36 The Pattern of Sanctification: Authority

(2 Corinthians 13:3–4)

since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you. (13:3–4)

Americans have always been a fiercely independent people. Having thrown off the rule of the British monarchy, the fledgling American republic agonized over how much power the Constitution should grant to the central government and how much the states should keep. The issue of states’ rights was not completely resolved until the Civil War. The pioneers, frontiersmen, and cowboys who explored and settled the West were legendary for their self-reliance, independent spirit, and cavalier attitude toward authority. Perhaps the most blatant example of disdain for authority in recent American history was the counterculture movement of the 1960s.

Like so many other societal trends, a negative view of spiritual authority has made its way into the church. In their zeal to make the church more appealing to non-Christians, some have argued for a decentralization of authority. They propose that authority be taken out of the hands of the pastors and elders and given to the congregation. They want an organizational structure that is more horizontal and less vertical.

Such proposals amount to a tragic mutiny against Scripture and the Lord of the church. The church is not a democracy, but a monarchy; believers are subjects of the kingdom of God the Father (cf. Mark 12:34; Luke 4:43; 6:20; John 3:3; Acts 1:3; 8:12; 19:8; 28:31; 1 Thess. 2:12) and the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Matt. 13:41; 16:28; Col. 1:13; Eph. 5:5; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Peter 1:11). The only true authority in the church stems from its Head, Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:15; 5:23), and is delegated by Him to those who preach and teach His Word—namely, its pastors and elders. To argue for a decentralization of authority in the church, thus rejecting its God-ordained leaders, is to reject the authority of Christ, its Head.

Because it is based on the authoritative Word of God, true biblical preaching is also authoritative. The preacher’s goal is not to make people feel good about themselves, still less to entertain them. He is to accurately present the truth of God’s Word and call for obedience—for people to submit to Scripture’s authority or to reject it. The same holds true for proclaiming the gospel to unbelievers. God does not share His message as an option to be considered, nor does He suggest that unbelievers repent; He commands “that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30; cf. Matt. 3:2; 4:17; Mark 6:12). Stripped of their authoritative element, sermons become weak counterfeits of true biblical preaching.

The Lord Jesus Christ set the example for all preachers to follow. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, “the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:28–29; cf. Mark 1:22, 27). Even His enemies acknowledged His authority, demanding of Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” (Mark 11:28). Jesus derived His authority during His earthly ministry from the Father, as the following exchange with His critics, recorded in John 7:14–18, reveals:

But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

In John 8:28 “Jesus said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me’” (cf. vv. 38, 40). In John 12:49 He added, “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.”

The New Testament preachers, following the Lord’s example, also proclaimed God’s Word with binding force. Jesus told His disciples that carrying out the Great Commission involves “teaching [people] to observe all that [He] commanded” (Matt. 28:20). Paul instructed Titus, “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you” (Titus 2:15). He directed Timothy, “These things command and teach” (1 Tim. 4:11 NKJV). “Whoever speaks,” wrote Peter, “is to speak, as it were, the utterances of God” (1 Peter 4:11).

The Lord of the church delegates the authority of Scripture to the leaders of the church. It is important to remember that their authority does not derive from the force of their personality, their communication skill, their personal charisma, their ordination, or their education. Nor does an ecclesiastical hierarchy, a denomination, or even a church grant their authority to them. Pastors and elders also do not derive their authority from any spiritual experiences they allegedly have had. The sole source of authority for all who teach and preach is the Word of God. What the church desperately needs, therefore, is not decentralized dialogue but careful, clear, authoritative exposition and proclamation of Scripture.

It should come as no surprise when surveys suggest that churchgoers want less authority in their churches. Non-Christians and marginal believers balk at placing themselves under the binding demands of Scripture. Thus, those who authoritatively preach the Word with conviction and challenge their hearers to obey it are not popular with unbelievers and the disobedient. And such preaching, since it means one person telling others what is true and what to do, runs counter to the prevailing view of our culture, which holds that all people’s views are equally valid. Authority is being undermined at every level of society for several reasons.

First and foremost, rebellion against God’s authority is the very essence of sin. Therefore, rejecting authority comes natural to fallen mankind. Satan began the rebellion against God’s authority, pridefully desiring to “make [himself] like the Most High” (Isa. 14:14; cf. Ezek. 28:12–16). Eve inaugurated rebellion on the human level (Gen. 3:6), and when Adam joined her in rebellion, the human race fell into sin (Rom. 5:12, 14, 1 Cor. 15:22). As a result, “even though [sinners] knew God, they did not honor Him as God” (Rom. 1:21). As their way of life, they refuse to obey His law and do His will.

Another contributing factor to the decline of authority is the absence of moral absolutes. Having rejected the objective divine standards revealed in Scripture, people are left with nothing but subjective opinions; morality is determined by popular consensus. Obviously, there can be no authority if there are no absolutes to enforce. Like Israel during the chaotic period of the judges, “Every man [does] what [is] right in his own eyes” (Judg. 17:6). To question anyone’s opinion is intolerable.

