Authority

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture…I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have banished them…I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them.1

World domination is not in itself evil. Jesus is pursuing it.2 Hitler didn’t compare himself to Hitler – presumably he didn’t consider his actions evil. In parenting, as in world domination, it matters who is doing the dominating and what methods they use. All people live within hierarchical webs of authorities. They are part of those overlapping layers of authorities. Parents are an authority, though not the only authority, in the lives of their children. The power of an authority can be misused, abused. An authority may immorally fail to use their power to fulfill their responsibilities. An authority may immorally exceed their mandate, using their power to take from those they were assigned to serve. The question is not whether parents have authority, but what kind of authority they have, from whom they received it, and what they are to do with it.

See Thee Beneath God3

There is no authority except from God and those that exist are established by God.4

Authority is always derived. It is given by a higher authority in conjunction with an assignment, a responsibility. In other words, authority is always a stewardship. Every thing, every person, every right, every power always only belongs to the king. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it5. The king may choose to accomplish his purposes by delegating, but that grant of authority is a stewardship – the one receiving authority is obligated to use it on behalf of and for the purposes of the king. A steward is always subject to audit6 – to be granted authority is also to be made subject to stricter judgement7.

Pagans cannot have assignments / stewardship / authority / dominion because they are rebels against the king. So no authority over their kids. But it’s all God’s stuff, so even pagans are implicitly stewards of what they have been given. Pagan kings are established by God – all authorities are established by God. “Do not bother the Maobites for I have given them Ar as their property.”8

We must obey God rather than people.9

So that you may learn not to exceed what is written.10

Pneumarchy – Spirit-filled anarchy – Men, driven by the Holy Spirit, spoke.11 The decentralized Church, the catholic Church. God as the only authority. Each spirit-filled disciple follows as they are led. In those days there was no king, each did what was right in his own eyes.12 The line between obedience and anarchy is perhaps not where we expect it.

Honor your father and mother

To give birth, to nourish,
to bear and not to own,
to act and not lay claim,
to lead and not to rule:
this is mysterious power.13

Honor your father and mother. But also if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother he cannot be my disciple.

If kids are people and parents are authorities (and all authority is established by God), then what are the limits, responsibilities and roles of any legitimate authority. Enter into the joy of your Master. The purpose of all authority is to equip those served to flourish, to become themselves authorities over some domain.

y-Your authority as a parent does not derive from having birthed your child, “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.” Whatever authority a parent has over their children is assigned by God, not earned by having had unprotected sex. The authority granted to parents is not absolute – parents are one of many authorities responsible for their children; parents are themselves subject to other authorities

The misunderstanding that makes parental authority absolute appears to grow out of a misunderstanding that grounds God’s authority in creation. The argument goes that God has authority because He created. And so parent’s have authority because they created. But God’s authority can’t derive from creation because creation itself is an act of authority - He commanded all into existence.14 Principalities and powers. Angelic watchers. The sacrifice of Isaac – a faterh’s authority is real and terrifying, yet subject to a higher voice. The sons of Levi after the first passover are set apart because they are claimed not because they are generated.

Parents are not the final authority. They are an authority. Their authority is broader than most. But it is limited. Communities (church and secular) have obligations to oversee parents as persons and as parents, and they have obligations to oversee the children as persons both in conjunction with and independent of the parents. The child himself has authorities over himself that limit parents. Moral obligations impose limits on communities, parents and children. Not a hierarchy of authorities, but messy overlapping webs. The family is not above the community or the individual. They all exist at the same level. They are all created by, overseen by and grown by the others. The church is not subservient to the parents.

Authorities bear the sword. And they bear it for a reason. Parents can’t ever put down the sword. Which means that their sword is always in the background of any interaction with their kids. Luke 19:27 – bring those here who didn’t want me to rule over them and slaughter them in my presence. The Jedi’s lightsaber is his life. The king’s sword is not a decoration.

The priesthood of the father.

I’m the g-dd-mn paterfamilias.15

Authority is always limited, derived. Questions of parental authority inherently intersect with questions of civil, legal, social, and organizational authority. Submit to authorities as agents of God. This is circular. Should authorities look to God as a model for how to discipline, or are the authorities God’s method of discipline and so they are ultimately looking at themselves?

