I recently came across a video in which John MacArthur, the famed Reformed preacher and bible commentator, responded to a question during a Q & A at (I think) his church. He was asked, “How much authority do pastors have over their people?” And his answer, if I’m honest, surprised me. “None,” he said. Ever the purist, he pointed out that scripture rightfully has authority in the Church and it is to scripture alone we must submit.
That answer got me thinking, especially as I consider my evangelical and charismatic ways.
Before we look at any texts, I think it’s helpful to highlight three broad positions on the issue of pastoral authority.
The Catholic View
If we start with the Catholics, we find a kind of duality at work. The Roman Catholic Church has historically accepted equality between the authority of scripture and the authority of the Church, by which they mean the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests (in descending order of importance). The reason for this is that Catholic doctrine stipulates that scripture must be interpreted through the Church and, if you look at our history, this makes sense to some degree (can’t believe I said that!).
Imagine you’re a working class person living in 13th century France. You haven’t received a very good education - you don’t need one to work the fields, look after animals or continue the family trade. You can’t read your own language, let alone Latin, Greek or Hebrew and this presents a problem: what few bibles and texts available are recorded in these languages.
The local priest, on the other hand, is educated to the highest levels. He can read and write in most, if not all, these languages; he is probably versed in philosophy and science to boot. He’s a clever man, one of the brightest around, and had far more opportunities in education than most people you know.
It is therefore the priest’s job to read and teach the scriptures to his congregation every week. The liturgical mass is designed to help you retain the information you need (according to Catholic doctrine) to be saved.
I don’t know about you, but I think that sets a strong precedent for pastoral authority in the Church. He who controls the text controls the people. I can’t remember if that is a quote from someone or not, but it should be. Today, of course, we have more access than ever to the Bible so even in Catholicism dependence is not on the priesthood to hear scripture and understand it. But the implication remains: without the Church, we cannot be saved. Pastoral authority remains strong and, in some cases, unwielding.
The Evangelical View
I didn’t know if I should call this one the Evangelical view or the Protestant view, but both present the same problem: these traditions are simply too broad to offer a single definition. So, I’ll be talking about middle-of-the-road evangelicalism.
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