The failure of parents to discipline their children has also undermined authority. An entire generation, having grown up without parental discipline, is now raising another generation of undisciplined children. The breakdown of the home due to sexual immorality, homosexuality, divorce, and working mothers has had a devastating impact on children. Having failed to learn discipline, virtue, and self-control in society’s most basic unit, the family, they are ill prepared to accept authority in other settings. Rebellious children pose such a serious threat to every society’s stability that under the Mosaic Law they could be put to death:

If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. They shall say to the elders of his city, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear of it and fear. (Deut. 21:18–21; cf. Ex. 21:15, 17; Lev. 20:9; Prov. 30:17).

Finally, the overemphasis on personal rights engendered by humanism has eroded authority. Society is engulfed in a narcissistic sea of personal freedom that is hostile to anything or anyone that would limit that freedom. Commanding people is politically incorrect.

One of the many problems plaguing the Corinthian church was a rebellion, fomented by some false apostles, against Paul’s apostolic authority. As has been noted in previous chapters of this volume, they knew that before they could replace him as the authoritative teachers at Corinth, they first had to undermine that authority. Therefore, they argued that Paul could not be a true apostle, because unlike them, he lacked apostolic authority. For example, they argued that he did not have the proper letters of commendation (cf. 2 Cor. 3:1–2) to authenticate his claim to be an apostle. But Paul was a true apostle and had authority granted him by the Lord Jesus Christ (10:8; 13:10). Thus, he spoke “in Christ in the sight of God” (2:17). He had no secret life of sin, having “renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending [himself] to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (4:2). Unlike false teachers (cf. Jer. 5:30–31), Paul did not preach on his own authority. He did “not preach [himself] but Christ Jesus as Lord, and [himself] as [the Corinthians’] bond-servant for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:5; cf. 1 Thess. 2:13). He always ministered “in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left” (2 Cor. 6:6–7).

In this passage, Paul describes the assault on his authority and then reaffirms his privilege and duty to speak the truth of God commandingly.

THE ASSAULT ON PAUL’S AUTHORITY

since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, (13:3a)

The goal of every faithful preacher is to allow Christ to speak through him. That does not happen through an audible voice but through the proclamation of God’s Word. A sure mark of a true man of God, therefore, is that he accurately handles the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15).

Though Paul had preached the truth to the Corinthians, some, influenced by the false teachers, were questioning his apostolic authority. They were unimpressed with Paul’s meekness and gentleness (2 Cor. 10:1), mistaking it for weakness. What they wanted was to see Paul display his power and crush his opponents. David E. Garland writes,

Meekness and gentleness were not virtues in a Corinthian culture marked by pitched battles for social supremacy over others. Ruthlessly bludgeoning one’s social rivals was the rule. The Corinthians therefore may have expected some miracle of power from Paul against adversaries who so boldly opposed him. They may have thought that an apostle would be a lot tougher, louder, bolder, and more fiery. He would unleash shafts of lightning, hailstones of wrath, and raging tempests to lay waste the opposition. Something along the order of what happened to Elymas, who was struck blind for trying to thwart Paul (Acts 13:11), would have provided convincing proof that Christ’s power was indeed working in him. (2 Corinthians, The New American Commentary [Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999], 543)

The Corinthians were right in seeking for proof that Christ did, in fact, speak through those who claimed to be apostles (cf. Rev. 2:2); unfortunately, they were measuring them by the wrong standards. Since Paul did not display the forceful personality traits that marked the proud, arrogant false apostles (cf. 2 Cor. 11:20–21; 12:13), which impressed many of the Corinthians, some demanded convincing proof of his apostleship.

In reality, Paul had already offered conclusive proof of his authenticity. In 12:12 he reminded the Corinthians, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles” (see the discussion of this verse in chapter 32 of this volume). Further, for the Corinthians to doubt Paul’s genuineness as an apostle was to doubt their own genuineness as Christians, since he was God’s instrument in their salvation and in their sanctification. They would be, in effect, sawing off the branch they were sitting on. (See the discussion of 13:6 in chapter 37 of this volume.) Even worse, to challenge Paul’s apostleship was to challenge the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, who personally and supernaturally chose, commissioned, and sent him.

Paul was not the first of God’s servants to have his authority challenged. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram “assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’” (Num. 16:3). Even Moses’ own sister and brother rebelled against his authority: “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); and they said, ‘Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?’” (Num. 12:1–2). Numbers 20:3 records that “the people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, ‘If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!’” Angrily, Moses replied to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” (v. 10). In John 2:18 “the Jews … said to [Jesus], ‘What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?’” (cf. 6:30; Matt. 12:38; 16:1; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:29). As He did when His other servants’ authority was challenged, God worked powerfully through Paul to remove all doubt about his apostolic authority.

