian church loved Peter. We read that some said they were of Paul, some said they were of Apollos, some said they were of Cephas (I Corinthians 1:12). These other apostles reached into the area where Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, had labored so abundantly. Paul was an apostle to the uncircumcision as Peter was to the circumcision (Galatians 2:7). Evidently these apostles did move in, into one another’s areas.
We see in II Corinthians 10 that Paul was trying to convey the truth about authority and to point out that which was false. In the next chapter he was still very much concerned about the false apostles who used congregations, who became abusive, in some cases even smiting them on the face. The false apostles misused authority to beat the congregations. Paul did not have the harshness to do what some of the false apostles did. They beat and restrained the people down into a fleshly submission. This is a shepherding system that is actually not true shepherding. It is a domination system that requires almost total submission to the point where an individual must not even think or make decisions for himself.
In chapter 11, Paul spoke of what the false apostles did: I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. II Corinthians 11:1–3. False teaching becomes complicated. Our walk with God must be kept very simple. Complicated teachings about the spirit world tend to be spooky and to overemphasize visions and dreams. Doctrines and teachings about Old Testament prophets and similar subjects can become very complicated and intricate when false or unanointed teachers build upon them.
The Word of God for this hour is very simple. If we believe chapter eight of Romans, let us try to walk in it. It is not a complicated system or structure of doctrine; it is a simple truth. Creation is subject to futility, and it is time for the sons of God to come forth in their destiny to loose it (Romans 8:19–21). This truth is simple enough for us to walk in. Whenever we take away from the simplicity of our devotion to Christ, we are thrown off the true course.
Paul continued: For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully (Paul was being a little sarcastic). For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. (Here Paul was not boasting: he recognized the efficiency of the flow of Christ in the Spirit through him, and he knew what it was able to accomplish.) But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? II Corinthians 11:4–7.
Paul humbled himself sacrificially in the Corinthian church because false apostles were only seeking the money. He chose the one way to show the difference between the true and false—by believing God for his needs without taking any money from the people. He did not do this in every church; he did it where false apostles had come to exploit the people. He had explained to them that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel (I Corinthians 9:14). It was not a problem of any hesitancy on their part about supporting his ministry. However, for the sake of a pure testimony where the money grabbers were oppressing the people, he did not want their support.
Paul said, I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to serve you; and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so. (This established a pure testimony among them.) As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia (the province of Greece). Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! But what I am doing, I will continue to do, that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. (Paul sacrificed to bring about the cutting off of the false apostles.)
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds. Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, that I also may boast a little. II Corinthians 11:8–16.
Paul was being sarcastic again. Do you grasp that Paul was saying that there are satanic ministries who bring teaching that seems close to the truth, except that it is not really alive? It is not living, yet it is very persuasive. There will be more false prophets today than there will be true prophets. Satan will do all he can to discredit the ministry of the true prophets who are coming forth by having many false teachers arise who claim to be prophets. Along with the true riches of the Kingdom being given to the saints of God, we will see a flood of counterfeit money. The false authority that will come will be very destructive. For every true apostle whom God is establishing, there will be several men falsely establishing themselves as apostles. This will continue because Satan wants to bring forth that which is false as he did in the New Testament times. Therefore we must do as the Ephesian church did: “… you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false.” Revelation 2:2. This same thing is happening again.
Paul, in his true apostleship, did not take over other people’s sphere of ministry; he moved in the area that God had appointed to him. He was not a predator who preyed upon other people’s ministry. A ministry that is predatory feeds on others and is always negative, always tearing down, always belligerent.
II Corinthians 11:17–21a: That which I am speaking, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. For you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly. For you bear with anyone if he enslaves you, if he devours you, if he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits you in the face. To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. Notice Paul’s sarcasm, how well-placed it was. He had gone to great lengths to exercise authority wisely over the people. Then others came into the church with false authority and dominating pressure, and the people accepted it. They were cowed by it because it seemed to be very religious. True authority is more spiritual than it is religious.
