Recently I have
been hearing a lot about people with titles of ‘spiritual father’
or ‘spiritual mentor’ or, conversely, about someone being a
‘spiritual son’ or being ‘under cover’ of someone in
the church.
Also along similar
line of thinking, there has been a lot of emphasis on ‘authority’
which the apostles and prophets are supposed to derive from a position they
have in some kind of spiritual hierarchy. The way this doctrine is presented
seems to me to veer a few degrees off the mark of scripture. It makes a
mockery of the type of father Paul was talking about in relationship to
Timothy. Of course, we know that the most dangerous lie is the one that comes
closest to the truth. I see that some of these leaders even consider
themselves as generals in the army of the Lord.
We are admonished
about end times when the elect will be deceived and church members will give
heed to seducing doctrines of or from demons (1 Timothy 4.1). This is not
good!! We all need to know the word thoroughly and to hide it in our heart, so
we don’t become the victims of such lies. And we need to learn how to
rightly divide the Word balancing one scripture on a topic with another!
It seems like that
the topic of the role of apostles and prophets has generated much dissension in
many churches and it has caused offense and resulted in splits or, worse still,
even a falling away of some members. This has disquieted and vexed me, so I am
taking the time to write to you about it.
The following are
some of the verses that are cited for this concept of the authoritative CEO-type
role of the apostles and prophets:
a. 1
Corinthians 12:28 (AMP) – So God has appointed some in the church [for His own
use]: first apostles (special
messengers); second prophets
(inspired preachers and expounders); third teachers; then wonder-workers; then
those with ability to heal the sick; helpers; administrators; [speakers in]
different (unknown) tongues.
b.
Ephesians 4:11 (AMP) – And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and
gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets
(inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel,
traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.
c.
Ephesians 2:20 (AMP) – You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone.
I have even seen
someone substitute “(the church will be)”
in front of this last verse for “You are”
to indicate the importance to the church of the role of the New Testament
apostles and prophets today.
I looked at many
translations of this verse and I can’t find this in any translation of
scriptures, so it would appear to me that someone is risking all the plagues of
the Bible by adding to it in this manner. I pray that God will show mercy to
this person or others who play loosely with the truth of the Word.
When I consulted a
Greek scholar on this passage, he informed me that there is a past tense here,
not a future tense, in the verb to be.
So then, the foundation then is already built; what needs to be built is the
church – and Who said He was going to build His church such that the
gates of hell would not prevail against it? It certainly was not any of the
early apostles!! Need I say that it was none other than the victorious Christ
who is the Head of the Church!!? I want to ask, “How many times does the
foundation have to be built?”
When properly
dividing the Word of God, it is very important that the context of any verse such as Ephesians 2:20
be considered. (I will discuss that issue of context later in this article).
Here are more
verses quoted by those who emphasize the important role of the apostles and
prophets in the New Testament Church:
d. Amos
3:7 (AMP) “Surely the Lord God will do nothing without revealing His
secret to His servants the prophets.” The way this one is being
interpreted is that a wide compass of sovereign actions such as the next
revival or any major spiritual move of God is the exclusive domain of the
prophets.
IsraelThis one
seems to me to be talking about the warning God gave through prophets before
impending judgment. It is saying ‘Why would God mete out punishment
without warnings first?’ Certainly the Old Testament counterparts of the
prophets played that important role in the life of Israel.
I have no doubt that New
Testament prophets today can also warn us of impending judgement, and point the
way to tsunami moves of God. But what I wonder about is this privileged
knowledge in the hands of a few ‘generals’ – it sounds like a
new papacy. It seems to be a little out of sync with the statements like that
‘the steps of a righteous man are directed by the Lord’ and
‘my sheep hear my voice’.
e.
Ephesians 6:5 (KJV) Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters
according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart,
as unto Christ;”. A well known leader and book author inserts the word
“church members” after “servants” and “church
leaders” after the word “masters” to emphasize a master-slave
relationship between leaders and church members. This again adds to scriptures
– pray for this person that God would correct his faulty interpretation.
(See p. 101 in ‘Under Cover’,
by John Bevere)
While I recognize
that there are leaders, in the church, and rightly so, what I am saying is that
there are leaders who over-emphasize their authority over the members of the
church and run a church by a small oligarchy. I might add that it is not just
some of the apostles and prophets that tout their rank. Ironically, and sadly many
of these same leaders are feeble in
their position of the believers’ authority over sin, sickness, and death.
