Life-Giving Authority
Our understanding of authority isn’t developed in an academic vacuum. That is, we don’t learn about authority merely through books and dictionary definitions. We learn about authority through authorities in our lives. This can be good and it can be bad. Our understanding of authority is shaped by how we experience authority.
In a sinful world, many authorities use authority poorly. Consequently, the way we learn authority is distorted. Authority means soul-crushing, tyrannical power that creates tension and turmoil within, even though there might be outward conformity. Authority provokes fear that has little to no love. Do what I say or reap my wrath. Some authorities like this will even use the Scriptures as their club to keep their subjects cringing before them. Whether in the home, on the job, or in the government, we all know these types of authorities, and our understanding is shaped by our experience.
Not all authorities are bad. Many women have had loving husbands. Many children have had loving parents. Their authority was firm but self-sacrificing, always seeking what was best for those under their authority. They didn’t tyrannize but freed their subordinates to exercise their gifts and mature toward self-governance while guiding them and maintaining firm, loving boundaries. Their authority promoted life.
At the end of John 4, the King of kings is approached by an earthly king (“nobleman”) who has a son on the verge of death. This is a real man who lived in Capernaum who had a real son with a real fever. But the great Author is telling a story about how the old Adamic kings had no power to bring life to the world.
When God first commissioned Adam to take dominion over the earth, his rule was to produce life. Dominion involved being fruitful and multiplying, filling the earth with life. The man and woman were to be fruitful themselves, and Adam was to cultivate the earth so that it would be fruitful. Adam’s authority was for the life of the world.
Sin and its death made this mission impossible to accomplish. Though God promised that life would be present in the world, death would always be fighting life. The woman’s womb and the ground itself would produce death plants, thorns and thistles, that would fight the good fruit. Death would spread, and life would be on the defensive until another Adam came and defeated death. When this happened, the result of his rule would be life.
Jesus’ second sign in John’s Gospel shows us the contrast between kings. One king produces death. The other King gives life. The original Adamic mission of life-giving dominion is being realized.
Being united with Jesus, we share his mission and his authority. We all have some level of authority, even if it is limited to self-governance. As we grow older, God gives us more authority. What should be characteristic of our authority is that it should be life-giving. Whether we are governing ourselves or other people, the way we exercise our God-given authority should be producing life as God intends life to be.
Tyranny crushes life out of people. Though “tyranny” is as overused as “abuse” and “trauma,” it exists. Tyranny doesn’t recognize the God-given freedoms of others and always steps over God’s limits. There is no freedom to mature to the point of self-governance. There is only control. Tyranny is unreasonable in its demands, sometimes in the name of love, but it doesn’t genuinely care about the health of the other person. Tyranny demands by fiat and simply because it has a position. However, it does nothing to cultivate love. Subordinates under this authority live in tension, walking on eggshells, and grow to despise this person because life is sucked out of them as they exist joylessly.
Proper authority maintains the boundaries that God has given them to protect, recognizing the liberties of people within those boundaries (even liberties to be stupid at times), and does not overstep the God-given authority. Proper authority calls people up to self-government and helps them cultivate it by not seizing the opportunity of someone’s sloth to jump in and be a tyrant in the name of rescuing them.
We all exist in relationships in which we are under authority and exercise authority throughout our lives. Do you recognize legitimate authority over you, submitting to all lawful commands with joy? Do you bear with the weaknesses of those in authority over you? If you don’t, then you are not ready to exercise authority. If you are an authority over others, what is the culture that you are cultivating? Do those under your authority who want to do the right thing and be submissive have joy, or is the life being sucked out of them because of your tyrannical ways? Is there relaxation in your presence, or does everyone walk on eggshells around you?
As kings united to the King and in mission with him, our authority must be life-giving.
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