THE AFFIRMATION OF PAUL’S AUTHORITY

and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you. (13:3b–4)

If the Corinthians demanded further evidence of his apostolic authority, Paul would give it to them. But it would not be to their liking. When he again visited Corinth, he would demonstrate his apostolic power and authority by not sparing anyone who refused to repent (13:2). If Paul did not find them to be what he wanted them to be; that is, repentant, they would also find him not to their liking. He would come bearing the authoritative rod of discipline instead of the spirit of love and gentleness (cf. 1 Cor. 4:21).

The Lord Jesus Christ was certainly not weak toward the Corinthians, since it was His mighty power working in them that both redeemed and was sanctifying them. As noted above, Paul was severely criticized by the false apostles for being weak. Though he bombarded the Corinthians from a safe distance with “weighty and strong” letters, “his personal presence,” they declared contemptuously, “[was] unimpressive and his speech contemptible” (2 Cor. 10:10). He lacked the potent, charismatic personality and highly polished oratorical skills Greek culture expected in a great teacher.

In fact, Paul’s weakness, humanly speaking, permeates this epistle. He began by discussing his afflictions (1:3–10). Later he spoke of the tears he shed over the harsh treatment he received during his sorrowful visit to Corinth (2:4). In 6:4–10, 11:23–33, and 12:7–10 Paul described his suffering and weakness and acknowledged being depressed (7:6). He also admitted to being with the Corinthians “in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3). The apostle summarized his weakness by describing himself metaphorically as a lowly clay pot (2 Cor. 4:7).

Paul compares himself with Christ, who in His humanity took on weakness. In His incarnation Christ “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:7). He was not born into a wealthy family, nor was He raised in the court of an earthly ruler. Before beginning His public ministry, Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3), as his father had been before Him (Matt. 13:55). He lived humbly during His earthly ministry, with no permanent place to stay (Matt. 8:20), and at His death He owned little more than the clothes on His back (Matt. 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:24). Indeed He was crucified because of weakness; “He humbled Himself by be -coming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8; cf. Acts 2:23; 4:10; 5:30). The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the unmistakable and supreme evidence of His weakness. His human nature was so weak as to be fully susceptible to death.

But the story does not end with Christ’s death. He lives because of the power of God, who raised Him from the dead (Rom. 1:4; 7:4; 8:34; 10:9; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:4, 20; Gal. 1:1; Col. 2:12; 1 Peter 1:21). That was the triumphant message that the early Christian preachers boldly proclaimed (Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15, 26; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 33, 37). Just as Christ’s death showed His human weakness, so also did His resurrection demonstrate His divine power.

Paul, too, experienced the same juxtaposition of weakness and strength seen in Jesus Christ. He also was weak in Him; he ministered in fear and trembling, and suffered constant sorrow, pain, and disappointment. Yet Paul would live with Him; that is, he, like all believers, possessed resurrection life, being raised with Christ to eternal glory. As he explained to the Romans,

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 6:4–11)

Paul’s weakness did not hinder God’s power from flowing through him; on the contrary, it allowed God’s power to operate freely in his life (2 Cor. 12:9–10).

Returning to his warning, Paul told the Corinthians that the power of God that raised him with Christ and gave him eternal life would be directed toward the Corinthians when he again visited Corinth. The apostle would come in the authority and divine power of Christ and deal firmly with those who persisted in their sinful rebellion. He would be like the Lord, who warned the church at Pergamum, “Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth” (Rev. 2:16). Philip E. Hughes writes,

The Apostle discerns an analogy between the smaller, localized setting of his relations with the Corinthian church and the cosmic drama in which his Master Christ is the chief actor. The weakness of the cross at Christ’s first advent is to be followed by the manifested power of His majestic authority as King of kings and Lord of lords at His second advent, when He will appear as the Judge of the whole world (cf. Rev. 19:11ff.) …. “The cross,” writes Denney, “does not exhaust Christ’s relation to sin; He passed from the cross to the throne, and when He comes again it is as Judge. … When Christ comes again He will not spare. The two things go together in Him: the infinite patience of the cross, the inexorable righteousness of the throne.” So too Paul, who is one with his Master in the “weakness” of compassion and patience and long-suffering, desiring the repentance of all, is one with Him also in the “power” of authority and judgment. If his former visit appeared to be marked by weakness, the defiant ones in Corinth will find that his impending visit is marked by power. (The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992], 479–80. Italics in original.)

When Paul returned to Corinth he would come in judgment on sin, just as the Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth in judgment. Then his authority would be seen.

If pastors and elders are to call the church to repentance and discipline those who refuse to repent, they must possess divine authority to do so. That authority rests in the Word of God, making it essential that it be preached and applied clearly, compellingly, and with conviction. As will be seen in the next chapter, those who persistently reject the authority of Scripture call into question the genuineness of their salvation.