A. Authority and Human Volition.
1. Definition.
a. Authority is defined as the power to command, to judge, or to act by person or person in whom authority is vested.
b. Authority or authorities applies to persons having legal power to make and enforce the law, to make policy, or to make decisions.
c. Authority is also an accepted source of information, as in the case of the authority of the pastor-teacher to provide doctrinal or theological information from the Scripture.
d. Authority can be defined in terms of an expert on a subject. Under the laws of divine establishment, authority is defined as that legal power, delegated by God, whereby certain persons have jurisdiction and responsibility for others.
2. All authority in life is divided into two general categories: legitimate and illegitimate authority.
a. Legitimate authority is established according to Scripture, the laws of the land, or in accordance with established rules, principles, or standards. God has delegated legitimate authority in two categories.
(1) The temporal realm—the laws of divine establishment. There are four basic concepts of establishment freedom.
(a) Freedom is the right of self-determination from human volition apart from violation of law or authority.
(b) Privacy is the right to hold opinions make decisions and engage in actions which do not interfere with the rights of others.
© The sacredness of property and life.
(d) Authority, enforcement of law, which is the guardian of freedom, privacy, property, and life.
(2) The spiritual realm—under spiritual laws for the function of a particular dispensation. Spiritual freedom is the function of the believer while filled with the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere. Spiritual freedom is taught in such passages as:
(a) Jn 8:32, “You shall know the truth [Bible doctrine], and the truth shall make you free [spiritually].”
(b) Ps 119:45, “I will walk in freedom; for I seek your doctrines.”
© Gal 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Keep standing fast, and do not become entangled again in the yoke of slavery [living in the cosmic system].”
(3) Temporal and spiritual freedom relate to the two categories of authorities. The primary purpose of temporal freedom is to be evangelized.
b. Illegitimate authority is illegal, unlawful authority, generally established by unlawful or illegal force, the attainment of power without the lawful right to possess that power. Illegitimate authority is that authority established by Satan through the function of the cosmic system. It is evident in the erroneous seizure of power, the rise of dictators and tyranny throughout history. Illegitimate authority is delegated by Satan as the ruler of this world in three categories: tyranny, false doctrine, and power struggles.
3. Realms of authority.
a. God has delegated authority through His mandates in both the Old Testament, Deut 11:27; 1 Sam 15:22; Jer 7:25, 11:4,7; Zech 6:15, and the New Testament.
b. God has authority over nature, and nature obeys God, Matt 8:27; Mk 4:41; Lk 8:25; Rom 8:20-22.
c. Angels are subject to divine authority, Mk 1:27; 1 Pet 3:22.
d. The pastor-teacher and church officers have authority over the congregation in the local church, 1 Cor 16:15-6; 2 Cor 10:8; 1 Thes 5:12; Heb 13:7, 17; Isa 54:17.
e. Government has authority over its people to protect the sanctity of their freedom, property, and human life.
f. The husband has authority over the wife. The husband’s authority over his wife provides great happiness in category two love, Eph 5:22; Col 3:18. This stabilizes that love.
g. Parents have authority over children, Eph 6:1; Col 3:20.
h. Teachers have authority over students.
i. Coaches have authority over athletes.
j. Management has authority over labor. Authority in business stabilizes the economy, Eph 6:5; Col 3:22.
k. Freedom through military victory is based on the principle of the authority of military rank, Neh 4:13-15.
l. Authority in business stabilizes the economy, Eph 6:5; Col 3:22.
m. Law enforcement over citizens, Rom 13:1-7.
4. Freedom and authority must coexist. You cannot have freedom without authority. Freedom without authority is anarchy. Authority without freedom is tyranny. Freedom includes the right of privacy, the right of self-determination, the right to hold your own opinions, and the sacredness of property and life. Establishment freedom is the heritage of physical birth.