Paul was saying, To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if insane) I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Verses 21–23. Paul said he was speaking as if he were insane, but he just wanted the people to look at his record to see if the sufferings, the sacrifice, and the dedication of a true apostle were evident.
Here Paul described the dangers he had encountered: Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands. Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. II Corinthians 11:24–12:1. What was Paul actually accomplishing in listing all these experiences? In effect, he was saying, “Look at my record and face the fact that with the authority God gave me, I walked in dedication.”
As soon as authority is laid upon a man, his dedication is severely tested. He will find that his authority is related to his responsibility. With authority he has a responsibility to be faithful and dedicated. Actually, a man who moves in authority must move in greater submission than any who are under him. His submission to his own authority and commission from God requires a greater dedication than is laid upon those to whom he ministers. With authority, a man has a responsibility to the submissive who are under him.
A fourth truth about authority is that a man has a responsibility to be faithful and dedicated to the commission and authority that God has laid upon him. Not only must he be responsible to the submissive, he must be dedicated also to the authority that rests upon himself. If he is an elder, he must assume his eldership with a responsibility to those who are submissive to him. He must actively take that responsibility and be dedicated to it. Authority is not some kind of honorary degree that rests on a man’s shoulders. It is an open door! And dedication is required if he is to be faithful in it.
A fifth truth to consider is that authority also brings a responsibility to promote and develop maturity in others. To help you understand this truth, consider the authority of parents. Parents should not exercise authority only to make their child sit in a corner and behave so he will become good. The child may grow up apparently a good child, but he will not be creative. A challenge should be set before that child. A child should have even a certain amount of neglect, but a supervised neglect. This means giving your child a job to do, and so exercising your authority that you can walk away and come back and the job will be done. Your child must develop. That development will come by your being responsible to promote and develop the maturity that should come forth.
People become mature and healthy spiritually if they receive just enough personal ministry, if they are not given too much care. We see the truth of this in children who have to get up and prepare their own breakfast. By learning to prepare a good breakfast, a child may grow up to be wiser than a child who has everything handed to him when he sits down to eat, and he is told, “Now, eat this! Drink that! You can’t leave until you eat it all!” Those who have authority must always find a way to promote and develop maturity in others. This is the responsibility of everyone who has spiritual authority.
The sixth point is that a man with authority has a responsibility to be humble. If he has any pride, his authority becomes totally inefficient, moving on a human level and missing the divine level. Satan has access through one’s pride. The human flesh takes over through pride. But with authority, real humility takes on all aspects of divine grace.
A seventh point is our responsibility to do what must be done with meekness. This must be understood. II Timothy 2:24–26 gives us further instructions: And the Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness (“in meekness,” KJV) correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
Why should authority always be linked with meekness? If authority is harsh, it cuts off the lifeline of impartation and destroys the bridge by which the disobedient can be delivered. The Scripture says, (in meekness) correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. Open the door to people, and make sure that your authority does not slam the door on the disobedient. In the gentleness of Christ you should exercise your authority and bring correction without destroying or cutting off the lifeline to them. Be careful never to close the door on any man. Have faith for every man, and be doubly concerned that even those who rebel and withdraw have some kind of bridge or bond or contact by which they can return. Often God allows people to learn some very bitter lessons because they have rebelled against authority. If you do not shut the door on them, they know they can come back. Satan does everything to destroy that open door. Therefore this passage is very important: And the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.
When someone stands against you, do not try to defend yourself, saying, “I’m in the right!” This will cut him off. Being right does not matter. You do not have to be vindicated. God rarely vindicates someone’s authority, unless it is to His greater glory. He does not vindicate you for the sake of your own vindication. If there is any vindication, it is for the Lord’s Word to be vindicated—not men. I have waited many years for the Lord to vindicate me whenever I have received the worst in a situation. I have yet to find the Lord vindicate me even one time on a personal level. But over and over again, I have seen the vindication in honor of the Word of the Lord that has been spoken.