“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions,
and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt
you.” Luke 10:19
Peter said in Acts
2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested
by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your
midst, as you yourselves also know—“ So Jesus was accredited
through the authority and power he manifested by supernatural events in His
ministry.
Just in case you
want to protest that this is a unique thing to Christ, consider Paul the apostle
who claimed these same signs and miracles which followed him as proof positive
of preaching the full gospel.
Romans 15:19 “Even as my
preaching has been accompanied] with the power of signs and wonders, [and all
of it] by the power of the Holy Spirit. [The result is] that starting from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel [faithfully executing,
accomplishing, carrying out to the full the good news] of Christ (the Messiah)
in its entirety.
If you are looking
for credentials for your ministry, look behind you. Are signs following you?
If they are, you won’t have to constantly subtly remind people of your
degrees, or other experience, when they question the authority for what you
speak! You won’t have to rule by degrees, so to speak!
Remember when
Jesus’ authority to forgive sins was questioned? Did he not perform a
powerful healing to demonstrate that He had both the power over nature and the authority to forgive sin?
Matthew 9:6
– 7 ‘But that you may know that
the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to
the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house”’
And he arose and departed to his house.
I want to say that
there are more scriptures which emphasize our authority over sin and sickness
and over the powers of darkness than those which give any hint of authority of
church members over other church members. As a matter of fact, it was Christ
Himself, who (through John the Revelator) said that he hated the doctrine of
the Nicolaitans which implies, according to many scholars, a conquering
authority of clergy over laity![1]
(Rev. 2:15)
Rather than trying
to respond to all of the verses quoted above or others, I would like to submit
for your consideration the following verses, some of which you may have heard
me quote before. They do not show a hierarchical arrangement in the church with
strong emphasis on master-slave
authority relationship or spiritual father-son interactions;
rather there is an emphasis on peer-to-peer and mutual submission relationships. (Emphasis is mine)
Matthew 23:8-11
(AMP) 8 But you are not to be called
rabbi (teacher), for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers.
9 And do
not call anyone [in the church] on
earth father, for you have one Father, Who is in heaven.
10 And you must not be called masters (leaders), for you
have one Master (Leader), the Christ. 11 He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mark 10:35-44
(AMP) 35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached Him and said to
Him, Teacher, we desire You to do for us whatever we ask of You. 36 And He
replied to them, What do you desire Me
to do for you? 37 And they said to Him, Grant that we may sit,
one at Your right hand and one at [Your] left hand, in Your glory (Your majesty
and splendor). 38 But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. . . . . .
41 And when the other ten [apostles] heard it, they began to be indignant with
James and John. 42 But Jesus called them to [Him] and said to them, You know that those who are recognized as
governing and are supposed to rule the Gentiles
(the nations) lord it over them [ruling with
absolute power, holding them in subjection], and their great men exercise
authority and dominion over them. 43 But this is not to be so among you; instead, whoever
desires to be great among you must be your
servant, 44 And whoever wishes to be most important and first in
rank among you must be slave of all.
Oops! So
it’s not the master who is great in the kingdom, but rather the servant!
Consider further,
the following passage from I Peter 5
1 Peter 5:2-3, 5
(AMP) 2 Tend (nurture, guard, guide, and fold) the flock of God that is [your
responsibility], not by coercion or
constraint, but willingly; not dishonorably motivated by the
advantages and profits [belonging to the office], but eagerly and cheerfully; 3
Not domineering [as arrogant, dictatorial,
and overbearing persons] over those in your charge, but being examples (patterns and models of Christian living)
to the flock (the congregation).
5 Likewise you
younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another,
and be clothed with humility, for
“God
resists the proud,
But gives
grace to the humble.”
Hmmm! So it’s
the humble person who gets the nod of God’s favour!
I know that there
are other verses to deal with about authority, but I think that before leaders
make sweeping generalities about the authority that they have over the laity
(or sheep) they must take scriptures in context of the chapter from
which they take their verses and also the book they are found in plus the light
and context of the overall scriptures!
Speaking about context, let’s examine Ephesians 2:20
again!
Read the verses
before this one to get the flow of thought – from about the 11th verse.
See if you come up with the same conclusion as I do. Is not Paul saying that
in Christ, the Jews (the ‘circumcision’) are united with Gentiles
(Christians) and the all members of the body of Christ thus formed have equal
access to God? I see no hint of special privileges here. The foundation He is
talking about is the Old Testament (written by OT prophets), and the New
Testament (written by NT apostles).
The same kind of
contextual approach must be used with passages like Romans 13:1 – the
meaning here involves being subject to
civic authorities in the context.
Don’t get me
wrong, I recognize that the New Testament church is gifted with apostles and
prophets and other ministries (Ephesians 4:11), but I don’t think that
they are the exclusive rock upon which Christ is building His church. We just
need to recognize that Christ is THE head “from whom the whole body, joined
and knit together by what every joint
supplies, according to the effective working by which every part
does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in
love.” Ephesians 4:16
I see in this
organic body analogy, an orchestra of peers
each with different roles all working together in beautiful harmony and mutual
submission, not a band of soloists or prima donnas setting the
agenda for the group. I also see here that Christ is the orchestra director
and that He calls the shots.
I am sure I have
heard many ministers say that God has no grandchildren. If this is true, then why
would we want to foster a spiritual master-slave relationship? (I am aware that
Paul referred to Timothy as a son). We are to make disciples not spiritual bond
servants or even sons, is that not correct? Matthew 28:19. Christ himself said
that he did not call us servants anymore; rather he preferred to call us
friends (John 15:15). Wow! And that from the Head of the Church!!
Also it is not
just the shepherds that hear from God for the direction – it was Christ
who said “my sheep hear my voice”.
I think the church needs to exercise caution that it does not turn back the
clock to a time when the scriptures and the voice of God were the domain of the
privileged few and a hierarchy developed in church history where deep spiritual
darkness descended on the church. Of course, this time was referred to as the
dark ages. Control over people lives was at a pinnacle. Certain leaders
considered they were the mediators of grace in the lives of the laity and much
corruption crept into the church because the power in the church became more political
than spiritual. Consequently, the privileged few became wealthy to the point
that they were unable to say with honesty that ‘silver and gold have I
none’; ironically they were powerless to heal through the authority of
the name of Jesus. Thus, the authority of the church manifested itself in a political
hierarchy rather than in the authority of scriptures, and the power of the name
of Jesus.
I think it is time
that all individual members of the universal church of Christ began walking in
the authority that they have in Christ – not for self-glory – but
in unity, and in love, and in power, fulfilling the divine commission –
setting the captive free from slavery to sin, to sickness, to death, and the
type of bondage which ties ones self-worth to the opinions of other people.
Our wills do not have to be subject to false authority but to the Kingdom
authority.
When we merge our
wills with His divine will, look out world! All the resources of the Kingdom
will be at our command!
The body of Christ
works best as a team when the individual member is not so much concerned with
his or her relationship on the authority totem pole, as he or she is with the
love bond relationship. Look at the end of I Corinthians 12 and the beginning
of chapter 13 – it does not matter how gifted or self-important you are
– if you don’t operate in love – it does not mean anything
– you are just an arrogant person trying to impress others and lead by
your sense of superior revelation or knowledge. Sounding brass or tinkling
cymbals!
I know each of us
has a unique purpose for our lives but it means nothing if we are not willing
to complement our weaknesses with other members’ strengths! That applies
to leaders and members equally. Not one of us was designed to wear all the
leadership hats and gifting badges simultaneously!! That’s not what the
body of Christ is all about!!
Leaders must learn
to lead by mutual submission to
members, by humility, by servant attitude, by moral example and not by pulling rank,
by manipulation, intimidation and by control. These latter negative
tactics play into the Jezebel spirit and the doctrine of the Nicolatians[2]! Are we not all
a royal generation of priests? Are we not all ministers of reconciliation? Are
all believers not seated in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus? There are so many
more such verses which level the playing field in God’s Kingdom.
The same
aforementioned principles apply to the entire flock, not just to the leaders!
Apostles,
prophets, teachers, leaders of any label, as
co-workers with God, should disciple and equip those fellow saints
they oversee, and then let them loose. It’s God’s Kingdom,
it’s His will and His agenda, not any man’s programme. Don’t
worry, Christ has promised that He
will build His church and He will
not allow the gates of Hell to prevail. He is
responsible for the quality control and the outcome.