5. It is inevitable that arrogance will challenge any legitimate system of authority. Then tyranny results. This is Satanic in nature. For Satan as the ruler of this world constantly seeks to do everything possible to overthrow the divinely-delegated authority that brings freedom and blessing to individuals and nations.
6. Authority has been an issue since the beginning of the human race. The fall was rejection of authority. The woman rejected the authority of God and Bible doctrine and accepted the authority of Satan. She also rejected the authority of her right man, 1 Tim 2:11-12. Man accepted the authority of the woman and threw his delegated authority away.
7. Authority has been delegated by God to four divine institutions.
a. Self-determination is the authority of your own soul with emphasis on your volition. With freedom to make decisions comes responsibility.
b. Marriage is the authority of the husband over the wife, Eph 5:22; Col 3:18.
c. Family is the authority of the parents over the children, Eph 6:1-3; Col 3:20.
d. Nationalism is the authority of government over the citizens of that nation.
8. There are five categories of human freedom.
a. The function of the soul with emphasis on thought, motive, and decision.
b. The existence of privacy as the environment for freedom and self-determination.
c. The right to possess property; to enjoy, benefit, or make profit from things acquired.
d. Authority—the power delegated by God to command, to train, to teach, or to act as an agent for a principle.
e. Human life—man must possess human life to exercise his rights and functions under the concept of freedom.
9. There are two attitudes toward legitimate authority.
a. Response—which is acceptance of authority delegated by God.
b. Reaction—which is rejection of authority delegated by God.
B. Greek Words for Authority.
1. The Greek word HUPAKOUO means to obey, to be subject to. Rom 6:16; Eph 6:1; Col 3:20; Mt 8:27; Lk 8:25.
2. The Greek word HUPOTASSO means to be subordinate to. Rom 8:20; 1 Cor 14:32; Eph 5:22; Col 3:18.
3. The Greek word PEITHO means to obey. Gal 3:1, 5:7; Heb 13:17; James 3:3.
4. The Greek word PEITHARCHEO means to obey rulers. Titus 3:1.
5. The Greek word KURIOTES means authority. Jude 8.
C. The Role of Human Volition in Accepting Authority.
1. Response to authority is a function of human volition. The function of authority is a matter of personal volition. The acceptability of authority in this life is dependent upon human volition.
2. Human freedom provides the option of accepting or rejecting authority in life, both legitimate and illegitimate. While God has delegated legitimate authority in life, these authorities are useless if human volition does not accept them.
3. All legitimate authority in life is delegated by God through two categories of truth: the laws of divine establishment, and the content of Bible doctrine.
4. All illegitimate authority in life is based upon the function of man’s arrogance in the cosmic system of Satan. Power lust is one of the motivating factors in arrogance.
5. Arrogance results from the rejection of legitimate authority in life. Such arrogance is the source of evil and psychosis. Rejection of authority causes people to degenerate, either morally or immorally.
a. For example, the wife who rejects the authority of her husband becomes uncontrollable in society.
b. The most awful and awesome mistake people make is the rejection of the authority of their parents. Your attitude toward their authority determines whether you ever grow up or not. Predominant rejection of authority of parents destroys a society.
c. The rejection of the authority of legitimate government is destructive.
d. The rejection of the authority of teachers and coaches is very detrimental.
e. Rejection of all the above authorities means you have the potential of becoming a criminal. It means you will reject the authority of the police officer, the judge on the bench, and of management. Such a miserable person makes those in his periphery miserable.
f. Rejection of authority does carry responsibility, and results in a life of misery, unhappiness, disaster, and no human or spiritual self- esteem.
