Article June 17, 1972 Issue

Challenging False Authority

P. RHODES BOWEN

Where does authority really lie? Who should wield it? How? The authority of governments is being challenged at all levels, and educators and churchmen are being forced to seek more spiritual definitions of discipline and power. These signs of the times should be welcomed, not feared, by all sincere thinkers, for a closer look tells us that it is a false view of authority, not real authority, that is being challenged.

In Matthew's Gospel, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, it is recorded that "when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Matt. 7:28, 29;

John relates that Pontius Pilate, who represented the highest earthly authority of that day, said to Christ Jesus before the crucifixion, "Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?"

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