I was at a dinner party last night when the topic of authority came up. One of my friends was arguing that they do not accept or receive any authority accept for Christ and the Bible. This is of course not a new line of argument. It has been present in the Church since the time of the Reformation. But the problem with that line of thinking is that frankly, it's not true. We may have trouble, in our fallen sinful nature accepting authority, but we all do follow authority to one degree or another. The only question then is WHICH authorities do we receive and follow.
Allow me an example. I would venture to guess that when all of us come to a stop light we stop. The laws of the land and the rules of good driving dictate that we must stop at a red light. Without that law, and without general adherence to it there would be far more motor accidents than there already are. We accept the authority of the government and society at large to dictate certain things to us. We do not drive however we feel (or at least we shouldn't if we value life and limb). To disregard all authority is anarchy and there are very few if any who have ever been able to live consistently as true anarchists.
But to keep going with my driving example, there are plenty of us who choose to fudge on the speed limit. I am fairly certain I am not the only one who has ever heard someone invoke the "five over rule" (ie I can get away with speeding a bit, and I won't get pulled over if I'm just going 5 over or so). We know the authorities have set the speed limit, but this is an authority that many believe is somehow negotiable. But even here, while some do choose to speed excessively (and if you have ever driven on I-25 you know this is so), most adhere to some semblance of the speed limit.
So the question I come to is this, why do most citizens adhere to traffic laws and speed limits? Because we have a sense that they have been set in such a way for the common good; for our good. So again, the question is not whether or not we can accept authority but which authority we are willing to accept.
In the case of the Christian Church I would humbly submit that we are called to adhere to certain godly authority. And furthermore, most Christians have throughout the centuries, and all Christians should submit to such godly authority on the same grounds as our submission to the speed limits; because such authority is granted for our own good and that of the community. Anarchy is hard to live out in society - it is impossible to live out in the community of Christ.
In his final instructions to the Church the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews says this, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." (Hebrews 13:17) There is a clear teaching here. Leaders are submitted to Christ, the Church must submit to those in godly leadership. And here is the connection with my earlier examples; when both sides of that equation are working properly it is to our benefit.
The Anglican Reformers understood this need to retain some semblance of godly authority within the Church. They did not embrace the ethos of "me, my Bible and the Holy Spirit," that eventually came out of other Protestant traditions. Hear again what the Anglican 39 Articles of Religion have to say on the matter.
The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation.
Do you see the beauty and balance that reflects the Hebrew's admonition here? The Church has been granted God given authority. There are decisions to be made about how we organize ourselves, how we worship and how we clarify what it means to understand the Scriptures rightly and apply them in our own day. Yet the authorities of the Church are under Authority themselves, they are accountable, expressed here in the Article as an accountability to only teach what is in accord with Scripture and to enforce only that which is taught there plainly.
Authority is a good thing. It is necessary and it is God given. We all live our lives in submission to some authorities. The question is which ones. The answer for the Christian is fairly simple.
Romans 13:1-2 "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. "
"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." (Hebrews 13:17)
