CHRISTIAN SOVEREIGNTY
GODLY RULERSHIP
© Hubert Krause Feb 6, 1999
The Church of God in Williamstown
WEB SITE: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~sanhub/index.htm

THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY
It is part of the nature of human beings to variously want to be ruled and yet also to reject rulership, sometimes even for a state or anarchy or near-anarchy; to both fight wars at the behest of authority and yet to question authority or to fail to give credence to an individual's claim to it.

Early in the history of ancient Israel, the people were so impressed by Gideon's victory over their enemies that they immediately wanted him to rule over them:

Gideon, however, understood and rejected the evil motives of his fellow Israelites who were seeking to replace God's place of rulership in Israel with human rulership: Yet, as we know, the Israelites ultimately abandoned the rule of God over the nation for that of human kings, who helped lead them to eventual ruin.

John the Baptist had his God-given authority questioned (Jn 1:19-25). Jesus Christ, who "taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Mt 7:29), likewise had His authority called into question by the religious leaders of His day:

Christ, who had no official status in the eyes of these rulers of the Jews, constantly displayed the authority of God invested in Him. The works spoke for themselves. Once, after He driven out an evil spirit in a man in one of their synagogues, the reaction was immediate: However, Christ did attest to the fact that His authority came from God: In fact, total authority: This authority to execute judgment or rulership Christ passed on to the disciples (eg, Mt 10:1) and, as we shall see, on to the Church. Are we exercising this authority here and now? How is this godly rulership to be exercised?

I would like in this message to examine generally the nature of the authority granted to man and, more specifically, that authority bestowed by God upon His saints.

HUMAN DOMINION
For man was created to exercise dominion. That was always the intent of God for mankind:

God was clearly presenting this gift of dominion or rulership to man as a major and earth-wide task. And please note that this dominion was given to both the man and the woman: they were to exercise this rule together.
Man is to have dominion-to exercise rulership-over all of God's creation. Created in the image of God, the sovereign Creator, to him was delegated sovereignty over what God had made. And, just as all that God had created was good, so the rulership-the subjugation-assigned to His human creation was not an exploitative, wasteful, despoiling one, but rather a stewardship, where he was entrusted to care for what his master had committed to him, in doing so serving not only himself, but his fellow man as well as his God. The terminology used, that of subjugating, treading down, stamping on, is therefore not to be taken as depicting acts of exploitation or oppression. Indeed, the Garden of Eden was to be the type or model for man's rulership of God's creation: This notion of caring and protecting as a major feature of godly rulership will resurface later in this message.

Man's very first recorded act of dominion over God's creation was to assign names to the creatures around him (Ge 2:19-20), for in the ancient world to give a person a name was a sign of authority over him (as God changed Abram's name to Abraham, or as Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon changed the names of the captive kings of Judah to indicate their subjection to him [see 2Ki 23:34;24:17]).

That this stewardship, this rulership or exercise of dominion is to be an eternal one is also the teaching of the Holy Scriptures:

These words of the psalmist, applicable both to Christ, the Son of man, as well as to His human creation, tell us that rulership is the destiny of man (he was made "to have dominion"), as well as an aspect of his glory and honor.
The apostle Paul, who uses these verses of Psalm 8 in portraying the future glory of the saints of God, verifies that their destiny is indeed eternal rulership: God's purpose is to make man sovereign; he is to rule. As part of God's intent for mankind, those of us with whom God is working have the opportunity now to exercise authority and dominion, in preparation for the rulership to be given us when all is subject to us as all is now subject to the Son of God (Mt 28:18).

FALL FROM GRACE
Now the word dominion can have both a positive connotation-rulership is exercised protectively, with care, in a godly manner, as we have noted-as well as a negative connotation, where it is equated simply with domination and control. As with everything else to which man, separate from God, has put his hand, rulership and dominion as defined by God soon became corrupted. Let us note some diverse examples:

After the rebellion of Adam and Eve, God pronounced against them the evils which He knew through His foreknowledge would come upon the generations that followed them because of their rejection of Him. Interestingly enough, ungodly rulership in the most fundamental unit of society, the family, and more specifically, in terms of the nature of the rule of man over woman, was among the earliest of these:

An odd statement indeed, "Your desire shall be for your husband." This is not a command, as some would have us believer, rather, it is as much a curse as that inflicted upon the man, whose chief glory, his ability to exercise dominion over the land, would be constantly hampered by the rebellion of the soil, its droughts and its pests (vs 17-19). For the woman, the curse is both the inordinate nature of this "desire" [the Hebrew word suggests a deep, over-powering desire; the same word is used in Ge 4:7 to describe the "desire" of sin to enslave the sinner], and also that the husband would so often take advantage of these desires of the woman for her partner to "rule" over her, to treat her other than God originally intended. Our society today, in which women have long been treated as inferior, provides ample testimony to the reality of this curse: how many women have had their self-esteem quashed and feel compelled to remain in or return to an abusive relationship far removed from the stable family unit produced by the practice of godly rulership of husband over wife?

