Purpose And Power Of Authority (30 page)

So, God created the male first, gave him information about how he was to live on earth, and then placed him in a garden. The female was created after this.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”(Genesis 2:15–17)

Adam’s timing in creation is significant in relation to authority. He was the first to be made and to be given information. He was the first one on the scene in the world and the first to receive instruction from the Creator, and this made him a legitimate authority. We see an example of this type of authority in a court of law. During a trial, a witness is considered credible and especially valuable if he was on the scene first and can describe what he saw. This is the reason why Adam was ultimately responsible when the serpent deceived Eve, and both of them disobeyed the laws of the Creator by doing what He had told them not to do. The man had been given the original instructions, and it was his responsibility to pass them along and to ensure that they were followed.

Therefore, ever since the creation of humanity, the family has had a structure of authority. This structure doesn’t make the man better or more intelligent than the woman but instead provides order and parameters for human relationships.

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, emphasis added). Male and female together are “man.” God didn’t create the woman from the soil but from the man, and there is thus a need for mutual cooperation, for mutual submission, and for interdependency. Problems begin when this cooperation and dependency are challenged. We don’t outgrow the nature God has given us. Women’s struggle for rights under God is legitimate. But to say that men and women have exactly the same authority is inaccurate according to the scriptural record. Authority can only be given; it can never be taken, and men and women have different types of authority.

Paul wrote, “I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3). He was saying that that there is an order to human relationships in the family, beginning with the man, then the woman, and extending to the children, whom we will discuss shortly. Note that “the head of Christ is God.” Christ Himself submits to the Father, even though He is one with
the Father, and so, again, submission does not reflect worth, only position.

False Authority and Abuse in Marriages

There is much argument between males and females today about who is “inferior” or “superior.” May that attitude be far from us! No such contention was ever planned by God. There is tension, argument, and antagonism between male and female because of their confusion about authority, and ignorance of authority breeds conflict. As we have seen, an absence of authority produces chaos and tyranny. Without authority, life has no order. Without authority, purpose has no protection. Without authority, there is no effective functioning. Without authority, destiny is abandoned. Without authority, power is wasted. Without authority, energy is abused. Without authority, potential is miscarried.

Christ is the head of the husband, and the husband is the head of the wife, so that everyone is under some authority in life and not independent. Since the woman came out of the man, he is, in that sense, her source and sustainer. God designed a woman to receive her authority from her “source.” This doesn’t give husbands the right to exercise false authority in the form of tyranny or the “boss spirit.” On the contrary, the husband is the woman’s protection or covering.

Men have to understand that if they’re not under the authority of God, they can’t expect anyone else to respond to their authority. This applies not only to the realm of the family but to all realms of authority. As more men come to understand this, it will bring order back to the mess we are experiencing in the world, because everything starts with the family.

The man is accountable to God for this headship of the family, particularly if he uses authority for the wrong reasons. The safety of the woman is in her awareness that the man is accountable to God—that God will deal with him. In cases of abuse, the woman has to protect herself and find shelter. At the same time, she should appeal in prayer to the Creator, who is the authority of the man, and the One to whom he is ultimately accountable.

When either the male or the female is out of position in the family, authority breaks down. Remember from the book of Jude that the demons moved out of their proper position. Now, they try to get human beings out of position. We need to stay under authority so that we don’t attract demons, or evil spirits. If you are in agreement with demonic thinking, if demons become your “friends” because you are no longer in the proper position, then you cause problems—not only for yourself but also for your family. The demons became tormented when they left their positions. I know that there are women who feel they are living tormented lives because their husbands are not under the authority of God, and their family lives are disordered and stressful.

“The head of every man is Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:3). A man who is not submitted to Christ’s authority is a “headless” man. He also has no power over demons who are tempting him and otherwise attacking him. Likewise, when a woman is out of position, the spirit world knows that she lacks true authority. If she does not stay in her order under the covering of the man, she, too, becomes like a “demon,” one who has left her true position. Remember that if Jesus hadn’t submitted to the authority of John the Baptist, He wouldn’t have been able to withstand the temptations of the devil. The ability to have victory over evil spirits is therefore related to a proper response to authority and position.

