Professor: Rushdoony Dr. R.J.R.

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 6 of 19

Track: #06

Year:

Dictation Name: 06 Authority and Power

[Rushdoony] Let us begin with prayer. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Thus said the high and lofty one who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; “I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite. If thou shalt seek the Lord Thy God thou shalt find Him; if thou seek Him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.” Let us pray.

Glory be to Thee oh God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We praise Thee on this day and always that Thy hand is every upon us for good. That all the days of our life Thou art mindful of us. Thou hast beset all our goings and our comings with Thy gracious love and care. Give us grace so to walk oh Lord that in all things we may seek to serve Thee, be faithful to Thy word, and rejoice in Thy providence, in Jesus name amen.

Our scripture this morning is two verses of the chapter of Acts, Acts 1:7&8. Our subject is authority and power, authority and power.

“7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” 

As we have seen the New Testament word for authority in the Greek is exousia. It is translated in several ways in the New Testament. In Luke twenty-three verse seven it is translated as jurisdiction. In first Corinthians eight verse nine as liberty. Many, many times exousia is translated as “right” and when it is used in these various sense what it is trying to convey is that the authority to speak or act and the liberty to do so, and the rightness of such actions are all one and the same. We also have it translated as “strength” in one instance. In other words there is a relationship between power and authority; they are essentially one in God. In man power and authority do not necessarily go together. A tyrant may have a great deal of power but no, or very little, legitimate authority. A usurper or conquering army may have power, but no legitimate authority. A gunman breaking in and holding a family as hostage has power, but he has no authority. Authority means legitimate jurisdiction, a rightness morally; a liberty which comes from this legitimacy. There can be no separation of authority and power in the triune God. This is why kenosis is so evil and destructive a doctrine. 

But we have to go a step further; can we legitimately separate Godly authority and power? An ironic fact is that in the modern age a great deal of to-do is made about mothers when their authority is at a low ebb. But in terms of scripture than can be no separation of authority and power; in this sinful world Godliness may have authority, but it attracts hostility, it incites attacks. The aim of the ungodly is to obliterate God’s witness in man’s righteousness. Westminster Confession of faith says, with regard to holiness, that we are quickened and strengthened and given more authority in the practice of holiness. We are told that they who are effectually called and regenerated, have a new heart and a new spirit created in them are further sanctified really and personally through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection by His word and spirit dwelling in them. The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. So that the Westminster confession tells us very quickly, very plainly, in the compass of one brief paragraph that there is a relationship in our lives between authority and power. Because when we grow in the authority of faithfulness to God, in the exercise of our calling we grow in power. And this development is not a Saint Vitus dance in no-man’s land. It is in the real world of everyday life, and the growth of holiness must be seen as the growth of power in and through the Holy Spirit. 

In the American version of the Presbyterian form of government in 1788 when it was formulated the statement was made that truth is in order to goodness. And the statement goes on to declare very plainly that there is a correlation between virtues. When we develop one virtue we are going to strengthen ourselves in every virtue. We gain power and we gain authority, we gain strength. In brief true virtues do not come singly, and the grace of God comes to us to give us strength, growth, in every area of our lives. The fallen world is in hostility to God, it reacts with hatred and hostility and conflict ensues wherever Christian strength is manifested. But there is victory, and we must never forget it. Truth in order to goodness, it is also in order to authority, holiness, and power.

I believe that one of the greatest statements made in this century was made on June 15 1917 by a very remarkable man, Pope Benedict the 15th. His papacy was brief, 1914 – 1922. He is a virtually forgotten man today, but he had a great deal to say about the scriptures and about Biblical preaching. Consider what he said in these words, now this was when the war was being fought, little before we landed troops into Europe. And I quote, speaking of the reviving paganism of the world in the twentieth century “The causes of these evils are varied and manifold. No-one however will gainsay the deplorable fact, that the ministers of the word do not apply thereto an adequate remedy. Has the word of God then ceased to be what it was described by the apostle, living and effectual and more piercing than any two edged sword? Has long continued use blunted the edge of that sword? If that weapon does not everywhere produce its effect the blame certainly must be laid on those ministers of the gospel who do not handle it as they should. For no-one can maintain that the apostles were living in better times than ours. Or that they found minds more readily disposed toward the gospel, or that they met with less opposition to the law of God.” That’s a tremendous statement. Benedicts point is very clear. The authority and the power of the word of God enabled the apostles and their successors to challenge and overthrow the paganism of their day against incredible odds. It was a grim battle, but very early Rome knew that the Christians represented power.

We have less opposition said Benedict in 1917, and the fault is not that the word of God has lost its power, but that we do not proclaim it as we should. The church today wants to be a democracy, not a monarchy whose king is Christ. Is predestination unpopular with the people? Well then we won’t talk about it. Is the doctrine of responsibility unpopular with the people, we want to blame the environment and everything else? Well we won’t stress it. This is the order of the day, men preach to please people. Congregations object if what is said from the pulpit does not agree with them. Private judgment rules against God’s word. 

But we are told in the book of Acts, first chapter verses seven and eight certain things. First the word that is used in verse seven is exousia, power and authority. Then we are told that we shall receive power. God the Father keeps in His own power the knowledge of the timing of history. Men cannot seek after that knowledge; they must know only what He tells us. As Deuteronomy 29 verse 29 says “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” What is the purpose of knowledge? That we may do all the words of this law Moses said.

Now the believer who is faithful to God in this sense receives power and authority. Ye shall receive power. How? In order to do His will, to be His witnesses, to do His work. Now the reference here some would say is to Pentecost, but it is far more. Because the primary emphasis, in fact the exclusive reference here is to the testimony, the witness. Not the gifts of the spirit but the gift of the spirit that we might function day by day in whatever we do, for the Lord and His kingdom. So the emphasis is upon the power that manifests itself, in faithfulness to the word, in the proclamation of the word, in being governed by the word. Ye shall be my witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Our Lord here speaks against curiosity, he recalls men to their duty. What the disciples had been asking about was “you tell us how history is going to develop.” And today a great deal of preaching is about the rapture, and people want charts to know what to expect. When will Russia move against us, or when will the rapture or the tribulation and all that nonsense take place? Morbid curiosity, not “what are God’s marching orders for me now?” What doth the Lord require of me? 

These are two different religions. One that seeks knowledge in order to protect oneself and withdraw from reality, the other to go out and conquer, to exercise power in the name of God. Today we honor the forms of power. We honor authority outwardly and we have a Mother’s Day and we have a Father’s Day and we have all kinds of days on the calendar. But in reality the authority that should be represented in what those things symbolize is lacking. Authority and power come from God, and they must b