Lessons #57 and 58
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Pastor’s need to be authoritative (Titus 2:15)
These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
Our focus in this verse is on the concept of authority that will be reflected in the message of this verse that we will state shortly. As a word “authority” is the right to do something, particularly to command or to exercise control over objects, individuals or events. Although the word “power” is often used regarding the definition of authority but in reality, power is different from authority since power is the ability to bring about what one desires. That aside, the word “authority” is characterized by this fact of right to command or exercise control over someone. The implication is that you should never consider yourself as one who understands authority if you are unwilling to be commanded by the authority in question.
The concept of authority is one that is established by God for the smooth running of the affairs of humans on this planet. Thus, there are several kinds of authorities that God has ordained. There is the governmental authority necessary for the smooth operation of a nation. There is the parental authority that is necessary for the stability of families that are the core units of any society. In effect, if there is instability in families because of lack of authority in homes then that will result in a nation that is also unstable in its affairs. Another kind of authority is spiritual, specifically, that in the church, which is the concern of our passage. Because we are concerned with spiritual authority, we will present five facts that we should be cognizant as we consider the passage before us.
A first fact is that Jesus Christ has supreme authority over the church which is His body. This supreme authority of Jesus Christ over the church is stated in Ephesians 5:23:
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Someone may say that this verse does not state that Jesus Christ is the supreme authority of the church. But it does in the phrase the head of the church. The word head is a term used figuratively in the Scripture to denote superior rank. It is used to denote one who had control over a people or nation, that is, a leader of a people or nation, as Saul was over Israel, as stated in 1 Samuel 15:17:
Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.
The phrase the head of the tribes of Israel is better translated the leader of the tribes of Israel. Head is also used figuratively in the sense of authority. Thus, God is said to have authority over Christ, Christ over the church, and the man over the woman in 1 Corinthians 11:3:
Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
So, the term “head” is one that denotes leadership that is characterized by authority. Hence, when Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus is the head of the church, he means that He is the ruler of all those who are in the right relationship with God. As its ruler, He has supreme authority over the church. This point is important to keep in mind both for the benefit of pastors and members of a local church. The implication is that no human being has supreme authority over a local church since that authority resides in the Lord of the church. In practice, what this means is that when there is an issue to be settled in the church, it is the final authority of Jesus Christ that settles the matter. How, you may ask? By consulting the voice of the authority of Jesus Christ, which is the Scripture. In other words, our final authority for settling any dispute among believers is the Scripture not the dicta of any human being who claims to have highest spiritual authority over a local church.
A second fact is that authority may be delegated from one that has it to another who will exercise authority derived from the original possessor of it. This truth is demonstrated with Moses. The Lord instructed him to delegate his authority to Joshua with the expectation that he would eventually assume Moses’ full authority, as recorded in Numbers 27:19–20:
19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him.
The delegation of authority to Joshua was accomplished symbolically through the laying on of the hands of Moses on Joshua in the presence of people so that the people will recognize that Joshua has Moses’ delegated authority. Similarly, the leaders Moses appointed had delegated authority from him as referenced in Deuteronomy 1:15:
So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.
The verbal phrase appointed them to have authority over you is literally appointed them heads over you. We have already noted that the word “head” may stand figuratively for authority or leaders. Therefore, the translators of the NIV are correct in using the word “authority” instead of the literal word “head” in their translation. Anyway, delegated authority is also evident in the authority the Lord Jesus gave to the twelve disciples to heal and drive out evil spirits, as reported in Matthew 10:1:
He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
The demons no doubted recognized the authority of the disciples as that derived from the Lord Jesus Christ for unless that was the case the disciples would have had no authority to order evil spirits out of those they indwelt. We know for fact that demons submitted to the authority of the seventy-two disciples Jesus sent out for mission work as He was on His way to Jerusalem for the last time, according to Luke 10:17:
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
The phrase in your name may be understood as a reference to Jesus’ authority that has been delegated to the disciples. The point is that authority can be delegated so that the one who receives it has the full authority of the one that has delegate such to the individual.