The Highest Example of Human Submission

How do husbands and wives live out their authority in marriage? In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we read,

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.(Ephesians 5:21–28)

In its genuine form, marriage may be the highest human example of authority and submission. Paul also wrote,

In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.(1 Corinthians 11:11–12)

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). Recall that true submission is a voluntary and natural act as part of the interdependent nature of authority. Marriage is the submission of two people to each other in all things: their bodies, gifts, talents, energy, achievements, possessions, finances, and more. It is not just the submission of one person to another or the partial submission of one person to the partial submission of the other. The modern concept of marriage lacks true authority because it does not reflect this characteristic of submission to one another in all things but instead encourages people to create qualifications, such as “I’ll give fifty percent, and you’ll give fifty percent” to reach a supposed 100 percent commitment, or prenuptial agreements in which one or both parties holds back something from the other.

Ephesians seems to sum up the beauty of mutual submission and unity in marriage as the Creator designed it: “Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.…Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:28, 33).

The authority structure of the family that was established by the Manufacturer is under great stress today. It is being threatened in its very nature, and when the family is threatened, all other authority structures are threatened, as well. This is why it is critical that we begin to restore the foundations of authority by focusing on this first realm.

Let us move on now to authority in the family in relation to children.

The Source of Authority for Children

As the basic, foundational unit of society, the family is responsible for teaching authority to children, who are society’s future leaders and participants. Therefore, the family needs to be kept intact and not be tampered with. For example, when two homosexual men or two lesbian women adopt and raise a baby, the authority structure of a father, a mother, and children is broken, and the children do not come to understand authority as the Creator established it.

Children learn genuine authority by observing it in the context of a true family structure. Someone who is not taught to respect his own parents will almost always not respect authority in other realms of society. By living in a family, children learn that people’s lives need order if there is going to be peace and productivity. The biblical commands for children to obey and honor their fathers and mothers are a large part of their own training for authority, as well as for their protection and welfare. Safeguarding and preserving the priority of authority in the family is therefore vital.

Family relationships are not to be engaged in haphazardly but purposefully by the parents in order to fulfill the divine design for teaching authority within social relationships. If a child learns the principles of authority in the home first, then he can apply them to his relationships with his supervisors and coworkers on his job, to his relationships with the members of his church and the community or cultural organizations he is connected with, to his interactions with those in government and civic positions, and in all other relationships that may occur in his life. When you have been given good training as a child and have made a point to receive that training, you develop moral standards and ethical positions, so that you respect others’ persons and property, the laws of the land, and so forth.

The following are some Scriptures that teach children truths and principles about their parents’ authority in their lives and the importance of obeying and following their instructions.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers [and mothers], do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. (Colossians 3:20–21)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord [as those whom God has set over you], for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—“that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.(Ephesians 6:1–4)

My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life.(Proverbs 6:20–23)

The eye that mocks a father, that scorns obedience to a mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures [the child’s life will be “devoured” and his potential wasted in some form].(Proverbs 30:17)

A fool spurns his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.(Proverbs 15:5)

Rejecting God’s established authority in the family obviously leads to serious consequences for children. For example, the Scriptures say that children should obey their parents so that they will enjoy long life on the earth. Conversely, if they disobey their parents, they will not enjoy long life. I don’t believe this refers only to physical life. The essence of this statement is that if you violate the authority the Creator has placed over you, life is going to “kill” you. You will not experience the richness and enjoyment of it that you were meant to.

Note that the instructions for parents as just as important. The parents generate the environment in the home for their children’s understanding of the Creator and His principles and laws, as well as for the development of the children’s own personal authority. Embittering or exasperating the children will not teach them the nature of the Creator or promote an understanding of the blessings and protection of true authority.

If a child is obedient and submitted to his father and mother as long as he is living in their house, then his moral life will be preserved. Even when Satan tries to defeat him or situations threaten to destroy him, if he has been in proper relationship with authority, God will go into action to protect him. Therefore, length of life and quality of life can be directly tied to authority.

Finally, even after children are no longer living in their parents’ home, they should continue to respect them. We should always respect and honor our parents as our initial authority, under God, in our experience as human beings.

The next realm of authority is that of government, which would include national, regional (such as states and provinces), and local governments, and the relationships between governmental leaders and citizens.

God Instituted Governmental Authority

First, governmental authority was instituted by God. Another Greek word that is translated authority several times in the Scriptures is dunastes. For example, in Acts 8:27, we read, “A man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority [dunastes] under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury,…had come to Jerusalem to worship” (nkjv). This word dunastes means “a ruler or officer:—of great authority, mighty, potentate.”