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LOCAL CHURCH AUTHORITY
Jean-Marc Berthoud I T is in the weakness of the flesh (and through the power of the Holy
Spirit) that power is exercised by those whom God has placed in His church to govern. It is in this weakness that the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, deacons, elders, and other servants of God must exercise the ministry that the Holy Spirit has entrusted to them for the building up of the body of Christ, the church of the living
God. This is why the apostle Peter, after receiving from Christ the order to feed His sheep, wrote: "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre,1 but of a ready mind;2 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock" (1Pe 5:2-3).
When the apostle Paul addressed the Philippians, and particularly their spiritual leaders, he exhorted them to imitate the way the Lord Jesus
Christ had exercised the power entrusted to Him by His Father in His earthly ministry: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Phi 2:5-7).
This exhortation echoed the words of Jesus Himself Who said to His disciples, "For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth" (Luk 22:27).
We see, therefore, that a true pastor does not act toward the flock entrusted to him by the Great Shepherd of the sheep as does the civil power: by coercion,3 by a domination marked by force. (We must remember that the physical force of the sword exercised by the magistrate is perfectly legitimate when applied in its proper order—that is, of course, if it remains under the yoke of God's Law.) No, the servant of God acts as crucified with Jesus Christ, in complete weakness, through the power of the Holy Spirit—a divine power indeed, but not one that violently coerces or compels people. The true servant of God must constantly remember these words of the prophet Zechariah while living and revealing the true significance of his ministry: "Not by might, nor by 1 filthy lucre – money gained in a dishonest or dishonorable way.
2 of a ready mind – eagerly.
3 coercion – government by force, to suppress persons who oppose official policy.
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power [will this work be accomplished], but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts" (Zec 4:6).
Therefore, the weaker the power of true spiritual leaders is (humanly speaking), so much more must believers be subject to this power and humbly obedient to it. Thus, the apostle Paul, aware that the exercise of his ministry was to be carried out in man's weakness, said, "Death worketh in us, but life in you" (2Co 4:12).
Fully convinced that the only position faithful to Christ's teaching is that of crucifixion, the apostle exhorts believers in this way: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you" (Heb 13:17).
This power is even more powerful, being the power that the Father has given to the Son, acting through the Third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, as He labors in the weakness of men chosen by God for this task. The less this ministry possesses of human power, the less "political" force it holds, the more unwise it is for Christians placed beneath its authority to disobey it. For the church holds in earthen vessels the power of Christ to open or close the door of the kingdom of God and even to deliver hardened rebels to Satan.4
But it is also essential to clearly state: this obedience of Christians to the authority of the church must always be maintained according to the analogy of faith.5 That is, the obedience of God's children to the power that Christ has placed in His church must never be a blind, unconditional, purely mechanical obedience. Just as the shepherds must watch over the flock so that the sheep may walk in obedience to the truth, so also the members of the spiritual community must watch over the shepherds whom God has placed over them, that they might verify that these leaders of the church also submit to the commands of Scripture. Church members must watch over their shepherds just as Paul's Jewish listeners did in the city of Berea: "They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Act 17:11).
We are not required to obey ecclesiastical orders contrary to the commands of God's written revelation. For the Bible does not require us to submit to the human traditions of churches but to the Word of truth, to sacred Scripture, which is the true tradition of the apostles.
Is the exercise of power in the local church monarchical, aristocratic, 4 See FGB 222, Church Discipline, available from CHAPEL LIBRARY.
5 analogy of faith – method of biblical interpretation in which doctrine gleaned from clearer related Scriptures is used to interpret a particular passage (Rom 12:6).
Free Grace Broadcaster • Issue 263 or democratic? According to Holy Scripture, the exercise of power in the church is monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic all at the same time.
It is monarchical because the sole head of the church (possessing an absolutely sovereign power over it) is Jesus Christ Himself, God the Son made man. In this way, we must first affirm that the church is an institution with a theocentric,6 theonomic,7 and theocratic8 character, and that the prerogative that governs the church is the prerogative of God, the very Word of God. The life of the church is nothing more than the obedience of believers, through the faith and power given to them by the Holy Spirit, to all the orders of their Head and Leader, their King
Jesus Christ, which orders are contained in the Bible.
But we must immediately add that the earthly government of the church is of an aristocratic or hierarchical nature, for the Head of the church, Jesus Christ, appoints men specifically chosen and trained by Him and to whom He has delegated His authority to govern His house according to the commandments included for this explicit purpose in the Word of God. The ministers of God in the church are thus in no way instituted by popular election, by the democratic vote of all believers, but by God Himself.
"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers" (1Co 12:28). "And I thank Christ Jesus our
Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry" (1Ti 1:12). "Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father" (Gal 1:1).