6. While God has delegated authority in life to such legitimate categories as government, husbands, parents, teachers, coaches, public officers, judges, and management, this authority is useless apart from human consent. You can be bullied into accepting authority, but it does no good in the long run. What makes authority work is human consent, where rational human beings understand the importance of the principle of authority, regardless of whether they like the personality or not.
a. For example, the husband has legitimate authority over his wife. But his authority is useless unless his wife, from her own free will, recognizes and accepts it. Regardless of whether she is motivated by love or something else, she must accept his authority. Personal love does not accept human authority unless the authority agrees with it and does what it wants. But as soon as the authority says “no,” then the personal love is gone. Without impersonal love, the woman resents the authority of the man, and therefore becomes an uncontrollable woman.
b. While parents have authority in the home, this authority is useless apart from training and discipline, which eventuates in the child accepting the parents’ authority. While young, children must recognize the authority of their parents. As a result, they will develop love and respect for their parents later on. But if you reject the authority of your parents, you will be a misfit in society. You never really grow up until you accept authority.
c. Legitimate government has authority over its citizenry, but that authority is useless apart from human consent. Human consent is expressed in this country by voting for someone you think will do the job. The important factor is the consent of the governed. Apart from human consent, there is revolution, civil war, violence, terrorism, crime, dictatorships, slavery, and other functions of evil.
d. The biggest thing that keeps you from growing up is your rejection of authority, your lack of consent to submit to necessary authority.
7. Therefore, legitimate authority is only effective where human volition responds to it under the principle of freedom.
a. When we choose for legitimate authority, we are blessed both individually and collectively.
b. However, when people through arrogance and power madness gravitate to the cosmic system, they use their volition to make decisions from a position of weakness which has both personal and national repercussions.
c. Every person is a product of their own decisions. Good decisions from a position of strength accept authority and develop capacity for life. Bad decisions from a position of weakness reject authority and fulfill passages dealing with the laws of volitional responsibility, Hos 8:7, Gal 6:7; Prov 22:8; Col 3:25.
8. Believers who gravitate to a life of fulfillment of lust and arrogance have used their free will to ruin their lives. Young people who resist the authority of their parents have developed a habit which will destroy their lives.
a. How does the rise of dictatorship and evil happen? People use their own free will to gravitate to a system of evil power, especially in time of historical disaster. Such small groups as the Bolsheviks and Nazis have controlled millions of people because the people surrendered to them with their own free will, gravitating to a system of power.
b. When people gravitate to the power of the divine dynasphere, they use their own volition to make good decisions for legitimate authority, and inevitably receive divine blessing as they become mature believers.
c. However, when believers gravitate to the power of the cosmic system, they use their volition to make bad decisions from a position of weakness. Inevitably, they give their authority to evil leaders with disastrous consequences.
d. Evil has no authority apart from human consent. We are the products of our own decisions. We are constantly assigning authority to evil people who represent the cosmic system. This is how dictators become oppressors of the people. This explains the rise of terror in the French Revolution, as well as the rise of Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler.
e. In times of Tribulation, the free will of man often chooses for an alleged or apparent strong man. By so doing, man establishes the authority of evil in dictatorship.
f. Therefore in history, disaster is the result of individual and collective decisions of people. People are the products of their own volition.
g. Good decisions from a position of strength place the believer in the directive will of God. The believer is both protected and blessed in the directive will of God. The winners in history never deviate from the divine authority of God’s directive will and His mandates, which lead the believer to spiritual maturity, the establishment of a pivot, and the manufacture of invisible heroes.
h. When believers reject authority in childhood and adolescence, they will reject the authority of Bible doctrine, which is tantamount to rejecting God’s protection in His directive will. Destruction of the authority of God in your life is a guarantee of a disastrous life.
D. The Function of Divine Sovereignty in Human History.
1. There are three categories of divine sovereignty that function in human history.
a. The directive will of God comprises divine mandates to believers and unbelievers.
b. The permissive will of God in which God permits the function of free will in opposition to divine mandates. The permissive will of God always functions in the face of negative volition.
c. The overruling will of God means that God prevents self- destruction or national destruction because of a pivot of mature believers.
