Professor: Rushdoony Dr. R.J.R.

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 5 of 19

Track: #05

Year:

Dictation Name: 05 Living Under Authority

[Rushdoony] Let us Worship God. Our help is in the name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth, oh come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God Thy dominion extends to heaven and earth and all things therein and we Thy people come into Thy presence to give Thee Thy due praise. Give us ever joyful and grateful hearts that we live, move, and have our being in Thee; that Thou art He who didst make heaven and earth and hast ordained all things for Thy glory and for their fulfillment in Thee. Give us grace to walk in terms of Thy holy purpose, to rejoice in Thy grace and to trust in all Thy tomorrow’s, in Jesus name, amen.

Our scripture this morning is from Colossians the first chapter. Beginning with verse twelve and continuing through verse twenty-three. Our subject Living under authority, living under authority Colossians one twelve through twenty-three.

12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; 

Our subject is living under authority and our particular concern is the thirteenth verse of Colossians one. It is important for us to know the nature of authority. To know what constitutes true authority and false authority. Most people have a preference through a superficial solution which will make life easier. Hence they avoid the essential question of authority. Moreover our age has a penchant for seeing alternatives in terms of ridiculously obvious ones. We are told for example by some, and I hear it regularly, that the federal government is a legitimate God created authority, and therefore we have a duty of obedience. True, but what are the limits of it? That’s the question. Where does it begin and end? Moreover we must say further that neither republicans nor democrats can command obedience as though they were the state. The better question would be, the better alternative is “does the federal government always and in all things have a legitimate authority over us?” And this is the question that our day in particular needs to ask.

To give an idea of the kind of abuse of texts in the Bible that deal with authority there is the favorite text with many husbands, Ephesians 5:22 & 23

22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.

Now I submit from very unhappy experience that many men are in the church and are nominally Christians because they like such verses. It’s a good way of keeping the woman in line. After all she goes to church and takes it seriously, then she feels a duty of obedience. This gives such nominal hypocritical Christian’s security in there waywardness and freedom in what they do. But more than a century ago Charles Hodge in commenting on this text made it clear what it means, and I quote “She is to be subject in everything. That is the subjection is not limited to any one sphere or department of the social life, but extends to all. The wife is not subject as to some things and independent as to others but she is subject as to all. This of course does not mean that the authority of the husband is unlimited. It teaches its extent, not its degree. It extends over all departments but is limited in all; first by the nature of the relation, and secondly by the higher authority of God. No superior whether master, parent, husband, or magistrate can make it obligatory on us either to do what God forbids or not to do what God commands. So long as our allegiance to God is preserved an obedience to man is made a part of our obedience to Him, we retain our liberty and our integrity.” In other words as Hodge said, all authority under God is conditional, and no authority can long exist apart from Him. 

Now this raises some obvious questions, what authority does a Godless or pagan state have over us? At times in the past popes dissolved the authority of subjects. The New Testament term for legitimate authority or power, because it means both, is exousia. It is normally reserved, that word exousia, authority, for Godly authority. But we have two uses of the word which depart from this. Satan is declared by scripture to have authority under God and by God’s permission. In Luke 22:52 our Lord says that Satan has been given power, authority, to crucify Christ. Now it is this word which appears in Colossians 1:13 , because what Paul says is the Father has delivered us from the power, the legitimate authority, of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. In other words, what we are plainly told here is that we were under legitimate authority when were under Satan. Now we are under the legitimate authority of Jesus Christ because we have been transferred from the one realm to the other by the atonement of Jesus Christ. Our sin bearer Christ has delivered us thus from one authority to another, we are now separated from Satan’s authority. 

Well what if the state is godless and a band of robbers, as Augustine said, a Mafia? Because Augustine made it clear that every civil government that is not under God is no more than a mafia. The medieval era in terms of this vindicated at times tyrannicide. However I think historians tend to forget of the medieval scholars who did not agree with tyrannicide. Paul says “let every man abide in the same calling where-in he was called” in first Corinthians 7:20 and again in verse 23 “ye are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of men.” As I’ve said more than once our way according to scripture is regeneration, not revolution.

Now let’s shift our emphasis to the non-civil realm, the church. When does the church’s legitimate authority cease? Can we say that a church which denies the atonement and the incarnation, and the virgin birth, and affirms abortion and homosexuality, and euthanasia, is a true church? In every community we have buildings and groups that call themselves churches that are marked by such evils. Not too long ago a catholic friend told me that on a recent trip to one city he turned to the yellow pages Sunday morning to see where he could go to church, and he found listings. Catholic churches – conservative, and then another listing, Catholic churches – liberal. I do know that in that very same city where he found such listings I had an hour and a half or a two hour debate on a radio talk show with a Catholic doctor who favored abortion and euthanasia.

But let’s carry the argument a step further. There are many churches which claim to believe the Bible from cover to cover but are dead churches. When I say dead I mean dead in the site of God, because they will have very often a large crowd, a beautiful choir, all kinds of activities every day of the week. But in a Christian sense they are dead. I am regularly told by members of these churches that neither the pastor, nor the board of deacons, or the session, nor the consistory our whatever the governing body may be, will not allow any reference to abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, communism, or anything else that they term “controversial.” Sometimes the people who tell me this will add “I happen to know that my pastor is against those things, but he wouldn’t dare open his mouth.” Are such churches alive? 

In some churches it’s considered bad taste to refer to sexual sins. In fact I know a pastor who lost his pulpit for bringing up the subject; or to cite the Ten Commandments. Such churches what Christ only as their savior, not as their Lord, and such a separation is false. Let us remember that in the parable of the last judgment our Lord is dealing not with the world at large in that parable, but with church members who presented themselves as belonging to Christ, as members of Him. And no doubt they all believed they were good Christian because they could repeat the creed and went to church regularly, but He says “I never knew you.” Why? Because your fa