A third fact is that the supreme authority of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, has delegated His authority to the spiritual leaders of local churches for the purpose of directing the spiritual life of believers. Of course, we do not have a direct statement of Jesus Christ transferring authority to spiritual leaders as He did with the authority transferred to the church to preach the gospel, as given in Matthew 28:18–20:
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Even in this passage that is concerned with Jesus’ authority conferred to the church, He did not state directly that He was delegating His authority to the church but that is implied because He commissioned the church to preach the gospel. His mention of His own authority implies that He conferred His authority to the church. Consequently, it is through the functions of spiritual leaders that we are certain that the Lord of the church had delegated His authority to the spiritual leaders of His church. This can be seen from the fact that spiritual leaders are described as shepherds and overseers in Acts 20:28:
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
A shepherd as a secular term refers to one who directs and controls the sheep. Therefore, a shepherd has authority over the sheep. This being the case, when those who are spiritual leaders of the local churches are described as shepherds or overseers, the implication is that such persons have authority over the church as they are those who represent Jesus Christ to the church. It should not be difficult to accept that Jesus Christ delegated His authority over the church to the spiritual leaders since when a person in authority sends out another on a mission then the emissary has the full authority of the one that sent him. Although Jesus Christ is God but because He was sent by the Father to take on human nature to die for our sins, He described Himself as one that received authority from God the Father, as for example, in His priestly prayer in John 17:2:
For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
The Lord Jesus indicates that the Father granted Him authority as the One He sent to die for our sins. This is a delegated authority that the Son had while on this planet. Apostle Paul in narrating his conversion, indicated that once he obtained permission to persecute Christians that he had the authority of the high priest, as stated in Acts 26:10:
And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
Hence, it should not be difficult to understand that once the Lord appoints spiritual leaders of the church that He has delegated His authority to them. Apostle Paul understood this truth so that he could speak of the authority that he received from the Lord Jesus Christ for maturing of believers in 2 Corinthians 10:8:
For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it.
Later in his epistle to the Corinthians, he mentioned this authority the Lord gave him for directing the church in 2 Corinthians 13:10:
This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.
The fact is that although there is no direct statement where Jesus Christ explicitly stated that He has delegated His authority to the spiritual leaders of the church, but this is implied by His appointing of spiritual leaders.
A fourth fact is because Jesus Christ has delegated His authority to spiritual leaders, believers have the responsibility to respond to the authority of spiritual leaders. It is for this reason that the Scripture indicates believers are to respect their spiritual leaders as per the instruction of 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13:
12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.
Respect of spiritual leaders is important for the fact that people do not obey those they do not respect. Thus, if believers respect their spiritual leaders then they would have no problem obeying them as sign of submission to their authority as the Holy Spirit demands of believers, according to Hebrews 13:17:
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
A fifth fact is that the authority of the spiritual leaders is different from that of secular authority where there is the tendency of lording over those under authority. Our Lord Jesus Christ is clear that the authority of spiritual leaders is not the same as secular leaders, as He conveyed in Luke 22:25–26:
25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.
The Holy Spirit through Apostle Peter echoed the same truth in the instruction given to elders in 1 Peter 5:2–3:
2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
These five facts we have stated imply that in the church there are at least two problems that may arise regarding the exercise of authority. These two problems involve the spiritual leaders who may abuse their authority or members of the congregation who would pay no attention to the authority of their spiritual leaders. Both problems are addressed in the passage of Titus 2:15 that we are about to consider although the problem of abuse of authority on the part of spiritual leaders is not directly addressed but indirectly. Therefore, the message of the passage before us is this: A pastor needs to be authoritative in his function of teaching, encouraging, and rebuking of believers while not allowing anyone to look down on him. This message implies responsibilities on the part of believers and pastors as we will note in our examination of the passage before us.
It is not uncommon to find friction between pastors and believers in local churches because of lack of understanding of the authority of pastors and its extent. There are those pastors who want to exercise authority over the members of their congregation in such a way as to mimic those with secular authority in specific areas of operations. This means that some of the pastors expect members to submit to their authority in any and everything. That is a wrong expectation or even abuse of the delegated authority of spiritual leaders. To ensure that there is no misunderstanding of the extent of the authority of a pastor in a local congregation, the Holy Spirit through the apostle defined the areas of the authority of the pastor so that both the pastor and his congregation would understand. The areas of authority of the pastor are related to his primary role of feeding the congregation with spiritual food and shepherding believers in his congregation. Consequently, there are three related areas of authority of a pastor that require him to function in humility and gentleness so that he would not abuse the authority the Lord had given him for maturing the members of the local congregation under his care.
A first area of a pastor’s authority is concerned with the teaching of the word of God as given in the first sentence of Titus 2:15 These, then, are the things you should teach. The word then of the NIV or similar words such as So of the NET does not appear in the Greek text but it is introduced by translators as way of connecting verse 15 with what precedes it. In effect, the English versions that follow this approach probably intend for the English reader to recognize that the instructions that follow result from or are related to what the apostle had previously stated in the preceding section. This aside, the Greek literal reads these things speak.