The Law of God provided guidelines to teach godly principles of the exercise of authority to ancient Israel. For instance, there was to be no such thing as an Israelite falling into slavery to another Israelite. Economic hardship might mean the selling of one's services to a creditor, but enslavement was strictly forbidden:

And of course the Israelites fell far short of this, and so incurred the wrath of God: Nehemiah understood the principles of godly authority and rule and was able to contrast it with the oppressive rule he saw round about him: Even the Church of God has not been immune from this ungodly exercise of rulership.
The apostle Paul had to rebuke the Church at Corinth for tolerating disgraceful treatment by false teachers, whom he described as fools: So sure were the Corinthians of their own wisdom that it gave them a certain pleasure, Paul pointed out, to indulge fools. And not only fools and folly, but far worse things: tyranny, oppression, violence, insult, all on the part of these false apostles. Paul ironically reproaches himself for having proved weaker than the domineering false teachers by exercising gentleness in contrast to their tyranny. And hasn't this tyrannical, exploitative rule been our experience in the so-called churches of God as well?
In fact, this type of harsh, overbearing rule is also the practice of the false shepherds. Instead of exercising godly rulership-tending and caring for the flock entrusted to their care-their rule is one of domination, and the natural consequences are the scattering of the sheep: SERVANT-LEADERSHIP
This harsh, oppressive rulership is of the world and has no place in the household of God. Let us consider the words of Jesus Christ to this effect: Luke adds a little more definition to these words of Christ: The Greek word translated "benefactor" literally means a "worker of good" and was a favorite title adopted by Hellenistic kings. The NIV footnote for this word describes it as "a title assumed by or voted for rulers in Egypt, Syria and Rome as a display of honor, but frequently not representing actual service rendered".

These words of Christ have been used to claim that no Christian can therefore "exercise authority" over his fellows. Christ was not saying that Christians cannot exercise authority over others; in fact, the Scriptures indicate the contrary. He was saying that we are not to be domineering, or to tyrannize, as the leaders of the world's system do. Christian leadership is a leadership of service, and the notion of authority for authority's sake is a foreign one. As such, it is the complete reversal of popular opinion both then and now.

Indeed, we might even say that one of the mysteries of godliness is that Christ's Body, the Church, is empowered with authority, to rule, to make judgments, without requiring or needing to resort to this hierarchical authority structure of the Gentiles. So let us consider some of the scriptures testifying to the authority invested in the leaders of the Church to rule-not to domineer-and also note some of the qualifications underlying that authority.

Many people in the churches of God today interpret the term "apostolic" in ways unsupported by Scripture. Paul's apostleship was directly from God-and was backed up by His authority: Even apostolic authority was not authority for authority's sake. Its purpose was to serve, to help build up the Church. Christian leadership and authority is on the basis of service. God has the greatest authority; He is also the greatest Servant. And, as God has authority, so he has given authority to human beings and to His Church. But is this a blind authority? What about this issue of having confidence in authority?

RULERSHIP AND TRUST
Let us turn to a verse that has been much-used of late, and with good reason:

Isaiah 2:22 is a parallel verse: Let us note firstly that the curse is upon the individual who depends upon man to the exclusion of God. To be sure, when it comes to the Way of God, we put no trust in man as our ultimate guide. However, some of us may feel that, in a religious setting, we are never again to trust anyone. Is the obedience spoken of in the verses we read in Hebrews therefore blind, unquestioning obedience?

The sheep of God do follow the True Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Why? Because they know Him:

We trust God, because we have learned to trust God, in the words of David, we have tasted that He is good, and therefore submit to His rulership: This is the principle we must apply when it comes to exercising and following godly authority and rulership in the Church. Our trust is in the Word of God; then we can recognise those who are followers of it, in whom we can trust. We are to trust no-one who does not stand the test of the Word of God.

We must first be able to rule ourselves properly before we can serve as a model of godly rulership and before we can hope to be able to rule-to take care of-others in a godly manner and so earn their trust. This is why the apostle Paul could enjoin upon the Corinthians:

It is a trust built by good example: The approval of God is evidenced in the fruits, which are deserving of trust: This is why the apostle Paul could stipulate one of the qualifications for an elder: Or of a deacon: The examples or models to follow are proven ones!

