BTW – I fixed the sink – all by myself – but I cut my finger in the process

Also, the sound system is dope. Muahaha

Since I am your authority, I expect that you will be making dinner for us.

Hope you enjoyed your vacation!

I am wondering how Paul’s very powerful words in Romans 13:1 etc help frame your understanding of what it means to willingly place yourself under authorities…even when they are as wicked as Pharoah?

“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. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”

While Paul is talking about government structures my post more focused on the individuals and who….who is authority, why are they authority, what makes someone an authority in your life? Maybe you can help explain a bit more of where your question was leading? I feel that what Paul was talking about in the verse you pointed out is vastly different from what I was talking about in that post.

We loved having you on the Manitoulin for a little rest…….and games. Yes, we do go to bed early.
Come again when you need a rest, or canoe, or boat ride, or family games….or just quiet time.

G_M

I fully adere that there is governing authorities in my life in Canada, Ontario etc etc and yes they are an authority figure.

I do wonder though, what is the use of calling them an authority if we don’t listen to them? While i wasn’t getting at the governing authorities in that post, your question has got me thinking about how authority works. Whether we call someone an authority figure or not, if we don’t listen to them and (for lack of better words) give them that authority, how much authority do they really have? I think maybe there is a difference in the word authority when we say Jesus has all authoirty in heaven and on earth, and when we say governments have authority. I now wonder what the difference is in that word and what that looks like.

So, Jesus has all authority (that is, He is a sufficient reason to act in a certain way (the way of discipleship) in the face of all other possible reasons to act in another way), but has not received “legitimacy” in the minds of unbelievers. (This is not, of course, an excuse, because Jesus has been made an objective/real authority by the Creator of objective reality; a failure to recognize his legitimacy is not an expression of a morally neutral decision of the will, but a sign of a defect of understanding and will which does not recognize or love what is real/good, i.e. Jesus.)

Other kinds of leaders receive their authority in different ways (only Jesus received His in the Resurrection from the dead). Some are genuinely the product of our will (for example, when a class decides who will be their president), but others are not. Political leaders do not fall in that category, as they are ultimately given to us by providence (as Romans 13 says) and *recognized* (i.e. given legitimacy) by us as such.

The case of church authorities will be partly decided depending on your view of what kind of church government is correct (if you are a Congregationalist then all authority for appointing elders , or whatever you want to call them, falls back on the congregational will; if you are Catholic that is not the case, etc.).