2. The function of the three categories of the will of God is important to understand.
3. Under the directive will of God, God has a plan for believers’ lives. In our dispensation, it is the protocol plan. Under the directive will of God, He has a system of order for all humanity, called the laws of divine establishment.
4. Under the permissive will of God, negative volition is permitted, but divine justice provides awesome and painful punishment.
5. Under the overruling will of God, the minority is always right. The minority is defined as the pivot of mature believers whose execution of the protocol plan of God delivers the nation from the fifth cycle of discipline.
6. Human volition can override the directive will of God, resulting in the permissive will of God becoming operational.
a. The minute you disobey any mandate of God or sin, you have overruled the directive will of God, which is not to sin. Therefore, when we sin we come under the permissive will of God.
b. Under the directive will of God, there is no discipline. Under the permissive will of God, there is divine discipline for us. Therefore, the result is suffering under the law of volitional responsibility plus national punishment, illustrated by the five cycles of discipline.
c. The permissive will of God is based on the fact that human volition and human freedom are the means of resolving the angelic conflict. The permissive will of God permits human volition to operate under the concept of human freedom. This volition either makes a nation great or destroys it.
7. When the directive will of God is rejected, the permissive will of God is activated.
a. This explains why rebound is so important, for when we sin, only the use of rebound can put us back under the directive will of God and back into the divine dynasphere.
b. When you’re outside the divine dynasphere, you’re outside the directive will of God and under the permissive will of God.
8. So when the permissive will of God becomes activated, resulting in divine punishment, the only hope is the overruling will of God.
a. Our nation is now under the permissive will of God because so many people have rejected the laws of divine establishment, rejected every form of authority, and believers have rejected Bible doctrine. So God permits us to be alive and to be punished.
b. That can only be changed by the overruling will of God.
9. The overruling will of God can only be activated in national emergency by the existence of the pivot of mature believers or invisible heroes who have executed the protocol plan of God.
10. The believer is designed to function under the directive will of God. When the believer rejects the authority of God’s Word and its mandates, he has destroyed the authority of God in his life and has reverted to the cosmic system and the authority of Satan.
E. Authority Orientation.
1. While believers positive toward doctrine advance to maturity, execute the protocol plan of God, and become invisible heroes, a positive believer cannot maintain and continue momentum unless he maintains and continues the basis for doing so, which is authority orientation.
a. Perception of doctrine, the function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation is based on a principle of authority. Perception of doctrine is the only way to advance spiritually. Such perception absolutely demands authority orientation.
b. There is no way you can read your Bible for yourself and understand and execute God’s protocol plan. That’s why God has given the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher, Eph 4:11.
2. Authority orientation is life orientation.
3. Authority orientation is honor and humility. The greater the authority over people, the greater the responsibility to people. No matter how high we go in life, there is always higher authority that must be recognized in order to perpetuate humility as orientation to life.
F. Freedom and Authority.
1. Freedom is never an isolated entity, but is four interrelated concepts forming one category and single principle. The four concepts which form the one category are freedom, privacy, property, and authority orientation. These provide everyone the same opportunity for self- determination.
a. Freedom is the principle of divine establishment and honor code function.
b. Privacy is a principle related to the honor code function of the royal priesthood.
c. Property is sacred under the laws of divine establishment for the function of life.
d. Authority is the umbrella for human freedom.
2. There cannot be an attack on any one of the four parts without destroying the entire concept of freedom.
a. An attack on property, like socialism or the welfare state, destroys freedom.
b. Slavery or gossip attacks and destroys privacy, and therefore eliminates freedom.
c. Freedom itself is lost through the demon possession of the unbeliever, as well as drug addiction, erroneous thought, demon influence of the believer in the cosmic system.
d. The most subtle attack on freedom originates in either the rejection of establishment or authority in the royal family of God. Under the laws of divine establishment, authority is defined as the legal power delegated by God whereby certain members of the human race have jurisdiction and responsibility for others. Such areas of authority include:
(1) The four divine institutions.
