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The Reconstitution
of Authority
J. I. Packer
The Nature of Authority
. . . I expect that in regard to authority most of us are really ambivalent:
our enlightened, Christianly taught heads tell us that we should be for it, and
that there is no hallowing apart from it, while our fallen, late twentieth-cen
tury hearts remain suspicious and evasive of the whole idea of it. We had best
begin by trying to get into clear focus what we mean by authority, both in
general and specifically in Christianity; then perhaps we shall be able to raise
a little more enthusiasm for the idea of life under authority than we can mus
ter now. To this end I offer five perspectival points, as follows.
(i)
Authority is a
re lationa l
notion; it signifies superiority or dominance.
To have authority is to have a right to rule and a claim to exercise control.
Authority is expressed in directives and acknowledged by compliance and
conformity. The word “authority” is used both abstractly for the command
ing quality that authoritative claims have, and also concretely for the source
or sources of those claims—“the authority” or “the authorities” . In both
usages the thought of rightful dominance remains central. . . .
In biblical Christianity, as in the Old Testament, authority belongs to
God the Creator, and therefore to his Word—that is, his communication to
his rational creatures, verbalized in both the indicative and the imperative
moods, and particularized in relation to each person to whom it is sent. . . .
How the Word of God reaches us today, and how its meaning and mes
sage to us are to be discovered, are questions to which we must return; at
present, I simply ask you to note that what is finally authoritative for Chris-
i
Kins
is and must be the Word of their God, the Creator, the triune Yah-
weh
i
lie
Word addressed to them by the Father, whose children they are