Blog / On What Authority?

It is widely believed by Biblical scholars and theologians that the events of Luke 20-21, where Jesus is questioned in the temple and by various religious leaders of the time, took place on what we now celebrate as “Holy Tuesday”, the Tuesday before Easter. It’s clearly implied, and even outright stated in these passages, that the religious leaders were trying to trick Jesus into saying something that would warrant a death sentence. Luke tells us the scribes and chief priests watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor (Luke 20:20, ESV).

Chapter 20 of Luke’s gospel opens up with an account of the temple leadership presenting Jesus with a question of His authority: “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority” (Luke 20:2, ESV).

In the divine wisdom of the only Son of God, Jesus responds to them with a question of His own, requiring them to give an answer about John’s baptism—if it was from God or from man. The men quickly realize that either way they answer, they will not entrap Jesus. They will incriminate themselves by displaying a lack of faith in God for knowing that it was by His authority that John was baptizing, or they will enrage the people who believed John to be a prophet and endanger their own lives.

It’s important to realize here that Jesus is not deflecting the question of His authority because He is frightened or trying to hide something. His answers are pointed and purposeful, foreshadowing His awareness of the necessary events soon to come to complete God’s sovereign plan of redemption for His people from sin.

In Matthew’s gospel, just a few verses after we hear the great news of Jesus’ resurrection from the tomb, the same elders and chief priests scramble to hide it from the people (Matthew 28:11-15). It appears there is no longer a question of who Jesus is, but a plot to protect their own interests by otherwise explaining or undermining the miraculous event of the resurrection.

The next scene in Matthew reveals Jesus standing on a mountain with His disciples bowed before Him in worship and Jesus’ triumphant declaration: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18, ESV).

In our current culture, the existence of any authority whatsoever is an unpopular viewpoint. It is preached from many platforms that the only authority to whom weights and measures should be given is the one that manifests within ourselves. I am the master of my own dominion, the decider of my own truth, and I will answer to nothing but my own feelings, emotions, and revelations. Due to this lack of consistent authority we see rebellion rising up against not only the scriptures and teachings of Jesus, but against our government and leadership, our medical community, science, and even our churches and fellow Christians. While none of these earthly authorities are infallible, when we stop recognizing the presence of any authority in our lives the only possible result is chaos.

As the celebration of Easter approaches, I think it’s important that as believers we take some time to ask ourselves the question that the religious leaders were asking Jesus: By what authority are we living our lives?

Have we submitted to the authority of self-idolization, self-sufficiency, false gospels, or idols? Or are we living our lives in complete submission to the only true authority in existence, our sovereign Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? If we don’t recognize Christ as the son of God and our ultimate authority and submit ourselves to Him completely, we quickly fall into the patterns of the religious leaders of those times. Our words or deeds will seek to explain away the truth of who Christ is, and what His death and resurrection means for the world.

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis sums up the importance of our understanding who Jesus is and what authority He is under:

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.” (emphasis mine)

Paul clearly explains Jesus’ authority as the promised Christ:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.

—Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)

This Easter may we all fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.


Tami Spencer

Tami is a freelance writer, marketer, blogger, Womenary board member, and member of the children’s ministry and women’s Bible study teams at Bethel Bible Church in Tyler, Texas. Tami and her husband, William, have been married for 15 years and have 5 children, Becton (12), Addie Leigh (9), Norah (7), and twins Slone and Sophie (2.5).
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