A PASTOR HAS NO PERSONAL AUTHORITY OVER THE CONGREGATION

By Akin Ojumu

During a Q&A session at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, a woman from the audience stepped up to the microphone to ask Pastor John MacArthur a question.

You could sense her apprehension almost immediately. The paper from which she read was visibly shaking. Her voice trembled. She was clearly uneasy about what she was about to ask.

Nevertheless, she gathered her courage and pressed on.

And the question she asked is, I believe, one that sits silently in the hearts of countless confused, intimidated, and spiritually battered Christians around the world—people who have been abused, manipulated, controlled, and sometimes terrorized by pastors who have grossly exaggerated the scope of pastoral authority.

Her question was simple:

“How much authority does a pastor actually have over the people he shepherds?”

The answer she received may come as a shock to Christians who have been conditioned to regard their Pastors as spiritual monarchs. It is certainly not the kind of answer many self-important “men of God” would be eager for their congregations to hear.

What Pastor John MacArthur told this woman would not sit comfortably with those Pastors who have effectively transformed themselves from shepherds of God’s people into gods over men.

Yet his answer is precisely what many miniature tyrants terrorizing the Household of Faith desperately need to hear.

Too many Churches are ruled by power-drunk despots who behave as though ordination conferred sovereignty upon them. Too many denominational leaders have become ecclesiastical dictators who imagine that the people of God exist to obey their personal wishes.

They need to be reminded that pastoral authority has limits.

Very strict limits.

The question from the audience:

“To what extent is a member of a Church required to obey his Pastor? How much authority does a Pastor have in the lives of his congregants?”

Pastor MacArthur’s answer was astonishingly direct:

“Um…none. No authority. Um…I have no authority in this Church, personally. My experience doesn’t give me any authority. My knowledge doesn’t give me any authority. My education doesn’t give me any authority. Um…I have no authority. My position doesn’t give me any authority. My title doesn’t give me any authority…that’s why I don’t like titles.”

That statement alone would probably cause cardiac arrhythmias in certain sections of contemporary Christianity.

No personal authority. None! Nada! Zilch!

Not because you are called “Papa.” Not because people address you as “Daddy.” Not because you are called “General Overseer.” Not because you founded the ministry. Not because your photograph is twenty feet tall behind the pulpit.

Not because thousands attend your meetings. Not because you claim an “apostolic mantle.” Not because people carry your Bible, polish your shoes, open your car door, or kneel when speaking to you.

None of those things gives a Pastor personal sovereignty over another Christian.

Pastor MacArthur then explained where authority in the Church actually resides:

“Only the Word of God has authority. Christ is the Head of the Church, and He mediates His rule in the Church through His Word. I have no authority. I don’t have authority beyond the Scripture. I can never exceed what is written…1 Corinthians 4:6. To do that is to become, Paul says, ‘arrogant and to regard yourself as superior.’ I have nothing to say to you that puts any demand on you if it isn’t from the Word of God.”

There is the crucial distinction.

A Pastor possesses ministerial authority, not personal sovereignty. His authority is derived. Delegated. Bounded. He does not possess an independent reservoir of spiritual power by which he may command the private lives of Christians according to his own preferences.

His responsibility is to preach, teach, explain, defend, and apply the Word of God faithfully.

The moment he moves beyond Scripture and begins imposing his personal opinions, preferences, ambitions, traditions, revelations, or whims upon the congregation as though God Himself had spoken, he has crossed a line.

Christ is the Head of the Church. Not the Pastor. The Pastor is an under-shepherd. He does not own the sheep.

Pastor MacArthur concluded by reminding his audience of something modern celebrity Christianity desperately needs to rediscover:

“So, the pastor, in himself, has no authority. Listen to what Paul says, ‘Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Who is Cephas?’ We are nothing. It’s all of Christ. It’s all of the Holy Spirit. It’s all of the Scripture.”

That is biblical pastoral humility.

And there you have it from a man who himself served as Pastor of the same congregation for nearly six decades.

The Pastor, in himself, is nothing. Christ is everything.

Yet many Christians have been discipled into precisely the opposite mentality.

The Pastor has become everything. His opinions are treated as divine decrees. His preferences become commandments. His personal ambitions become “the vision.”

Disagreeing with him becomes “rebellion.” Questioning him becomes “dishonor.” Leaving his Church becomes “abandoning your spiritual covering.” Criticizing false doctrine becomes “touching the Lord’s anointed.” And refusing to obey an unbiblical instruction becomes “resisting spiritual authority.”

This is how pastoral ministry is transformed into spiritual authoritarianism.

Some of you have travelled so far down the road of man-worship that you need to be reminded of some very elementary truths.

Your pastor was not crucified for you. It was not your Pastor’s blood that was shed for the remission of your sins. Your Pastor did not redeem your soul. Your Pastor did not conquer death. Your Pastor did not rise from the grave on the third day. Your Pastor is not seated at the right hand of the Father. Your Pastor is not coming again to judge the living and the dead.

When you were baptized, you were not baptized:

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Pastor.”

Jesus did not say:

“You shall receive power when the Pastor’s spirit has come upon you.”

Peter did not write:

“Desire the sincere milk of the word of your Pastor, that you may grow thereby.”

And Paul did not say:

“There is one God and one mediator between God and men—the Man, your General Overseer.”

You belong to Christ. You are a disciple of Christ. You were purchased by Christ. Your conscience belongs to Christ. And therefore, Christ and His Word must remain your ultimate and final authority in everything pertaining to faith and godliness.

Yes, Scripture commands Christians to respect faithful spiritual leaders. Yes, elders are to be honored. Yes, believers are instructed to submit to legitimate biblical oversight.

But biblical submission is not idolatry. Honor is not worship. Respect is not servitude. Pastoral leadership is not dictatorship. And spiritual oversight does not mean surrendering your conscience, judgment, family, finances, decisions, or life to the personal control of another human being.

A faithful Pastor points you away from himself and toward Christ. A faithful Pastor does not demand unquestioning loyalty to himself. A faithful Pastor does not manufacture obedience by threats, intimidation, curses, prophecies, or claims of mystical spiritual authority. 

A faithful Pastor understands that the sheep do not belong to him. They belong to Christ.

Any minister who forgets that has forgotten the very nature of Christian ministry.

So, honor your pastor where honor is due. Respect those who faithfully labor in the Word. Submit to sound biblical instruction. 

But never confuse a servant of Christ with Christ Himself. God alone is to be worshiped. 

No apostle. No prophet. No bishop. No General Overseer. No “Papa.” No “Daddy in the Lord.” And certainly, no man born of woman should ever become the object of the devotion, fear, allegiance, or worship that belongs to God alone.