What Authority Does My Pastor Have over Me?

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, we’re joined by Ligonier’s Chief Publishing Officer, the editor of Tabletalk magazine, and the pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, Dr. Burk Parsons. Dr. Parsons, what authority does a pastor have over the Christians in their congregation?

DR. BURK PARSONS: That’s a great question, and it’s a question that we need to do a better job of answering in the church. And pastors need to be the ones foremost helping people understand really what their authority is and what their authority isn’t, where our authority begins and where it ends. I think this is something that is very confusing for a lot of people, both older and younger Christians, because many of them come from an upbringing or a church or tradition where the pastor has a tremendous amount of authority in the lives of the congregation.

Over the years in counseling, I’ll sometimes give my opinion to an individual or a couple, and they’ll say, “Well, I feel like I really need to do that because you’ve given me that counsel.” And I have to stop them, and I’ll say: “Well, you have to understand that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong, and you need to seek other counsel as well.” Now, there are times when we need to instruct people as pastors in our counseling and in our preaching according to the Word of God, but we have to always make it clear that there is a difference between declaring to God’s people God’s Word and our own personal opinions.

And so, this question over the years has been one that I’ve sought to address with the congregation that I serve to help them understand that I as a pastor am not coming to them in my own authority—I do not have inherent authority—that even when I’m preaching from the pulpit, I am preaching with an authority that’s not mine. It is a ministerial authority or a declarative authority. And what that means is this: that when I preach or when pastors preach and teach, even from the pulpit, even as we proclaim and declare the whole counsel of God to God’s people, we have to remember that we have an authority that’s not ours. It is a derivative authority, wherein we are called to preach God’s Word to God’s people.

This is one of the reasons why historically many pastors have worn robes when preaching. The robe, historically, has existed to demonstrate that the man wearing the robe is under a greater authority. This is why judges still wear robes in many parts of the world, not just in the United States. It’s one of the reasons why pastors have historically worn robes, not just in churches with a high liturgy, but many Baptist churches and Wesleyan and Methodist churches wore robes throughout history to show that they are under authority, that our job is to declare God’s Word to God’s people.

This is very important because we have to remember that we are servants. We as pastors have to put ourselves in our places. We have to remind ourselves, and we even need to remind the people we serve, that we are there to serve them. As we serve God, we serve God’s people, and we are, first and foremost, servants. This is what Paul writes throughout his letters. We see this in 1 Corinthians 3:5: “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed.” We are servants. In 1 Corinthians 4:1, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God,” that word “steward” is very, very important. We are not masters. We are not lords. We are servants.

Now, the hard thing for a lot of us pastors, really for all Christians, is when people treat us like servants because none of us likes to be treated like a servant, but that is, in fact, what we are, just like Jesus Christ came to serve and not be served. He gave us the example of service, and we as pastors have too often lorded our authority over God’s people. Certainly, there is an authority that we have, but we have that authority only under the Word of God, under Christ who is our chief Shepherd.

And that’s what Peter is getting at in his epistle. In 1 Peter 5, Peter writes: “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:1–4).

And then Peter, in verse 5, talks about humility, how we are all to clothe ourselves with humility—that includes pastors. We ought to be regularly, daily, before we step into that pulpit, clothing ourselves with humility. And the robe that I wear—I know that that’s not the case in many traditions in many churches today—but the robe that I wear is a constant reminder that I need to clothe myself with humility before I step in that pulpit because I’m a man under authority. And my job is not to go out there and to preach in my own authority, my own opinions, and to domineer or lord it over God’s people. They are God’s flock; they’re not my flock.

The elders that I serve with are not my elders; they are the elders of Jesus Christ, and I serve alongside them. Even though I’m the senior pastor of my church where I serve, I have to always remember that it’s not my church ultimately. It’s not my congregation. It’s Christ’s church, it’s Christ’s congregation, and I am there to serve His people without lording it over them, without being domineering, because fundamentally, my job is not to point people to myself. My job is not to point people to my own opinions, or how great I am, or my own authority in their lives, but rather to point them constantly to Jesus Christ.