These ministers, these servants of God, are chosen by God from among the "faithful," the "made men" of the church, and have the task of governing it in such a way that it is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
Who builds it up through His Spirit. They are instituted by God and not by the Christian "people" who, at most, only recognize their calling and confirm them in their charge. Nothing is more contrary to Scripture than to believe that the church should be ruled by the opinions and decisions of the majority of its members (as is the case with any liberal democratic society)—that is, independent or "free" from the constraints and limits of the Law of God.
But we must simultaneously add that the church is also a society of a democratic nature, a society of people capable of mutual edification, a community in which all are, in their own right, members of the body of Jesus Christ. Paul writes to the Christians at Rome that he desires to see
6 theocentric – God-centered.
7 theonomic – God's Word-centered.
8 theocratic – God-governed.
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them so that he might impart to them some spiritual gift that they might be strengthened (Rom 1:11). Such a concern to do good to the Christian people of the city of Rome was just and legitimate. For he whom Jesus
Christ had established as the apostle of the nations had received from God the power to strengthen believers and to communicate to them the graces that God would see fit to grant them. But Paul catches himself, for he realizes that these believers can also be used by God for his own strengthening. This is why he immediately adds: "that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me"
(Rom 1:12).
This faith of God's people, writes Peter, is a faith just as precious and valuable as his own (2Pe 1:1). It is from this communion of all in one body, where every person has his own place, that democracy exists in the church in accordance with Scripture.
In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, in this community which is the body of Christ, this heavenly Jerusalem that we already live in by faith, all members are useful, all have their place, and none should be despised, set aside, or ignored. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus" (Gal 3:26-28; see also Col 3:11;1Co 12:13).
We are all prophets, priests, and kings in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, Who blows where He chooses, works indiscriminately among people both through the most modest members of the body of Christ as well as through those whom God has established as pastors and teachers in His church. If the ministers of Jesus Christ must labor in the teaching and building up of the church of God, believers also have an indispensable role to play, for they must ensure that the teaching, edification, and government of the church are carried out according to the measure of faith (Rom 12:6) in the one truth, in accordance with the deposit given once for all to the saints in the Holy Scriptures.
At a time when the "teachers" of the church are all too frequently merely false teachers dispensing false and harmful doctrine, God often uses the faith of the humblest believer to keep His church alive and to defend it from error—the lies of the devil.
Discipline within the church: The exercise of this power in the church through the consistorial9 authority of the elders can lead to acts of discipline that culminate in the exclusion of the hardened wrongdoer from 9 consistorial – pertaining to church government by a plurality of elders.
Free Grace Broadcaster • Issue 263 the fellowship of Christians in the hope that this spiritual and social isolation might lead him to reflection, questioning, and repentance. The power of the church cannot proceed beyond the exclusion of those who, through their actions or teaching, abandon the rule of faith and work toward the destruction of the Christian community. Scripture clearly teaches that, after various warnings given to the brother who professes the error or who behaves contrary to the teachings of the apostles, if he perseveres in his error or misbehavior, the believers who constitute the church must absolutely separate themselves from him. In fact, it is the unfaithful professing Christian who, by his persistence in his errors, himself breaks the bond of fellowship. The church merely recognizes this and acts in consequence. This separation from the unfaithful sheep is a sign of God's disapproval of the person who, while professing to be a Christian, perseveres in wrongdoing; it seeks to protect the flock from any contagion and in the end to work, as far as possible, toward the repentance and eventual restoration of the unruly brother. Separation, the isolation of one who is thus abandoned by all, should lead him to repentance, reparation, and reintegration into the people of God…
We must resolutely exclude the hardened sinner or heretic from the very bosom of the church of God. However, the retributive power of the church can proceed no further than this. To ask the civil power to deprive this sheep of its life, liberty, or property because of heresy or lasting immorality is in fact to usurp the place of Christ and to arrogate today the authority of the final judgment, a privilege that belongs exclusively to God. It is clear that this ecclesiastical discipline cannot destroy creational family ties either.
It was this disciplinary power in the church that Christ exercised when He drove the sellers and money changers out of the temple.
From Authority in the Christian Life (Monticello, FL:
Psalm 78 Ministries, 2020), 89-97.
_______________________ Jean-Marc Berthoud: Swiss Reformed Baptist author and editor; born in 1939 in South Africa.
We cannot, without surrendering ourselves into the hands of fallible men, pretend that we owe unconditional obedience to the ministers of God in His church. The tradition of men, human regulations, and human structures are one thing, and the ordinance of God expressed in His infallible Word is another. We must judge our traditions, regulations, and our structuring of churches and works in the light of Scripture alone. Yet we must not allow our individual examination of biblical truth to become a pretext for refusing the authority of the ministers of the church and thus attempting to live according to the dictates of the flesh.—Jean-Marc Berthoud