Spiritual Authority

4 min read

11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
— 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

I’m reminded again how much 1 Thessalonians has shaped the way I do ministry. Not that I am a perfect father to my children. But I strive to act according to the picture of an ideal father toward my children and also to every member of this community. Because everyone (including myself) needs “encouraging, comforting and urging … to live lives worthy of God.”

Proverbs 22:6 says -

Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

And Colossians 3:21 tells us -

Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

As natural parents and as spiritual parents, we need to understand and work with our children’s personalities so that we can guide them in the ways of the Lord. And I say this knowing that I have missed the mark so often as a father to my children and as a pastor to my congregation.

But by the grace of God, I believe that I am learning and growing in this area.

As an apostle who had been personally commissioned by Jesus, Paul had every right to assert his authority to the Thessalonians. But asserting authority is demanding compliance, and that is the way of the world.

Instead, the apostle Paul became “like young children” among them and cared for them “as a nursing mother cares for her children” (verses 6-7).

The authority of Christ is the ultimate authority, and there is never any need to assert that authority or demand compliance. It’s like a human being asserting authority over an ant, but even more so than that.

What critical theory doesn’t understand is that the authority of Christ is the only solution to the problem of human power dynamics that it addresses.

The authority of Christ gives spiritual leaders the confidence and power to be “like young children” and “a nursing mother” caring for her children. Anything else is of the devil. Because in the end, what really matters?

Father, Your ways are indeed higher than my ways, Your thoughts than my thoughts. So lead me in the paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake and be glorified in me as I glory in You. In Jesus’s name. Amen.