Worldly Authority

Charles B. Hodge, Jr., is a prolific writer and a minister of the Church of Christ. He closes each chapter of The Agony & Glory of the Cross with “The Cross…there is no other way!” Thus, I have taken Reverend Hodge’s declaration for the title of this review. He further explains his thesis of the importance of the cross: “Jesus could not save Himself and still be our Savior. There is no way but the cross.” The unique approach to teaching the New Testament – and Christs’ journey to Calvary – requires several readings, analysis, and return to biblical text.

Most would not admit this but very often, Christians have in many ways - through crusade, capture and trade, used the name and influence of Jesus Christ to encourage and validate political, economic, even and especially military gain. The book Christ and Empire is representative of Jesus Christ, and empires throughout history with great effort with the fact of Jesus’ implication on human life. As every theologian or political figure interpret Jesus’ power on humanity, He is the central figure of the Byzantine Empire pointing out that power and harmony of a group, and eventually the downfall from America. This is a central focus in Christ and Empire, where Rieger

He laments, “In some seminaries today pastors are not trained to use the Bible for ministry decisions.” (12) He argues that the contrasting errors of adding human rules to God’s Word and ignoring it all together, both reject the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture. Rienow maintains that Scripture is not relegated to the realm of ‘religion,’ but is sufficient for issues that we face day to day including family, marriage, education and government. He warns that taking a stand on the sufficiency of Scripture can be dangerous. He points out that Scriptural authority has been replaced outside and inside the church. He states, “We have become twisted and governed by a bizarre mix of feelings, personal experience, human wisdom and pragmatism, rather than the Scriptures.”

I still carry my cross deep inside my soul. (Parallelism) Divorce parents carried a set of broken heart, orphans carried their first teddy bear from salvation army, cancer patients carried the love of their family, murders carried regrets of their actions and death penalty. I carried my cross. But in honesty, Jesus took up my cross and my sufferings weighed like a feather. Now because I carry the true cross, I carry joy, happiness, eternal life, eternal treasures, eternal rest, humility, service, friendship, brothership, church. When I get to look at my cross, I don't care what other people thinks about this or what I do. I am happy to serve for the kingdom of God, and I will carry my cross to represent my kind prince of peace, and devote my life to carry other's sufferings to help them to cope with the

Whom you put as your authority can control your reaction in situations. For example, in your work, you have a situation you disagree with and do not feel you should go through with but your boss is saying, please continue, the company requires you to continue, it is essential for the company for you to continue, or you have no other choice but to continue. We have all been in this situation or similar at some point and it is key for us to stay in an autonomous state, taking responsibility for our actions. Furthermore, the Christian Worldview puts a higher being as the authority and not man as your authority. It is essential for you to use the life of Jesus as an example in taking responsibility for our

In their book, Churches, Cultures and Leadership, Mark Lau Branson and Juan F. Martinez point out the perspective of “Practical Theology.” (Part 1, 39) They also explain the purpose of “Interpretive Leadership.” (133) Their stories helped me understand how the circumstances challenge church leaders. (Introduction, 19)

And we as Christians are to respect authority, and we are to submit to authority.

Gilbert Bilezikian gives four areas that need to be addressed when administering the church here on earth, 1. A shared faith, 2. A share purpose, 3. A shared lifestyle and 4. A shared authority (Bilezikian, 1993, p. 195-197). A shared faith is noted in Ephesians 4:5 where God’s people are told to have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (NIV). Gilbert tells his readers, “every church needs to formuloate clearly its understanding of the Christian faith” ( (Bilezikian, 1993, p. 195). With this written statement everyone within the church will have a common ground from which to govern, with all people knowing what the belief of that church is.

For this Bible study, my passage comes from Matthew 8:5-13. It is the story of the Roman Centurion with the servant who was very sick. This is the Centurion whom Jesus said had the greatest faith in all of Israel.

For the differences, the authority of centurion limited to his men, but Jesus has authority on all the

In Jesus’ trials, He embodied great courage because of the extent He went to bring this knowledge to others. Jesus went through the cross by remaining present with the people who had the forgetfulness, and He announced the

The New Testament leaders are an example of how church leaders of today should also behave and work[8]. They ought to be able to teach, guide the believers in the way of God and nurture their spiritual gifts. The New Testament leaders had to boldly defend the word of God in case of any false teaching. Basing on this New Testament leadership, it is important to make sure that any believer appointed to the leadership office has the laid down qualifications[9].

Since the Messiah is our Lord, we are subject to Him, not to the world. We live in His Kingdom, not the kingdom of this world. This means we are a part of a government that is ruled by him and under His sovereignty. The Messiah’s authority is given to Him by God. When we become believers, we can enter the Kingdom of the Most High our world changes. We are in the world, but we are not "of" the world as stated in John 17:14-16: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. We come back to being citizens

The authority of an agent is the act which he is allowed or authorised to do by his principal, and which will bind his/her principal. Usually, the principal will only be bound by the act of the agent if the agent acts within his/her authority. There are two types of authority which an agent could rely on, namely actual authority and apparent or ostensible authority.

This paper will approach each aspect of God Divine decrees, from a biblical standpoint and His plan of salvation. The working of God’s plan includes three periods in time: