Spiritual Authority

Busayo kept a note on her phone with a title she was ashamed of. It said: Is this rebellion?

She had joined the ministry in her final year at university. It met in a rented hall above a row of shops, and the founder, whom everyone called Daddy, preached with a fire she had never heard before. People were saved. Marriages were mended. For the first year she felt she had finally found a spiritual home, and she threw herself into the work: the protocol team, the media unit, the Friday night prayer line.

The note began during her third year. The first entry was small. Daddy said I should not visit my parents in Akure at Christmas without his permission. The next was a few weeks later. Told in the workers’ meeting that anyone who misses two services must write a letter explaining. She worked night shifts at a laboratory and had missed two. Then: Asked to submit my payslip for the covenant partners’ scheme. Twenty per cent on top of tithe. Then: Daddy said the young man I am courting is “not in the vision” and that if I marry outside the vision my home will not stand.

The last entry was the one that made her open the note at three in the morning and read the whole thing again. At a meeting about the building fund, one of the older workers had asked, politely, whether the church could publish an account of the money raised over the past two years. The founder’s face changed. He said, slowly, “Whoever questions this altar will learn what happens to those who touch the Lord’s anointed.” Then he reminded everyone of a former member who had left the church and been involved in a car accident months later.

Nobody asked another question. Busayo went home and could not sleep. She loved God. She did not want to be a rebel. She had been taught that honouring leaders was a sign of spiritual maturity, and she believed it. But something in her conscience would not be quiet. Is this rebellion?

Punchline

If you have ever asked that question, this teaching is for you. So is it, in a different way, for every pastor, elder and leader who wants to hold spiritual authority as Christ intends.

Authority is real, and it is borrowed

Let me say first what this teaching is not. It is not an argument against spiritual leadership. Scripture plainly gives the church leaders, and calls believers to receive their care with respect. “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account” (Hebrews 13:17). Paul asked the Thessalonians to esteem those who laboured among them “very highly in love for their work’s sake” (1 Thessalonians 5:13). A church without recognised leadership is not freer. It is usually more chaotic, and the loudest voice quietly takes over.

So authority in the church is real. But it is never original. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” Jesus said (Matthew 28:18). Every other authority in the church is delegated, and therefore bounded. Jesus put the principle plainly in a passage aimed at religious leaders who loved titles:

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Jesus is not banning every respectful title. Paul calls himself a father to the Corinthians in the gospel (1 Corinthians 4:15). The point is what the titles must never be allowed to mean. “For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” A pastor is a brother with a responsibility. He is not a second master standing between you and Christ.

That is the frame for everything that follows. A leader’s authority is genuine to the extent that it is exercised under Christ, in line with His word, and for the good of His people. When it departs from those three things, it loses its claim on your conscience.

“So shall it not be among you”

The clearest teaching Jesus gave on leadership came in response to an embarrassing request. James and John asked Him privately for the two seats of honour in His glory, one on His right hand and the other on His left. When the other ten heard about it, Mark says, “they began to be much displeased with James and John” (Mark 10:41). Probably because they wanted the seats themselves.

Jesus gathered them all and said this: “Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).

The two verbs Jesus uses for Gentile rule are strong. Exercise lordship translates a word meaning to lord it over, to dominate. Exercise authority upon carries the sense of using authority downward, against those beneath. Jesus is describing a pattern His disciples knew well from Roman governors and Herodian kings: power that serves the powerful, and people who exist for the ruler’s benefit.

“But so shall it not be among you.” Jesus did not abolish greatness. He redefined it. Greatness in His kingdom is measured by service, and the highest place is the place of the slave of all. And the model Jesus offers is His own cross. He came “to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” In the kingdom, the shepherd bleeds for the sheep.

That gives us a simple and searching test. In any ministry, ask: who is paying the cost? Who is being served, and who is doing the serving? When the people are continually being drained so that the leader can be enlarged, the pattern Jesus forbade has returned under Christian vocabulary.

What Peter told the elders

Peter was in the room when Jesus spoke those words. Decades later, writing to scattered churches under pressure, he gave this charge to their leaders:

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof , not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Notice how Peter introduces himself. He was an apostle, one of the three closest to Jesus, a witness of His sufferings. Yet he writes to the elders as “also an elder.” He stands alongside them, not above them.

Then he gives them a real task. “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof.” Feed is the shepherd’s word, which includes guiding, protecting and nourishing. Oversight is genuine responsibility. Peter does not want elders who are timid or absent.

But he hedges that oversight with three contrasts. The first concerns motive: the elder serves “willingly,” and “not by constraint,” never grudgingly, as though forced. The second concerns money: he serves “of a ready mind,” and “not for filthy lucre.” Ministry must never become a means of shameful financial gain. And then, “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”

The word Peter uses for being lords over is the same strong verb Jesus used in Mark 10 for the Gentile rulers who “exercise lordship.” Peter had remembered. And notice whose people they are: “God’s heritage.” The phrase refers to those allotted to the elders’ care, but they are allotted by God and remain His. The congregation is not the pastor’s estate. Leaders lead by example, by being “ensamples,” people whose lives can be followed, not by pressure.

Finally, “when the chief Shepherd shall appear.” Every under-shepherd will give account to the Chief Shepherd. That is a great encouragement to faithful leaders, who labour unseen and will receive “a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” And it is a sobering warning to those who treat God’s flock as their own.

Helpers of your joy

Paul had more apostolic authority than any pastor today. He had planted the church in Corinth, and he did not hesitate to correct it sharply. Yet when he explained why he had delayed a painful visit, he wrote this: “Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand” (2 Corinthians 1:24).

Dominion over your faith. Again, the word means to lord it over. Paul refuses it. He saw his role as helping their joy, and their faith was never his property. And his reason is profound: “by faith ye stand.” Each believer stands before God by faith in Christ. A leader can teach, encourage, warn and correct. He cannot stand in God’s place over your conscience.

The setting makes this even more striking. Some in Corinth were accusing Paul of being unreliable because he had changed his travel plans. Paul explains that he stayed away deliberately “to spare you” (2 Corinthians 1:23). A visit at that moment would have meant open confrontation, and he chose to write instead, “out of much affliction and anguish of heart” and “with many tears” (2 Corinthians 2:4). Here is an apostle with every right to arrive and assert himself, and he holds back because he cares more about their joy than about winning the argument. When correction finally comes, it comes from a man who has been weeping over them, not one who is enjoying his power.

Paul also tells us what his authority was for. He speaks of “our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction” (2 Corinthians 10:8). Authority in the church has a purpose built into it: to build people up. When it is used to tear them down, to frighten, shame or exploit, it is being used against its own purpose.

Nugget

Spiritual authority is given for building up, never for tearing down. A leader may help your joy and guard your faith, but he has no dominion over it.

When shepherds feed themselves

Scripture is not naive about leaders. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God spoke directly to the shepherds of Israel:

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

Look at the charge. They fed themselves and not the flock. They ate the fat and wore the wool, taking every benefit the sheep could provide. They did not strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken or seek the lost. “But with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.” God’s answer, later in the chapter, was that He Himself would search for His sheep and set over them one shepherd, His servant David, a promise fulfilled in Christ.

Paul warned the Ephesian elders that the same danger would arise within the church itself:

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

“Of your own selves shall men arise.” Not only wolves from outside. Men from within, “to draw away disciples after them.” The goal of such leaders is a following attached to themselves.

And Paul rebuked the Corinthians for tolerating exactly this kind of leader:

For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you , if a man take of you , if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

It is a painful list. Bondage. Devouring. Taking. Self-exaltation. Even being struck in the face. And the believers put up with it, apparently because the leaders were impressive and confident.

Spiritual abuse looks remarkably similar today. It is worth naming its common forms plainly:

• Threats of curses, sickness, accidents or death against those who question or leave.
• Misuse of “Touch not mine anointed” to silence questions about conduct, doctrine or money.
• Control over personal decisions that Scripture leaves to the believer’s conscience: whom to marry, where to work, when to visit family, where to live.
• Financial pressure: demands for payslips, compulsory levies, “seeds” extracted under threat, or money handled with no accountability.
• Public shaming of members from the pulpit.
• Isolation from family, friends or outside counsel, and suspicion toward anyone who speaks with another pastor.
• Demands for secrecy, especially about how the leader behaves.
• Treating loyalty to a person as though it were loyalty to God.

Here is an Old Testament word for the frightened. When a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name and his word does not come from the Lord, Moses says, “thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22). A threat spoken in God’s name is not made true by being spoken loudly. You belong to Christ. “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men” (1 Corinthians 7:23).

It is worth understanding why sincere believers remain in such environments for years, because those outside are often quick to judge them. Many stay because they genuinely received from God there. They were saved under that ministry, or healed, or rescued from a dark season, and they cannot easily separate the leader from the blessing. Others stay because their friendships, their marriage or their business all sit inside the church, and leaving would mean losing nearly everything at once. Some have been taught for so long that departure brings a curse that the fear has settled into their bodies. And the control usually arrives slowly, one small step at a time, so that each new demand seems only a little worse than the last. If you are inside such a place, you are not foolish. You are a person who trusted, and who is now finding the courage to look honestly at what that trust has been used for.

The boundaries of pastoral oversight

What, then, may a pastor properly do? Quite a lot. He may teach the Scriptures with conviction and call people to obey them. He may counsel, advise and warn. He may confront sin clearly, using the word of God. He may, with other leaders and through a fair process, exercise church discipline when a member persists in serious sin. He may ask workers to meet reasonable standards in the roles they have agreed to carry. All of this is real oversight, and a healthy church needs it.

What may he not do? He may not bind your conscience where Scripture has not bound it. “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth” (Romans 14:4). Your marriage partner, your career, your travel and your family relationships are matters on which a pastor may offer counsel when invited. They are not matters on which he may issue commands with spiritual threats attached. He may not treat your income as his. He may not demand secrecy that hides wrongdoing. He may not punish questions. And he may never use his position to gain sexual access, to touch anyone inappropriately, or to pressure anyone into silence about such conduct.

There is an important difference between advice and command. Good leaders give advice humbly and leave room for the believer to weigh it before God. Manipulative leaders dress advice up as divine instruction, so that disagreement feels like disobedience to God Himself.

Notice also that Peter, just after his charge to elders, writes: “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility” (1 Peter 5:5). Submission in the church runs in more than one direction. Leaders are under Christ, under the Scriptures, and in healthy churches under the oversight of other elders, a board or a wider fellowship of churches. They are also under the law of the land. A leader who answers to nobody has placed himself outside the pattern the New Testament describes.

The good shepherd and the hireling

Jesus gave us the clearest contrast of all:

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. The hireling, who is in it for what he can gain, “careth not for the sheep.” Just before this, Jesus describes a third figure: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Here is the question that cuts through all the language of honour, covering and anointing: does this leadership give life to the sheep, or does it take life from them? Are people growing freer, more mature, more able to read the Scriptures for themselves and to stand by faith before God? Or are they growing more anxious, more dependent and more afraid?

Faithful shepherds exist, thank God, and most readers have known some. They visit the hospital at midnight. They tell the truth when it costs them. They welcome questions because they have nothing to hide. They open the accounts. They are glad when their people grow beyond needing them. Such leaders deserve deep honour, and I hope you will give it gladly.

Freedom to ask, and freedom to seek help

If you are in Busayo’s position, here is what I want you to know.

Asking a sincere question is not rebellion. The believers in Berea examined the teaching of the apostle Paul himself against the Scriptures, and Luke calls them noble for it (Acts 17:11). A leader who cannot bear a respectful question has revealed something about his leadership.

Punchline

Write down what is happening, as Busayo did. Clear records of dates, words and events help you think, and they may matter later.

Speak to someone outside the system. A mature believer, a pastor from another church, a family member, a trusted lecturer from your old campus fellowship. Abusive environments depend on isolation. One outside voice can restore your sense of what is normal.

You may decline an instruction that violates Scripture or your conscience. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

You may leave. Leaving a harmful ministry is not leaving God. If possible, leave honestly and safely, but you do not need the leader’s permission or blessing to go.

You do not have to confront an abuser alone. Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 18:15 to “go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone” is wise for ordinary offences between believers. It was never intended to force a vulnerable person into a private room with someone who has power over them.

Report crimes. Sexual abuse, assault, threats of violence and financial fraud are matters for the police and the appropriate authorities, not only for church processes. Where children or vulnerable adults are at risk, act at once. If the ministry belongs to a denomination or wider body, inform its oversight as well.

Protect your finances. Stop automatic deductions you did not freely agree to. Seek legal advice if you have been pressured into loans, guarantees or property transfers.

And seek care for your soul. Spiritual abuse often leaves lasting fear, guilt and confusion about God. A wise pastor in a healthy church, and where needed a qualified Christian counsellor, can help you separate the voice of the Good Shepherd from the voice that misused His name.

To leaders: build churches where these steps are rarely necessary. Publish accounts and have them audited. Adopt a safeguarding policy and follow it. Make sure members have a way to raise a concern about you that does not run through you. Welcome questions publicly. Invite other mature leaders to speak into your life. Authority that is accountable is far stronger than authority that is feared.

Busayo did eventually show her note to someone. She sent it, with trembling hands, to the pastor who had led her campus fellowship years earlier. He called her that evening. “I have read every line,” he said. “Not one of these questions is rebellion. Some of them are exactly the questions a faithful Christian should ask.”

Leaving took several months. She stopped the payroll deduction first, and received two angry voice notes for it. She married the young man who was “not in the vision,” and her home, I am glad to say, is standing. For a while she found it hard to sit in any church at all. A counsellor helped her recognise how much fear she had absorbed and how often she had heard God’s voice through a frightened filter.

The turning point came in a newcomers’ class at the congregation she now attends. The pastor, a quiet man in his sixties, said near the end of the first session, “You are free to ask me anything. If I ever ask you to do something that troubles your conscience, I want you to tell me, and if you cannot tell me, tell one of the elders. Their numbers are on the back of the card.” Busayo told me she cried all the way to the bus stop.

She has since deleted the note. She does not need it any more. The answer to its question was settled long ago by the Chief Shepherd Himself, who came to serve and to give His life for the sheep. Leaders who walk in His steps are a gift to treasure. Leaders who do not have no claim on your fear.

For reflection, practice and prayer

Teaching Companion

For Reflection

• How would you describe the difference between real spiritual authority and manipulation, using Mark 10:42-45 and 1 Peter 5:1-4?
• In the ministries you have known, who has usually paid the cost: the leaders or the people? What does that tell you?
• Have you ever felt that asking a question was disloyal to God? Where did that feeling come from?
• What signs of healthy, accountable leadership can you see in your own church, and which are missing?
• If you are a leader, what structures could you put in place this year so that people can raise concerns about you safely?

This Week

Read Mark 10:42-45, 1 Peter 5:1-4 and John 10:10-13 slowly this week, and write down in two columns what each passage says good leadership does and what it refuses to do. If you lead others, share the list with a trusted fellow leader and ask honestly where your practice falls short. If you have been in a controlling environment, show the list to one mature believer outside that ministry and talk through what you have experienced.

A Prayer

Lord Jesus, You are the Good Shepherd who gave Your life for the sheep, and the Chief Shepherd to whom every leader will give account. Thank You for faithful pastors who have fed and protected me. Give me a heart that honours true leadership gladly, and a conscience that will not be ruled by fear. Where I have been manipulated or threatened in Your name, heal me and set me free, and lead me to people who reflect Your care. Where I lead others, keep me from lording it over Your heritage. Make me an example, a servant and a helper of their joy. Amen.

Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.