God has not given
us a spirit of fear, but each member of
the body of Christ has been given a spirit of power, and of love,
and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7. There are three key ideas in this verse
which will make you a powerful force (“more than a conqueror”) in
God’s Kingdom. (1) You have the authority
and the power over sin, sickness, and death, but not to
Lord it over other body members. (2) You operate
in love not in arrogance and boastful pride (3) You know God’s
Word so well that when fear attacks you, you don’t respond with paralysis
and retreat into a corner, but with a cool calm sound mind in faith, you counterattack with God’s Word and Jesus Name and you stand on the finished
work of Christ through His life, His death and resurrection!!
Remember that
scripture is the highest authority – no less than God holds His Word
above His Name. (Psalm 138:2) So it’s not just man’s opinion; “It
is written!!”
By Karel Marek
[1] Nicolaitans comes from two Greek words: nikos, meaning “to conquer, overthrow,” and laos, meaning “the people, laity.” Two heresies are represented by the
Nicolaitans. One is that they believed that they could completely separate one’s
spiritual and physical nature and so one could remain a Christian while practicing
sensuality. Secondly, they tried to
establish a hierarchical ecclesiastical order – the conquest
of the laity by the clergy. They seemed to success in establishing this
doctrine in the Church of Pergamum (Revelation
2:15) which modus operandi Christ
said he hated. It ties in with the passage in Mark 10:42-44 where he chided
James and John about wanting a place in the church over the other disciples; rather,
he said that the greatest would be servants, not masters.
[2]Israel Jezebel – The
Phoenician princess and Queen of Ancient Israel who appears in the Old
Testament (1 Kings), and who incited heresy and lured the Jews away from their
God and back to paganism. She was finally deposed when she was confronted by
Jehu and thrown from her palace window to the streets, where she was eaten by
wild dogs.
as a manipulative, controlling, person who seductively leads the people of God
away from the truth. Many authors consider that the spirit of Jezebel is alive
and well within the church today and operates through any person who subversively
tries to take control of the decisions in the local church.
I’m surprised and saddened to hear that people have been using the concept of spiritual fatherhood as a form of master/slave relationship.
My experience with people who have been recognized as spiritual fathers is one of sharing God’s Father-heart with others, and mentoring founded in compassion rather than control. This was in an atmosphere that recognized that we are all given authority through Christ and we hold each other up as brothers, so the two aren’t incompatible in that sense of the phrase.
this is unfortunately not a new thing. it has happened throughout church history. in the not too distant past (70s or 80s?) was the sheperding movement which was very into “authority” to the point that in some churches people did not make any decisons without their “spiritual father/covering” (whatever they called them) giving them the okay. i guess what it seems like to me is that even in immense spiritual freedom we all have a tendancy to want to run back to the law, lets face it having someone tell us what to do can seem so much easier than waiting on the Father for an answer; a thing to beware of and to come to the Father and ask Him to keep us free from bondage. and I wonder is fear the bottom line of getting into this kind of bondage, both for the one in authority and the one under it? so if we really know the Father’s love, perfect love casts out fear then this type of bondage would not be possible because we would recognize our Father’s heart or voice is not in it.
Thank you Karel.
I found your article very helpful, and loaded with truth. It pulled together many things which I have puzzled over through the years.
I don’t know if it makes a difference that my experience of church is mostly in Britain, but certainly hierarchy and authority are structures which seem entrenched. It was so freeing to move to Canada and become part of a church community which didn’t wield those heavy guns to keep me in my place!
But breaking free of that stronghold of thinking (that leaders/prophets/teachers and apostles, or whoever, are more important in the Kingdom, and are to be ‘obeyed’) is just as hard for the sheep as it is for the shepherds.
You are so right to point out that God is our greatest teacher, and He took on the role of a servant to us in Christ! Amazing! We too are greatest when we serve and honour others. We need only do what we see the Father do, just like Jesus did. Our servant King.
I find that we still so easily slip into hierarchy and authority stuff. We might not be involved in heavy shepherding any more, but those with the most prominent spiritual gifts are definitely elevated in some circles. You mention signs and wonders following, regrettably even these are used as criterion for hierarchy and authority. I’ve done it myself.
We have such a problem with comparing ourselves to each other, don’t you think? (or is that only women?) This invariably leads to superiority or inferiority, those who are greater and those who are lesser.
Its quite a struggle to come to understand that our value is not in what our role is, or in what we achieve, but in Him who loves us without favouritism! My heart just skips and jumps whenever I think about how we not only belong to Him (my Lover is mine, and I am His), but how we belong to (and need) each other. Its glorious!