Contrast the authority that: 1) requires seatbelts, 2) prohibits hidden fees, 3) helicopter parenting….

Good kings

Isaiah 11.

To bring shalom and teeming life (which may sometimes feel chaotic) to his dominion. To equip and empower others with dominion, invite others to rule over their own dominion or subdomain. Work is a gift – chores are not training or practice for being an adult, they are not an excuse to teach about money. Chores are an exercise in dominion – let them rule over the trash in the cans, and the cleanliness of the toilets, and every sock under the bed.

Responsibilities of all authorities.

Provision and Protection. Love is not contingent. Owe duties of provision and protection. Those being led cannot teem with life if they don’t have the necessities of life or if they are harrowed be enemies. Leaders take the hits. A king who only taxes, who only takes but never gives, is not a king but a bully.

Conflicting responsibilities: A good king seeks the flourishing of his subjects. But a good king must also send subjects to die in war, punish subjects for breaking peace. Behold I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves. Standing as Steven is martyred. The king who refuses to allow his people to experience any suffering is not protecting them – he lessens them.

It cannot be the parent’s responsibility to ensure that their child never experiences loss or pain or want or discomfort. Always happy, always watched, always given desires. Never pushed, never asked to serve, never asked to sacrifice, never struggle, never expected to grow.

Even kings and dictators rule with the consent of the governed. See Rehoboam, the king who divided his kingdom in a speech. The differentiator between king and dictator is how they maintain consent. A king claims the right to rule (chosen by god or inherited or merit as the wisest or strongest). A dictator uses repression and fear.

Use of force

Force is any action you take with the aim of provoking an action from an other that they did not freely choose.

Authorities are authorized to use force. But they should strive to use the least force necessary. Not only because force violates the personhood of the one being ruled, but also because a good authority cannot accomplish most of their purposes through force. Force as a tool is limited in its abilities. You cannot beat someone into loving you. You cannot punish a child into curiosity.

Any imposition of my will on someone else’s will is an act of violence. Legitimate violence is still violence. Authorized violence is still violence. Well-intentioned violence is still violence. If I trick someone or manipulate their circumstances or limit their knowledge in order to position them to “choose” what I want them to choose, then I have violated them. I have taken from them—taken their dignity, taken their autonomy. I have used them as an end, as an object, as a tool. I have treated them as less than a person. You cannot help free another person without allowing them to choose against you.

An authority not using force communicates as much as the moment force is used. In Skyfall, M quotes Tennyson: “Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled. Or not pulled. It’s hard to know which in your pajamas.” The restraint is itself the message.

When is force warranted? To prevent a behavior that puts the child at risk of physical harm, when the ratio of higher harm to smaller cost is too high, or when they are not equipped to appreciate and mitigate the risks and bear the costs of injury. This ought to be paired with equipping—if you intervene to stop the hand from the stove, you must also teach why the stove is to be feared and respected. To prevent behavior that imposes risks or costs on others, scaling the force allowed with the costs. This includes compelling conformance to group norms, because breaking from those norms imposes costs on others. But preference is always for the least force necessary, because all use of force violates the person. It is a taking, a violence.

You cannot use force to compel belief or character. To assert a soul is to assert a disconnect between external material cause and effect and the internal spiritual being. You cannot command respect, but you can command respectfulness, respectful behavior. The distinction is everything.

Any philosophy of parenting must account for the rebellious child, the careless child, the naive child. There are always times when some form of force will be required: touching a hot stove, biting a sibling, running into the street, eating a whole container of tomatoes, hurt or sick. Instruction met with “No, I hate you, No, No, No, Mine Mine Mine.” The parent who claims they never need force is either lying or has never met a two-year-old.

Parents bear the sword. Romans 13, and Deuteronomy 21:18–21. But that does not mean they will not be held accountable for how they wielded their sword. How you play is what you win. Even in an unjust war, how you fight matters. Your children may grow into flourishing, healthy adults, and you must still stand before the seat of judgment and give an account for the methods you used while parenting.

Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:3)

I have come to cast a fire on the earth

Does Jesus change the nature of authority? To suffer and serve rather than fight and punish. The early church conquered Rome by dying. Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, but it is not so among you.

On the other hand, he fashioned a whip and chased out the money changers.

The offices of the Church are not authorities in the way the world understands authority. They are calls to service. A teacher invites to receive instruction—Proverbs pictures Wisdom calling in the street, not dragging people by the hair—but cannot command learning. To be given honor and submission is earned through faithful, sacrificial service. But it does not earn command. The Church takes up its cross and dies rather than fights. It would rather be beaten than compel obedience through force. The weapons of our warfare are truth. Peter is given keys, not a sword. The only threat the Church can muster, the heavy consequence for the unrepentant, is uninvitation: to be uninvited from the table, and further invited to repent. Jesus has authority, and the power to compel his enemies to become his footstool. The Church has no army. Those robed in white do not shed blood, because the only blood in need of shedding has already been poured out.

Daniel versus Nebuchadnezzar: when I attempt to take from them their autonomy, I face judgment for my wrong, and they face judgment for wrongly submitting. Better to be cast to the lions than bow the knee to a false god. The parent who demands a submission that belongs only to God puts the child in an impossible position.

Notes

The one who does the Lord’s business deceitfully is cursed.16

Daniel vs Nebechadnezzer – when I attempt to take from them their autonomy, I face judgment for my wrong, and they face judgment for wrongly submitting – better to be cast to the lions than bow the knee.

Force use by authority generally: Authorities are only “authorized” to use force against another person under their authority in order to: ?

Parents bear the sword. Rom 13, and Deut 21:18-21. But that does not mean that they won’t be held accountable for how they wielded their sword.

How you play is what you win 17. Even in an unjust war, how you fight matters. Your children may grow into flourishing, healthy adults, and you must still stand before the seat of Judgment and give an account for the methods you used while parenting.

Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 1 Peter 5:3

The offices of the church are not any authority. Calls to service. A teacher invites to receive instruction (Proverbs) but can’t command learning. To be given honor and submission is earned through faithful sacrificial service. But it does not earn command. The church takes up its cross and dies rather than fights. Would rather be beaten than compel obedience through force. The weapons of our warfare are truth. Peter is given keys, not a sword. The only threat the church can muster, the heavy consequence for the unrepentant, is uninvitation. To be uninvited from the table, and further invited to repent. Jesus has authority, and the power to compel his enemies to become his footstool. The church has no army. Those robed in white do not shed blood, because the only blood in need of shedding has already been poured out.

Grandmother never commanded and was always heard

“By what a man is overcome, but that he is enslaved.” 2 Peter 2:19. The word translated “overcome” is used again in v 20 - having escaped the world’s impurity they are again entangled in these things and overcome. The Greek word is connected to the word for “worse”. We would say in English he lost, he was bested, he was defeated. The Greek is something like he was worsted, he was made lesser, he was conquered. Almost as though in English we are celebrating the victor, here’s your prize. But the emphasis of this Greek is on the loser – you are now below me, get down on your hands and knees in front of my throne and let me use your back as a foot rest. Peter is using this language to talk about the way sin treats us - it conquers us, enslaves us, makes us lesser. But I was thinking about how that’s the same model we generally have for anyone in authority. The police officer kneeling on the neck of the ruled. That an authority is someone who is over others, and the purpose of authority is to control those who are below them.

it is terrifying to be unable to find one adult who can earn your respect. – Dobson

  1. Jeremiah 23:1-4↩︎

  2. Or already has it, and already achieved it, and is pursuing it. Already but not yet. If there is any meaning left in that phrase.↩︎

  3. The Pope’s Exorcist↩︎

  4. Romans 13:1↩︎

  5. Psalm 24:1↩︎

  6. Luke 16:2↩︎

  7. James 3:1↩︎

  8. Deuteronomy 2:9↩︎

  9. Acts 5:29↩︎

  10. 1 Corinthians 4:6↩︎

  11. 2 Pet 1:21↩︎

  12. Judges 21:25↩︎

  13. Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, An English Version by Ursula K. Le Guin, section 10.↩︎

  14. except for man who was “formed” – does this suggest something about how man must choose to submit whereas the rest of creation is bound↩︎

  15. O Brother Where Art Thou↩︎

  16. Jeremiah 48:10↩︎

  17. The Matter of Seggri – Ursula K. LeGuin↩︎