Three Relationships Towards Authority

Dearly Beloved,

There are three relationships people have towards authority.

1. The first relationship is slavery. This comes from a philosophy that the person under authority considers the person in authority as superior, and because of this, takes the place of a slave and he behaves slavishly. A person with slavery-mindset considers it a privilege for the person in authority to be there. This is a wrong position.

2. The second relationship is rebellion. The person operating in rebellion towards authority is acting based on the mindset that he is superior to the person in authority. God hates rebellion, and He has given us a standard of judgement for rebellion in what He did to the devil by sending him to hell. Anybody operating in rebellion is going to hell right from this world.

Psalms 68:6

“God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.”

Just as demons, when they are cast out, walk around in dry, waterless places (Luke 11:24), God arranges a rebellious person to have an atmosphere that demons stay around him. Rebellion is a wrong position to have towards headship and authority.

3. The third relationship is submission. Submission is to understand that the person in authority is created equal with you but he is assigned different from you. He needs to be in headship so that government and order can come. It is in an atmosphere of order that increase and blessings come.

Where there is no order, there is no increase and peace. Whether in a home or church or in a country, anywhere that there is a breakdown in order, decrease, pain and sorrow will reign. This is what is obtainable in places under the siege of terrorism. God will prefer that somebody is in authority, even if the person is not good for as long as that authority will keep the peace. Submission is the best and the correct relationship towards authority.

Authority however does not mean using brute force on people to control them. Authority is established through mutual understanding. Some men do not understand how to relate with their wives. While you can use concrete authority of threat and beating for children, your wife is not one of your children so you cannot use concrete authority on her. You never have the right to say things like, “I will give you a slap if you repeat such statement” to your wife. She has a right to disagree; a right to speak back.

You and your wife are equal partners in the union. It is a testimony of your weakness in leadership and the smallness of your heart as a husband to be threatening your wife with force. If a husband feels he has to resort to threat with his wife, he should withdraw for about two weeks and go and pray and adjust himself. Every woman is looking for somebody to lead her correctly. When a woman finds something ‘submittable’ to, she will submit. A man who enters into marriage without  becoming a leader will create problems in that marriage.

Rev. Olusola Areogun.