What, Exactly, Is Authority Orientation?

The question on the table is this, “What, exactly, is authority orientation?” The term “authority orientation” is a theological one used to describe a person’s willingness to orient to God-ordained authority. Can this type of orientation be perverted, where a person claims it’s one way but the truth, in God’s eyes, is another? Of course, hence the impetus for my writing this blog.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
The issue with authority orientation is that it runs contrary to everything the human flesh is trying to accomplish in a person. If you understand the nature of sin (aka the “sin nature”), then you know that the Hebrew word “teshuqah” is used to describe its fundamental motivation. “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire [teshuqah] is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). Sin’s desire is to dominate. There can be only one sovereign in a believer’s life, that is God. Therefore, sin is inherently at odds with God, our righteous authority.

Sin is resourceful; it doesn’t simply roll over and die, rather, it fights heartily for even slivers of dominance. It’s constantly exploiting our weaknesses, which is why the Bible warns us to be ever vigilant and self-aware of its influence over us. It also lurks in the shadows of our lives, often making its greatest strides in areas which seem good, but are merely cloaked evil. In other words, there are times when we think we are doing something good, but it turns out that we are actually doing sin’s bidding. Case in point, when we claim to be authority-oriented, but our actions speak otherwise.

The Bible gives us clear examples of this in a variety of ways.

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.
God has ordained all authority, which means that, by virtue of His own sovereign right to rule, He has installed every authority (remember, even the “god of this world” [2 Corinthians 4:4], Satan, was installed by God). This is critical for every believer to understand. God chooses those in authority, we don’t (keep repeating that to yourself). Our job, according to Holy Scripture, is to obey. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19).

The very first act of obedience is to submit! One of the slickest tactics an anti-authority-oriented person takes is to refuse to submit, therefore rendering any and all subsequent acts of obedience to said authority as null and void - one decision decimates all others. Consider the alternative, where a person submits but opts to disobey said authority every single time sin asks them to. The prior route, though more heinous, is the more “efficient” route for an arrogant person.

One perfect example of this kind of disgraceful behavior is seen with regard to the God-ordained authority of pastors over Christ’s flock. Jesus, through His Spirit, has commissioned certain men with this spiritual gift for the benefit of His sheep. They are authorities with special emphasis on spiritual matters, especially within the context of the local assembly (a church). Since God installed them, they are to be submitted to.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Some argue from their own arrogance that churches are optional (do not confuse churches with the Church, which describes all believers as a group). Anyone who takes such a stance reveals their own ignorance concerning the Word of God. The context of the New Testament rests, in part, on the existence of churches as a primary component of God’s authority. He uses them structurally and for the sake of stabilizing the Church (the larger body of believers). The Apostle Paul clearly understood the importance of churches.

And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
God installs churches and authorities over them for the sake of spiritual accountability. Stop! Do you see the “sliver” that sin can exploit here? Let me point it out. If a person refuses to submit to the authority of a church and/or the leader(s), they have, in one fell swoop, dismissed the issue of spiritual accountability (within the purview of the church). Pretty slick, huh? This is precisely why, if you pay close attention to the “I-don’t-need-a-church” camp, what you’ll typically find is a person living in sin. “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (John 3:20). Here are a few passages where the church is in view:

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.
As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
As I wrote at length in my book titled, Covert Arrogance (it’s available for free on the NCC website), arrogance hates to be judged. A local church is designed to pass fair, godly judgment on its members. An arrogant person releases themselves from this by simply rejecting what God has put in place for their own good. This is a very common area where authority orientation is terribly breeched. What results are a bunch of unbridled, undisciplined, unaccountable (though God holds them accountable) sinners. Many of them claim some gnostic understanding of the Bible, but like all Gnostics preceding them, they are fools merely trying to substantiate their living contrary to God’s will.

Interestingly, God allows this unholy scene to play out sometimes. In fact, we have lots of instances in the Bible of such times. For example, the final verse in the Book of Judges reveals a sad theme, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). For specific purposes only fully known by God, He allowed a lapse in leadership over Israel - possibly to prove the very point of this blog (the principle preexists this blog, of course) - in order to illustrate what happens to man when authority is missing in his life. If you read the Book of Judges, you know that it ends badly, hence this final statement. Man, left to his own devices, inevitably departs from God. The following passage that Solomon wrote to close out his great book on human experimentation helps drive this home.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
God is sovereign. He has delegated His authority to those He’s installed as leaders. To obey our leaders is to obey God. So, to answer the question on the table, “What, exactly, is authority orientation?” The Holy Bible answers this very clearly. Authority orientation describes an absolute, unadulterated mindset that God’s will is perfect. A person cannot proclaim such a mindset if they pick and choose when to obey His delegated authorities, nor can they pick and choose which authorities are from God, because they all are. God, government, church, pastors, husbands, parents, bosses, etc.…these are all authorities ordained by God to accomplish His purposes. An authority-oriented person simply says, “OK,” and is blessed for it.

Arrogance hates to be judged, which is why the very first tactic it often employs is to reject authority. Look around you. It doesn’t take long to see that the folks living in sin are the same ones who reject authority.

Love in Christ,

Ed Collins