The pattern of the Scriptures is that the appeal of one who leads is first of all to this godly example before it is to the authority invested in him:

ROD OF IRON
Given Christ's discourse on true servant-rulership, what about the description of the Son of God ruling with a rod of iron and crushing the nations? How do we reconcile this aspect of Christ's rule with what we have examined so far? The imagery here is of the Great Shepherd ruling, or tending, managing, protecting, the sheep with His shepherd's staff. This is the royal scepter of iron (see also Rev 12:5), a protection for the sheep but a weapon of offence against His enemies. It does denote rigorous rule, but only for those who would oppose His authority in their lives and whose opposition needs to be subjugated.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
As God is sovereign, so has man, so have we, been granted sovereignty. We need to exercise that sovereignty, that rulership, as God does. So let us briefly consider a few aspects of the sovereignty of God, how these attributes were imitated by leaders of the Church of God, and how we, in the exercise of godly authority, need to ensure that these are also present.
How does the omnipotent God, who could, if indeed He were (as some even maintain) not good, so easily dominate, oppress and exploit the pitiful human beings He has created, exercise His sovereignty?

Are we like this in the exercise of our authority, or are we distant, like the governors of the world who rule over us? Notice how Paul viewed his apostolic authority Godly leadership is serving, nurturing. Again, notice the mind of the apostle Paul: Christ has always been like this with His friends. Abraham was His friend, and shared His counsel about the impending fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (Ge 18:17-21). God is able to be entreated, as He was by Abraham in his intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah.
The apostle Paul was also like this: We need to be like this-in wisdom, of course, mindful of not casting our pearls before swine. The apostle Paul considered himself a father to the Church: This is the nature of the caring, protective rulership God desires us to exercise.

But just as a parent who may need to severely correct a recalcitrant child, Paul could also exercise forcefully the authority invested in him as an apostle of Jesus Christ:

As can the elders invested with responsibilities to minister directly to the Church: HOW AND WHERE DO WE RULE?
We have a charge, a responsibility to rule, and assigned duties. Let us notice the words of Christ in respect to this: So, then, how do we rule as part of our calling as saints of God, and in what areas?

Let us consider the divinely-inspired words of King David, among the last he uttered:

Is the exercise of our Christian authority governed by fear of God? If it is, then the fruits of our actions should be as refreshing and illuminating as the description painted in verse 4 above.
Are the words and the wisdom of Solomon in his proclamations about the nature of the rule of those who are godly also applicable to us? The exercise of godly authority will, in the end, produce good and positive fruits. Amidst all of our sundry responsibilities, the one area in each of our lives over which we do indeed have the greatest authority is our own selves. In fact, this is the only area where our authority is total-yet it is here where our failings are greatest. So, how do we rule ourselves? The most difficult thing to do is to say "No!" to ourselves even when "Yes" would mean to disobey God. Yet if we do not rule over sin in our lives, it will pounce upon us, rob us of our responsibility to control it, and instead rule over us, just as Cain was forewarned by Jesus Christ: David sought God's help to keep himself free from the dominion of willful sins; he knew that these sins could rule over him: It takes the Word of God to prevent this sort of dominion over our lives Brethren, are we learning also to rule our own spirit in areas where evil is less obvious? What about anger and lack of self-control? What about our tongues? To rule ourselves is to both keep and cleanse ourselves from iniquity and to go on to perfect holiness: A husband and wife provide the ideal training-ground of mutual submission in which to practice godly rulership. Let us notice the scriptural injunctions given to each of the parties: The nature of the subjection of the wife and of the rulership of the husband is according to the pattern of the subjection of the Son to the Father, and of the rulership of the Son over the Church. And, as we know, Christ loved the Church, suffered for the Church, gave Himself for the Church, and thus provided the example of trust for the Church to follow: There is rulership, but the submission, exemplified by their marital obligations, is reciprocal: Some parents are fearful of imposing any sort of rule upon their children; others do so excessively. Notice the admonition given to fathers when exercising authority over their children: Just because we have authority over another (and this is not just applicable to fathers and their children!) does not give us the right to act unreasonably. Again, the pattern of our rulership here should be the manner that God rules us. Does He overwhelm us with the exercise of excessive authority? In the Church, do we have authority over one another as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ?
The Scriptures tell us that, as children of God, we are to submit to one another: We would agree, would we not, that where there is submission, there is rulership? One submits to authority, after all. Our authority is one of responsibility toward one another, of mutual submission. We are all in submission. Only God is subject to no-one.
So why are we in submission one to another? For the edification, the building up, of the Church, the Body of Christ, for our mutual growth. As part of our obligation to exercise this authority from God, are we therefore able to admonish one another if necessary? Do we rule ourselves well enough to subjugate the evil and sin that so easily besets us, and do we further exercise the God-given authority invested in us to carry the fight against evil, sin and error further afield? The Christian warrior rules over, fights against and prevails against evil!

PROMISES TO THOSE FAITHFUL IN LITTLE
Let's conclude by noticing the words of Jesus Christ which are directly applicable to our responsibility to exercise Christian rulership:

Unlike the rulers of the Gentiles earlier spoken about we will never exercise dominion over multitudes in this life, yet we are still commanded to use the authority invested in us by God. It is how we succeed in these "small" areas in this life that will determine the degree of rulership entrusted to us in the next: Let us strive to ensure that we will one day hear these very words from our Lord and Master.

Go back to our Home Page