by Jacob Ninan
God gives some people authority over some others. Many see this only as authority, without realising that it is not basically authority that God has entrusted to them but responsibility towards the people! Authority is given only to carry out their responsibilities rightly. For example, when God says that a husband is the head of his wife, He means that it is the responsibility of the husband to take care of his wife, provide for her needs, and protect her just as Christ does for the church (Eph.5:25-27). But many husbands think only about authority, and abuse their wives without caring for them. There are many spheres of responsibility and authority in the world, and they work differently in each sphere (Read my book Authority - use and misuse.) Spiritual authority is one of them. When God says that it is commendable if someone desires to become an elder or overseer in the church (1Tim.3:1), we can see that it is not a position to be aspired for in terms of the prestige, honour, money, fame, etc., but it is a great responsibility to care for the people in the church, especially in terms of their spiritual growth.
When someone questioned the apostle Paul's authority in the church, his reply was that the authority was something God had given him for building them up (2Cor.10:8). It was not for exploiting or using them for his own advantage. It was a stewardship which the Lord had entrusted to him in order to enable him to provide them with whatever they needed (Lk.12:42). This is the same case for everyone else too who has been given ministries in the church. The ministries are different, small or big, public or hidden from the public view. Each one has the responsibility to carry out their function for the good of the others. For example, those who preach have to give what the people need to hear at different times rather than what will make them popular or famous.
But one terrible aspect of our sinful flesh is that whenever we have some authority, it tends to corrupt us, and we tend to abuse it unless we are very careful about it. There is a saying in the world, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Actually, no man has absolute authority, but our authority is limited to the task that has been entrusted to us. But it has a tendency to corrupt us in such a way that some people begin to behave as if they had absolute authority!
Another aspect of the sinfulness of our flesh is that we can be blind to many of our faults. Sometimes some people get this grandiose idea that they have limitless authority and that everyone under them must submit to them absolutely and do whatever they tell them. When this happens in a church, such leaders begin to call out anyone who does not agree with them as being rebellious. Rebellion is a serious offence before God. Some serious examples of it in the Old Testament are of Miriam and Korah who rebelled against Moses, and in the New Testament we have Diotrephis who would not allow even the apostle John to correct him.
When such leaders think someone is being rebellious, many times it does not occur to them that perhaps they have not understood the situation well or that they may have jumped to their conclusion. It could be that it was the leader's behaviour that caused someone to react like that. But they think that they are the anointed servants of God and that their discernment cannot be wrong. Then they begin to abuse their authority over the people. But as human beings, we can all go wrong, and even when we imagine we have heard from God, we could be mistaken.
Let us look at some of the many different ways in which people in positions of spiritual authority misuse or abuse them.
Assumes he is right He is an anointed servant of God, with an ability to discern the will of God, with many accomplishments and signs of God working through him in the past, and there are many people who recognise these. So it becomes difficult for him to think that he might be wrong in a particular situation. This is somewhat similar to what happened with Joshua, who, after the mighty victory over the city of Jericho, assumed that with the city of Ai he could just go ahead and gain a similar victory, without consulting with God. Joshua made another mistake of not consulting God when the neighbouring nation of Gibeon came to him and pretended they were coming from afar. This kind of over-confidence can happen to all of us, and then we don't refer things to God, and we don't even bother to listen carefully and examine what the others are saying. The apostle John writes about people with a spirit of the Antichrist leaving the church (1Jn.2:18,19). These leaders, on the other hand, assume on the basis of this verse that anyone who disagrees with them and leaves them must be wrong because they themselves are right!
Not willing to listen and understand Once he thinks he is right, he thinks there is no need to listen to others or make any effort to understand them! It also bothers him to think that if he were to admit a mistake, it would affect his image, position, status, etc.! He does not realise that by doing this he is projecting an image of infallibility, which he will vehemently deny if asked! Diotrephis was the leader of a church, but he was not willing to let even the apostle John correct him (3Jn.9).
None of us is right about everything, and no two of us will be able to agree completely on all matters! One aspect of practical wisdom is to recognise that another person may have a valid point in what he is saying which we cannot reject just because we cannot understand it at first glance.
Not willing to receive correction For many people, to admit a mistake is to give another person a higher position! Because of this, some people hold on to their position even when they know they are wrong. Sometimes they justify this by saying that they should not tarnish the image of their official position. This was the way the Pharisees argued when they saw that Jesus was exposing their error.
God looks at our heart, more than our actions. He considers a poor, young man who is wise as being better than an old king who would not receive any instruction any more (Eccl.4:13). None of us is infallible, and it is true that we all make many mistakes (Jas.3:2). It will do us good if we are willing to learn from any source that God brings to us.
Exclusive, isolating oneself Special doctrines, revelation, special doctrinal emphasis, the special anointing of God at work in ministry, the evidence of special favour from God in the past – all these can make someone imagine that he is special in the eyes of God, and a cut above the other 'ordinary' people. Slowly a 'we vs. they' mentality attitude creeps in, and he begins to keep away from the 'crowds'. In turn, the people begin to look up to this leader as anointed, far above them, etc., and become willing to submit to anything he says. One result of this is that he becomes disconnected from the people he is supposed to serve, and the people lose their access to their leader.