(a) Divine institution #1, your own free will, is the first authority in your life. Decision is a part of respect for the authority in your own soul. Your volition is your authority to make good decisions from a position of strength or bad decisions from a position of weakness.
(b) In divine institution #2, marriage, the husband has authority over the wife.
© In divine institution #3, parents have authority over the children.
(d) In divine institution #4, various systems of government have authority over the people they govern.
(2) Other areas of authority include:
(a) School authority in both academic and athletic administration, i.e., teachers and coaches.
(b) Economic authority resides in business executives, investors, and management.
© Legal authority resides in the law, the police officer, and judicial function.
(d) Military authority resides in commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers. Rank is absolutely necessary.
G. Spiritual Freedom.
1. There are two categories of freedom related to authority.
a. Temporal freedom is authorized by the laws of divine establishment. It includes your privacy, the sacredness of your property, and your life.
b. Spiritual freedom is authorized by the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, related to life in the divine dynasphere. Only in the divine dynasphere does spiritual freedom really function.
2. Spiritual freedom is related to believers only, and only those believers who reside inside the divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine.
3. In fact, all spiritual freedom is confined to life inside your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere.
4. The privacy of spiritual freedom is the universal priesthood of the believer which exists only during the Church Age.
5. The purpose of spiritual freedom is the execution of the protocol plan of God and subsequent glorification of God through the function of the invisible hero.
6. The function of this freedom is related to the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere under two principles.
a. The filling of the Spirit can only occur inside the divine dynasphere. It is mandated in Eph 5:18 and Gal 5:16.
b. The perception of Bible doctrine is the ministry of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere, Jn 14:26, 16:12-14; 1 Cor 2:9-16, 1 Jn 2:27.
7. Spiritual freedom without authority is ignorance of Bible doctrine. The authority for spiritual freedom is the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher in the communication of Bible doctrine.
H. Spiritual Authority.
1. Spiritual authority resides in the Word of God and in its communicator, the pastor-teacher, as well as in deacons to whom the pastor delegates authority. The evangelist also has authority.
2. Divine authority is stated in the context of the Word of God. This authority is delegated to the pastor-teacher of the local church. The evangelist has authority over those unbelievers to whom he communicates the Gospel. Delegated authority is given to those with administrative gifts in a church.
3. The pastor-teacher’s authority is limited to his own sheep, though his sheep need not be under his face-to-face ministry.
4. God has provided an umbrella of divine authority over the mechanics of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation in the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. The Holy Spirit must fill the believer for perception of doctrine.
5. God has also provided an umbrella of human authority over the mechanics of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation in the teaching function of the pastor in the local church, either face-to-face or non-face to face.
6. The royal family honor code demands authority orientation in the form of academic discipline when the pastor is teaching Bible doctrine.
a. This academic discipline is the authority which the believer imposes upon himself during the teaching of the Word of God so that others may be free to learn without distraction.
b. This academic discipline includes no talking, no unnecessary movement, or anything that would break the concentration of those positive toward Bible doctrine.
c. The royal family honor code recognizes common sense and good manners, thoughtfulness of others, and respect for the Word of God.
7. Inevitably, the issue is the mystery doctrine of the Church Age perceived and metabolized in your soul. This issue demands communication of doctrine from the pastor-teacher and perception by believers.
a. However, the pastor cannot communicate what he does not know. Therefore, his life must be devoted to studying and teaching the Word of God. What he teaches should be the result of many agonizing hours of study under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you are required to respect and listen to the teaching, at which point you choose whether to metabolize it or not.
b. This means the pastor’s personality is not the issue in authority orientation and the function of the royal family honor code.
c. Never permit preoccupation with the pastor’s feet of clay or his personality to hinder your perception of Bible doctrine.
d. Heb 13:17, “Keep obeying those [pastors] who themselves are ruling over you, and submit to their authority. For these same pastors keep watching for the benefit of your souls, as those who have to render an account. Keep obeying them, in order that they may do this accounting with happiness, and not with groaning, for this is unprofitable for you.”
