Delegated Authority in the Church

The trend today is to reject authority and run those in authority down, but doing so places one in bad company, according to the Scriptures (2 Pet. 2:10; cf. Num. 16:1-35). While examples abound of the abuse of authority throughout history, the biblical balance is to respect delegated authority while recognizing its limits. The term “delegated” is used because all authority ultimately resides in the Lord God Almighty, yet He has chosen to delegate authority to some individuals in certain spheres of life for the good of man (Mt. 28:18; Rom. 13:1-7).

Perhaps there is no other realm where men have taken too much authority for themselves and abused others more than the church. Instead of staying in the parameters of shepherding the local flock, those hungry for power have, in imitation of the outside world, formed hierarchies in the church where individuals are placed over multiple congregations or even the universal church (Mt. 20:25-26; Acts 20:30). There is no biblical warrant for these hierarchical positions, not to mention the grave offense of trying to supplant Christ’s place as head over the universal church. Instead of following God’s word, men have made their own commandments and tried to rescind the Lord’s commands (Col. 2:22; Titus 1:14). No man with authority delegated to him has the right to override the directives of God who delegates authority; when those in authority attempt to do so, we must with Peter and the apostles maintain, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Let us not, however, run to the other extreme and deny the rightful place of those God has directed to be in authority in the church. The inspired apostle Paul placed elders in every congregation of the Lord’s church (Acts 14:23). A glimpse of what these elders were to do is seen in the instructions Paul gave to the elders of the congregation at Ephesus, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). These men were to superintend, or oversee, the local congregation. Their work was to feed, or shepherd, the souls in their care. In describing the qualifications of such men in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Paul writes in verses four and five, “One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)”. Does a father have delegated authority over his children? Does God give him the position to issue directives to his children? Shouldn’t children obey their father as long as it is in keeping with biblical teaching? So it is with the local congregation and her elders. Elders are not men who issue edicts from far away, but are those who labor among a local congregation. The same Greek word for “rule” in 1 Timothy 3:4-5 is translated “over you” in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, where Paul writes of a congregation’s responsibility to elders, “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.”

A good summary of the balance of delegated authority in the local congregation is found in 1 Peter 5:1-4. While elders are commanded to shepherd the flock, v. 2, they are also warned not to go beyond their limits “as being lords” (v. 3). They are reminded that as shepherds they have a chief Shepherd over them, Jesus Christ, to whom they shall give an answer for the way they have guided the souls who have been placed under their care (v. 4). We shall all answer to the Lord, the ultimate authority, regard our following of His word; submission to delegated authority is included in following His word.

-Mark Day