Testing the Spirits: Biblical v. Pastoral Authority

Matt (husband): "When you were younger, did anyone ever tell you that you had a problem with authority?"
Me: "Umm ...no, I don't think so."
Matt: "Huh. You'd think they would've."

Yeah. It's a bit of a joke around here that I have a problem with authority. This is a complicated idea for me, for sure; I definitely have a prideful streak in me that bristles when someone tries to exert any sort of control in my life, ie: I don't really like to be told what to do. But, even when you remove the pride issue, I am just not the type of person who falls into line because someone walks into my life and claims they have authority to tell me to.  Blame it on homeschooling, I wasn't programmed with the sit-down, shut-up, raise-your-hand, wait-your-turn, never-question-authority mentality that many of my public-schooled peers were subjected to for all of their formative years. My father taught me to question everything. Everything I was told, everything I was taught, everything society accepted, and everything I myself believed. He told me there is a reason behind everything that every human being thinks, does or says, and I have the responsibility to hold it all up to the Light and examine it. So, when a person enters my life and seeks to exercise authority, I'm probably not going to immediately fall into line. I'm probably going to question that person's right to wield said authority. And this is doubly true for people who claim spiritual authority and leadership inside the Church.

I've been in the church my entire life, and I have a pretty good handle on how it all works; the basic hierarchical structure, the pastor v. laity paradigm, etc., and, in the future, on a day when my brain is feeling excitingly clear and I feel like biting off more than I can chew, we'll get in depth on some of those ideas. But today, I want to present you with an idea that you might find surprising, shocking, or even unthinkable. Ready?

The pulpit is not a magical mystery machine that miraculously transforms someone into a spiritual authority figure. And just because the guy standing behind it graduated from Bible college or seminary and got hired by other guys in your church to preach, does not make him the final spiritual or Biblical authority in your life.

Translation: just because the pastor said it from the pulpit doesn't make it true.

Hear me:

He's just a guy, like every other guy in the church, and he can be wrong. All your leaders can.

He can misinterpret, misread, misunderstand, and be misled. All your leaders can.

Nor is it his job to impart to you everything you need to know about following Jesus. He's just a teacher, hopefully one of many in your life, and it's your job to listen to his teaching, and then crack open the Bible and study it for yourself. Like the Berean Jews, who heard Paul's teaching and compared it to the Scriptures every day (Acts 17:11). And this was commendable behavior! They weren't being contentious or rebellious, they were merely testing the Spirits (1 John 4:1) to make sure that the teaching they were receiving from Paul lined up with the Scriptures, because the Bible is and always has been the final authority against which everything, all preaching, teaching, and claims of "personal revelation," must be weighed. Period (2 Timothy 3:16). And this is something we are ALL responsible to do. Somewhere along the way we have given up on personal responsibility in favor of this passive (lazy?) role in our own spiritual walk. Because studying the Bible is hard work, there are a  lot of complicated ideas in there! And why bother to study them for yourself when your church has hired a guy to stand up there and just explain it all to you, right?

It is your responsibility to weigh all preaching and teaching against Biblical principles (1 Thess. 5:21-22).  So if you hear teaching, and you take that teaching to the Bible and find that it comes up lacking,  even if it came from the pulpit, or straight from the pastor's lips, you have the right, the responsibility, to stand up and say, "That's not right." We've been raised for generations, nay centuries, to quietly obey the clergy-types and never dream of questioning their authority in any way. Well guess what? This is an entirely anti-Biblical idea. We are all subject to one another (Ephesians 5:21), we are to teach and admonish each other (Col. 3:16), and nowhere in the Bible does this exclude leaders, teachers, or pastors. 

Below is a very short article by The Bible Answerman Hank Hanegraaf. If you're struggling to come to grips with some of the ideas I just shared, here's a boatload of Bible to back them up and maybe clarify them a little better. I would seriously encourage you to take the time to click on each link and examine the Word of God for yourself, because gees, don't take my word for it, I'm just one more supremely fallible human trying to figure it all out, just like everyone else. And Mr. Hanagraaf was kind enough to gather up most of the verses on this tough subject and put them altogether for us, which makes the study of it so much easier.

And, as always, please, I encourage you to argue with, refute, or expound upon the ideas I share in my blog. I'm here to learn, too:


"Q: Should the believing community judge the teachings of its leaders?

A: Not only is it permissible, it is our responsibility to do so. Nobody's teachings are above sound judgment — especially influential leaders. Biblical authority and accountability go hand-in-hand (Luke 12:48). The greater the responsibility one holds, the greater the accountability one has before God and His people (James 3:1).
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were instructed to practice good judgment by inquiring, probing, and thoroughly investigating a teaching or practice (Deut. 13). In the New Testament, the apostle Paul commands the Thessalonians to test all things (1 Thess. 5:21-22) and commends the Bereans for testing his teachings in the light of Scripture (Acts 17:11). Instead of rebuking them, he lauds their character as noble. While our Lord Himself cautioned followers not to judge self-righteously (Matt. 7:1-5), He also counseled them to judge rightly (John 7:24, cf. Matt. 7:15-20).
Furthermore, this responsibility to make right judgments extends to public exposure and correction of false teachings and practices within the church (see Matt. 23; Gal. 2:11-21; 2 Tim. 2:17-18).
Christians are frequently uncomfortable with such judgments. They assume that since they are often painful they are also destructive. However, as apologists Bob and Gretchen Passantino explain, "The 'pain' of biblically conducted confrontation produces individual growth (1 Tim. 4:16), encourages others to Christian maturity (1 Tim. 5:19-20), promotes church strength (Eph. 4:15), and preserves the church's reputation in the world (1 Peter 2:12; [cf. 2 Peter 2:1-2])."