Your authority is not given for your vindication; it is given in order that the Word of the Lord will be exalted. He is Lord! Never be on the defensive, because you will never be vindicated anyway—never! You might as well face that fact! Do you wonder what good authority is if it does not help establish you as being right? You do not need to be established as being right. You need only to see the will of God done. Wouldn’t you much rather keep winning the war than to have the Lord pin a lot of medals on you? If you are faithful in your stewardship, the day will come when He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). But until that day comes, continue on faithfully.
Paul did not exonerate himself, neither did he condemn himself, because he knew that God will judge us all. Do your very best to walk the way God wants you to walk. Every time you hear criticism against yourself, try to be objective about it. Everyone is sensitive to criticism, but it is good to be objective with this attitude: “Is there something I should be learning out of this, something I should listen to?” Sometimes out of the mouth of babes, and even out of the mouth of the ungodly, may come a warning of the way Satan can take hold of you. Though Satan is completely evil in what he does to you, you may have a wrong openness that needs closing. Constantly search your heart to walk in what is right. Then press on to do the very best that you can to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and to walk in the authority God has given you.
In II Corinthians 12:11–14, Paul said, I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles. (These were true signs of apostleship.) For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong! (Paul added more sarcasm.)
Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. This is interesting how Paul explained the responsibility of authority. Because he was a spiritual father, he said, “I am to be more responsible for you than you are to be responsible for me.” This is the attitude the Lord’s shepherds and ministers should have. Greater is the responsibility that rests upon their shoulders to take care of the people than the people’s responsibility toward them.
Then Paul said, And I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less? But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit. Verses 15–16. Paul tricked them into serving God. We see a sarcastic vein here, because he was referring to people who did not want to walk in divine order. They were ministry samplers, taking a little of one apostle and a little of another, but taking nothing that was costly on a personal level.
The people who stop walking with God usually start choosing doctrines that do not work the cross of Christ in their lives. As soon as they do this, they say, “We’re free. We feel so free!” Of course they feel free! They are out of Christ’s end-time battle, out of that spiritual warfare. It is much easier to be on a furlough or to be a deserter than it is to be on the front lines.
Paul also told the Corinthians, Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in the same steps? (Real apostles do not take advantage of the people.) All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for your upbuilding, beloved. Paul was saying, “I am speaking in God; this is not self-defense. I am giving you a Word from God.” This gives us one of the finest pictures in the New Testament of the responsibilities of authority and of submission.
Paul finally said, For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances; I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.
This is the third time I am coming to you. Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses. I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone, since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. II Corinthians 12:17–13:3.
Now that we have established a scriptural foundation for our seven areas of responsibility in authority, let us review them.
One: the responsibility to exercise authority.
Two: the responsibility to be constructive, not just restrictive or destructive.
Three: the responsibility to the submissive.
Four: the responsibility to be dedicated and faithful. A man in authority must be submissive to his own authority. It requires dedication for him to be submissive to his commission. He must be as submissive to the authority that rests on himself as the people must be submissive to the authority that is over them.
Five: the responsibility to promote and develop maturity.
Six: the responsibility to be humble. The exercising of authority is ineffective with pride.
Seven: the responsibility to be meek. Gentleness and meekness must be evident. This way we do not cut off the lifeline to future ministering. We may rule with a rod of iron over the nations, but that rod of iron should have some velvet on it when we are dealing with people because it cannot be abusive and destructive. All that we do must be constructive to bring people into God in every way.
Pastors of denominations spend many years in seminary work to prepare for ministering. In their long years of training, they are taught certain methods. In contrast, God is raising up His end-time New Testament churches with pastors who learn by relating to the people. These churches are healthy and vigorous, and the people mature rapidly. This happens, not because of formal training, but because there is carefulness in the line of authority as it is exercised through divine order. There is gentleness and meekness in it. Once divine order is established, the people grow. Then the guidelines are not restrictive. They become very expansive, and the people move very rapidly into all that God has for them.
Let us believe the prophecies in the Old Testament which speak of end-time dealings on the shepherds who lead the people astray. God is going to give His people “shepherds after His own heart” (Jeremiah 3:15). He will bring an end to the false shepherds who prey upon the churches.