Submission becomes more important than brotherly love Jesus said that an outstanding mark of His disciples would be that they loved one another. But in these churches, the focus becomes about keeping rebellion out of the church. Taking every disagreement to be rebellion, the leader then takes drastic measures to weed out the rebels 'to keep the church pure'! Talking about discipline in the church, what Jesus said was that its goal was to win and restore someone who was deviating from the right path (Matt.18:15). But when discipline is aimed at purifying the church, measures are taken too quickly and he imagines he has done his work when he casts off the offending brother from the church. Then he asks everyone to disconnect themselves from that man, stop looking at him as a brother altogether and treat him like a pariah, quoting Matt.18:17. But what is actually implied in this verse is that a final chance should be given to this brother by letting the whole church examine the matter along with him, and then if there is consensus that he is wrong and he is unwilling to repent, he should be put out of the church. But in authoritarian churches, the leaders just announce to the church that someone is being put out, so that the others should live in fear.
Cronies and visitors The leadership identifies who all are faithful and will remain loyal to them, and gives them special recognition. The others are considered as 'visitors' who are not really connected to the church. Loyalty to the leader becomes the litmus test of their membership in the church. The implication conveyed to people is that if they do not become loyal to the leader or share the leader's vision, they are not even a part of the body of Christ. On the other hand, the leader and his cronies give the impression that they are the true body of Christ. Imagine the pressure this puts on ordinary people to offer allegiance to the leader!
Awe of the leader leads people to submission The leader himself, supported by his cronies, makes sure that the people become aware of the special abilities, knowledge, skills, accomplishments, special revelations, special experiences of vision and dreams, etc., that 'God has granted' to him. There are frequent reminders about what happened to Miriam and Korah. The implication is that no one should dare to question such a one. It is no longer about right or wrong, or good or bad, but about the leader claims God has revealed to him.
Demanding unquestioning submission This is considered to be the mark of real humility. People should learn to humble themselves by putting aside what they themselves think, and accept what God has supposedly revealed through the leader. Put in this way, people get scared to do anything that goes against what is taught in the church, even if the church has gone off from the Bible. They think that they don't know the Bible too well, and that this leader must have some superior knowledge which they don't have. One favourite quotation such leaders have is that God tells us, "Touch not the Lord's anointed" (Psa.105:15). There may be also narrations of what has happened to people who left the church earlier. People don't realise that vv.13,14 show that v.15 is referring to the people of Israel as the anointed ones and not to their leaders!
Thus says the Lord When someone says, "God told me," what do you do? Most people will get scared to question that. When it comes down to personal decisions, as when a leader tells someone to get married to so and so, things go really awry! The word of God specifically tells us not to accept everything people say like this, but to examine each saying to see if it is true (1Thess.5:20,21). We can check with what the Bible says, or if we still have doubts, we can ask God to show us if it is true. We can't let other people make slaves of us, or hand over the control of our life to others. We are responsible to God for what we do in our life, and we cannot give that responsibility to anyone else.
A slow move from humility to arrogance The folklore of the church tells the people about how the leader started from humble states to where he is now. But what the situation is currently is what matters now. As time goes on, it is possible for any man to go from humility to pride and even to arrogance. But now he is not accountable to anyone or listening to anyone else. His decisions are taken by himself, and judgments become quick and rash. Anyone who disagrees with him is sidelined or put out of the church. Fellow leaders learn quickly that the only way they can survive in their position is to become yes men.
Leader vs. ordinary people It is in our sinful flesh to want attention, recognition and admiration from other people. Jesus warned about this tendency among spiritual leaders, referring to the practices of the Pharisees (Matt.23:6,7). But it is still commonly noticed that leaders want special seats, special titles, and special treatment from the people. As a result, these leaders assume an exalted position over the people, and soon there becomes an unwritten division between leaders and 'ordinary' people, even though Jesus specially warned against this, saying that we are to consider all of us as brothers and sisters (v.8).
Monitoring people With a view to identifying rebellious elements in the church, the leaders develop a subtle way of monitoring what is happening among the people. This is done under the guise of wanting 'to know the condition of the flock'. People become aware that 'big brother is watching'. They begin to get questioned about different parts of their lives, and their decisions come under the authority of the leaders to the extent that no one can get married or take up a job without the approval of the leaders. These leaders are not able to understand that their authority is limited to some area of the functioning of the church and that they should not extend their boundaries to control people's lives.
Double standards While the leaders demand a 'zero defect' standard from the people, they themselves seem to follow a different standard, claiming a higher level of wisdom and insight for themselves under which their actions are justified. Ordinary people cannot be expected to understand them. Following this direction, the leaders do not find the need to explain their decisions to the people or to be transparent with them. People who are awestruck with these leaders oblige by submitting to them without question.
Conclusion Spiritual authority is to be earned from others and not demanded (1Tim.5:17). People will come to respect them when they see the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, and the wisdom and anointing that is manifest. They have to be taught the need for respecting leaders, but when the leaders begin to demand submission 'by force', it may be coming out of a sense of insecurity on the part of the leaders, or their craving for prominence. Even though Paul could have demanded from Philemon using his authority, he chose to appeal to him (Phil.8,9). Then these leaders are not able to differentiate between the greatness the Lord has given to them and what they consider to be their own greatness.
Having had experience as a leader among the apostles, and having tasted the pain of his own mistakes, Peter exhorted his fellow leaders not to lord it over the people (1Pet.5:1-3). Jesus had taught the disciples that true greatness came from a mind to serve those under their care rather than in becoming greater than others (Matt.20:25-28). But when spiritual authority begins to cross the line, its effects can vary from undue emphasis on certain doctrines compared to others to lording it over the people even to the extent of getting them to follow the leaders in suicide! If the people are not able to detect the subtle changes that are beginning to happen, then they become so brain-washed later that they cannot even see what is wrong with committing suicide for the leader! The charisma and the convincing ways of a leader can mislead many. It is our responsibility to avoid allowing ourselves to be deceived. May the Lord preserve His people.