e. The pastor is responsible to the Lord and not to the congregation. Therefore, when he gets out of line, he gets double discipline.
f. It is inevitable that certain members of the congregation will become dissatisfied with their pastor. Therefore, they will seek to discredit him, to judge, malign, and slander him. Therefore, in Isa 54:17 there is a warning not to tamper with God’s communicator, “`No weapon which is formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and His vindication is from Me,’ decrees the Lord.”
g. The job profile of the pastor is given in Eph 4:11-16; Col 1:23-29; 1 Tim 2:24-26, 3:1-9; Tit 1:6-9; Phil 2:16-30; 1 Pet 5:1-4; Eph 3:7-13.
8. The pastor’s authority is documented throughout Scripture.
a. 2 Cor 10:8, “For even if I should rub it in about our authority which God gave for your edification, and not to destroy you, I shall not feel ashamed.”
b. Heb 13:17, “Keep obeying those pastors who themselves are ruling over you, and submit to their authority; for these same pastors keep watching for the benefit of your souls as those who have to render an account. Keep obeying them in order that they may do this [accounting] with happiness and not with groaning, for this [failure to accept pastor’s authority] is unprofitable to you.”
c. 1 Thes 5:12, “But we request of you, brethren, that you know [respect the authority of] those pastor-teachers who work hard among you [studying and teaching], who have command over you in the Lord, and who give you instruction [admonition].”
d. 2 Cor 13:10, “For this reason, I am writing these things while absent in order that when I am present, I may not use severity in compatibility with the authority which God has given to me for the purpose of your edification, and not for the purpose of destroying you.”
9. The pastor is only answerable to the Lord.
a. The protection of the pastor’s authority is found in Isa 54:17.
b. The pastor is responsible to the Lord for the function of his ministry. Therefore, when a pastor is out of line, he receives double discipline from the Lord for his failure (unless believers judge him, and then they get his double discipline).
c. It is inevitable that a certain number of believers will become disenchanted with their pastor-teacher for many different reasons, some legitimate and some not.
d. The temptation will arise, under these conditions, to slander, malign, judge, and to enter into a conspiracy against him.
e. This results in triple-compound discipline for the offender, Mt 7:1-2.
(1) You are disciplined for judging or conspiracy.
(2) You are disciplined for the arrogance of assuming you can do a better job of judging the pastor than God can.
(3) Discipline for the sin or sins named in the gossip, maligning, or slander are transferred to you.
f. Since the pastor gets double discipline, triple-compound discipline times two intensifies your discipline beyond anything you can stand.
g. So if for any reason you are dissatisfied, the best advice is to quietly leave that church and find a church to your satisfaction.
h. The congregation of a local church does have a right to change its pastor, but this must be done in compatibility with 1 Cor 14:40, which says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” That excludes conspiracy, slander, gossip, maligning, hatred, etc.
10. The Pastor’s Authority.
a. The job profile of the pastor or minister is found in enough passages so that everyone can understand the role of the pastor; e.g., Eph 3:7-13, 4:11-16; Col 1:23-29; 1 Tim 2:24-26, 3:1-9; Tit 1:6-9; Phil 2:16- 30; 1 Pet 5:1-4.
b. The authority of the protocol plan of God is the mystery doctrine of the Church Age recorded in the New Testament epistles.
c. The authority of the pastor as the communicator of the protocol plan is stated directly in the New Testament epistles. The authority of the pastor is established through the faithful teaching of the mystery doctrine.
d. The pastor’s authority cannot function apart from two factors.
(1) The power of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.
(2) The positive volition of the royal family of God directed toward the Bible teaching of the pastor.
e. The function of human authority is a matter of personal volition or human consent. The pastor’s communication demands a hearing, but he cannot force you to accept or reject it. (See point 3.)
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