Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 27:1 (Winter 2013)
Article: Who’s In Charge? Questioning Our Common Assumptions About Spiritual Authority
Author: Matthew and Christa McKirland

PP 27:1 (Winter 2013) p. 15

Who’s In Charge? Questioning Our Common Assumptions About Spiritual Authority

Matthew and Christa McKirland

Matthew and Christa McKirland are both pursuing MA degrees in Bible exposition at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. They co-authored “Born to Lead: Born to Equip” in CBE’s Mutuality magazine (Summer 2009) and have served together at Mosaic Whittier in California for the past five years.

Introduction And Thesis

Who has authority and who does not? This question drives many debates in the church today, and the conclusions drawn from it determine how people can function. But very rarely do we ask the question, what is authority?

We propose a reframing of authority that defines how we function as a Christ-centered community. Being a Christ-centered community should be our primary concern, and, from this pursuit, our understanding of authority should arise. This article seeks to examine new-covenant believer (NCB) interpersonal authority, questioning the appropriateness of individuals exercising authority over fellow disciples of Jesus.1 We contend that we must primarily emphasize how to mature as members of Christ’s communal body and how to exhort others toward maturity, so that we, as a Christ-centered community, might fully express who Jesus is to the world. This maturity is dependent on a proper understanding of the authority of God, not on the authority of one person over another. By seeing authority in this way, we shift emphasis from office and position to maturity and gifting. And, since maturity in Christ is the goal of all believers, and all have gifts from the Spirit, these qualifications should dictate function. One practical way this understanding of authority can be applied is to the issue of women in leadership within the church.

This article will attempt to reflect Scripture’s emphasis on community, then survey Scripture’s lack of emphasis on NCB interpersonal authority, and, finally, close with practical implications of what such a reorientation would mean for the body of Christ and, consequently, the issue of women in church leadership.

Community Is Primary

Central among the thematic elements of Scripture is the notion of community. Many point to the themes of kingdom and covenant as the most pervasive ideas of the Bible, but community may be even more fundamental than these, as both kingdom and covenant found themselves on community. All things were created by a triune, communal God who cast his image onto humanity, and community is an integral part of who we are as humans. But, what is community? Considering the whole of Scripture, we define Christ-centered community as a group of diverse but e...