Professor: Rushdoony Dr. R.J.R.

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 2 of 19

Track: #02

Year:

Dictation Name: 02 Man’s relationship to Authority

[Rushdoony] “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God who of Thy grace and mercy dost pardon all those who truly repent of their sins. Who dost rejoice in the thanksgiving of Thy people; who dost delight in their service and has called us to do these things and ever to rejoice of Thee. We come into Thy presence gladly and joyfully, we thank Thee that Thou hast made us Thine own. We thank Thee that the ends of the earth shall serve Thee, and that we are heirs of Thy kingdom; and that greater is He that is in us and with us then he that is in the world. Give us grace therefore to grow in Thee, to serve Thee, to praise Thee, and in all things to give thanks unto Thee. In Jesus name, amen.

We began last week our study of authority and we continue this week with mans relationship to authority and our scripture is Luke seven verses one through ten, Luke seven verses one through ten. Man’s relationship to authority.

Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.

2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.

3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.

4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, that he was worthy for whom he should do this:

5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.

6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:

7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick. 

The triune God is the source of all authority. But on the human scene authority can be exercised by man under God. God has not restricted authority and its boundaries to eternity, so that we must say that even more than the fact that authority can be exercised under God, it must be exercised under God. There are spheres of legitimate authority under God. Our work, our family, the church, state, a variety of things wherein we have, in varying degrees, authority.

Now to undermine Godly authority in all these and other spheres is to further anarchy and as a means of rebelling against God himself. But on the other hand if we overstress authority on the human scene, and arrogate to man or to institutions power that properly belongs to God, that too is a very great evil. As men do this, as men arrogate undue authority unto themselves they become demonic, they claim in effect to be their own Gods. After all the scriptures that the devil is a believer in his own authority, encounter this in Matthew 4:9 and in Revelation 13:2 for example. Now authority on the human scene is very closely tied to status or position, but it cannot be equated with status or position. Let me illustrate. Parenthood is a natural fact, any idiot can be a parent, and a good many are. But the authority of parents is not derived from this natural fact but from God’s command. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord Thy God giveth thee. This is in the Ten Commandments, it is a law from God and it promises long life as a gift from God for obedience to this commandment. The commandment is to adults to honor, not to Children who as in Ephesians 6:1 are told to obey. This law has no true analogue in the world of nature.

Now this brings us to a critical point. One of the problems of our time is that parents are trying to command children naturally, not religiously. Mothers will take time to speak about the trauma of birth “all that I’ve done for you, how I’ve suffered, and what I went through, and you reward me with this.” And what does the child think? “So what? I didn’t ask to be born.” And fathers will go on at great length about how much money they’ve invested in their children, as though that gave them authority. It doesn’t register; the natural fact does not carry any conviction. It has inherent in it no authority unless we look at the religious fact. And so if the religious commandment, God’s word, is left out there is a radical erosion of parental authority. It does not rest on the status of being a parent in the natural order; it rests only on God’s commandment. As a result we have to recognize that authority is a religious fact. Unless it is grounded Biblically it very soon disappears. This is what we’re seeing in our contemporary world. The authority of parents is disappearing because they were grounding it on the fact that they were capable of begetting a child. But the natural fact doesn’t suffice. 

Or civil authorities will insist “we are the law.” But that has no meaning in a world that does not see law as coming from God, and the modern state has undercut that. As a result the modern state has created lawlessness, it has undermined its own authority. We see this in the church, as churchmen put more and more emphasis on position, on status and less and less on the word of God. And they feel they have to emphasis their authority by pomp and circumstance, by parading themselves as it were, and putting on the appurtenances of office, as though this constituted authority. It is ironic that in low church protestant denominations which historically were very hostile to Catholicism, where the church has forsaken its historic, protestant doctrine of Biblical authority they become a very poor imitation of Catholics. They put on robes and where crosses and genuflect as though the forms were going to give authority when they’ve destroyed the foundation of authority. Position and status in other words do not in of themselves in the natural order give authority. It is a religious fact, it is a supernatural fact and unless it is so grounded it disappears. Our understanding of authority depends on our awareness and acceptance of the religious foundations, not only of authority but of all life. 

This is why the story of the centurion, our text, is so important. The Centurion saw this clearly and our Lord said unto him “verily I saw unto you I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.” The centurion had a very sick servant whom he loved dearly, so when he heard of Jesus he sent the elders of Israel beseeching Jesus to heal him, which they did saying that “this man loves our nation, he has built us the synagogue here in Capernaum, not a small synagogue, a considerable thing.” And they said he was worthy for whom he should do this. Now a centurion, until Rome began to decline, was usually a man of the nobility, an aristocrat of some sort. He was often a man of considerable wealth, in fact all the legionnaires originally were important people, it was privilege to be a member of a Roman legion, and to be an officer thereof indicated a man of great importance, and often of very great wealth as was the case with this man. But this man who said “I also (the man under authority) having under me soldiers and I saw unto one “go” and he goeth and to another “come” and he cometh and to my servant “do this” and he doeth it.” Made clear that he recognized the nature of authority; it was only his name that carried weight. Because as a centurion he did not have to go to every man personally, he sent the word and said “this is what the Legionnaires’ centurion ordered.” And it was done. And he recognized that Jesus was at the very least a great prophet, he spoke of Him as Lord, and he recognized that here was supernatural power and authority, his person, his physical presence was therefore not necessary, and he made it clear that he did not feel that he was deserving of the attention of a physical trip to his house. Therefore our Lord spoke of him as He did, a man of faith; and because he was a man of faith he understood authority. 

Thus he recognized the supernatural nature of authority, that it was not merely a material fact. No more than the authority of a parent over his child is simply a material fact, a product of begetting. It is a supernatural fact, and here in Christ there was the essence of supernatural authority and therefore speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. 

Let us look now at authority in the church. One of the sad facts is that the church very often over governs and in many quarters today where the anarchy in the church has become apparent, and the lawless, some have developed a gospel of excommunication. Now what our Lord declares Matthew 28:19 when he sets forth the great commission is the duty to teach or to disciple all nations. Discipline comes from disciple; it does not mean punishment nor excommunication, but discipling. That’s the meaning of discipli