The things the apostle refers literally as these things are the various instructions he had so far stated in this epistle, beginning in verse 2 of this second chapter. These include the various instructions of the behaviors of the various groups in the local congregation the apostle had mentioned, specifically the subjects that are addressed to the older men, older women, younger men, and slaves in any local congregation in Crete. In addition to these, the apostle also had taught the importance of Titus and so all pastors living exemplary life. He also had explained the basis of the expectation of the conduct required of believers as the grace of God or God’s kindness or goodness. The details of these various instructions are the things that apostle had in mind when he wrote literally these things. It is possible to think that what the apostle states is not necessary because these things have already been given in detail in the epistle that we are considering. However, we should understand that the epistle was first addressed to Titus with the information that we now have, and so known first by him and not the various local churches in Crete. Hence, it is important for the apostle to charge Titus with the communication of the contents of epistle to others. Besides, the same Greek word used in our present verse is used in verse 1 in a sense to introduce the things Titus was to teach to the various groups. Therefore, we are certain that the literal phrase these things refers to various instructions that began in verse 2 of our present chapter and ended in verse 14.
It is the communication of the contents of the epistle that is intended in the word speak as we used in the literal translation. The word “speak” is translated from a Greek word (laleō) that means “to speak, to talk” but in some contexts other meanings are indicated. It may mean “to tell, relate, declare, announce”, as the word is used when Paul’s nephew related information to the commanding officer in Jerusalem about the plot to kill him, as we read in Acts 23:18:
So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, “Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”
When what is said involves authority it may mean “to proclaim” as it is used regarding Moses’ communication to Israel prior to the ratification of their covenant with the Lord, as we read in Hebrews 9:19:
When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.
The clause When Moses had proclaimed every commandment is more literally for every command having been spoken. The Greek word may mean “to teach”, as it is used in Titus 2:1:
You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.
The expression must teach of the NIV is literally be speaking. It is in the sense of teaching or communicating something that the word is used in Titus 2:15.
The teaching that Titus and so all pastor should engage is to be repeated. It is to be done again and again. Pastors are not to teach once and assume that believers have understood a given subject. They should be involved in repeated instructions. Their function in the local church is one of constant teaching of God’s word. In the case of Titus, the apostle meant that he should begin immediately and continue to teach repeatedly the information contained in this epistle. The instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul to Titus is one that every pastor should pay heed. If a pastor has not begun serious teaching of the word of God to his congregation then he should start immediately upon learning this passage. If he is already teaching, then the encouragement is for him to continue to teach constantly to his congregation. This assertion is derived from the fact that the command translated “teach” and the other two commands of verse 15 are given in the present tense in the Greek that requires the interpretation that we have given as we will note with the other commands. The point is that the first area of the authority of the pastor concerns his teaching or instructing the congregation. Teaching of the word of God is the most important function of a pastor since the other functions he is to carry out are related to this primary function of teaching the word of God. In other words, the second and third areas of exercise of authority of the pastor depend on this first function of teaching the word of God.
In any case, a second area of a pastor’s authority is concerned with exhortation or encouragement as in the word Encourage of the NIV of Titus 2:15. The word “encourage” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (parakaleō) with a range of meanings. The word can mean “to invite” as it is used for the invitation of Lydia to Apostle Paul and his team to stay in her house in Acts 16:15:
When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
It may mean “to call upon for help”, especially of God who is called upon by humans in time of need and so the word is translated “plead” when it is used to describe Apostle Paul’s prayer for the Lord to remove his thorn in the flesh, as stated in 2 Corinthians 12:8:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
The sentence Three times I pleaded with the Lord is more literally thrice the Lord did I call upon. The word may mean to urge strongly hence “to appeal to, urge, exhort, encourage.” The meaning “to encourage” is used in Romans 12:8:
if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
It is with the meaning of “to urge” that Apostle Paul used it in 1 Corinthians 4:16:
Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
It is with the meaning “to appeal to” that it is used in 2 Corinthians 10:1:
By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away!
The meaning “to exhort” is used to translate our Greek word in 1 Timothy 5:1:
Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers,
The word may mean to make a strong request for something and so means “to request, implore, entreat.” It is the meaning to request that is implied in 1 Corinthians 16:12:
Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.
The sentence I strongly urged him is more literally I did entreat him. The word may mean “to comfort” as it is used to describe God’s comfort Apostle Paul and his team received, as we read in 2 Corinthians 1:4:
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
In some contexts, the Greek word may mean to be friendly to or speak to in a friendly manner. Thus, the officials who put Paul in jail acted friendly or were conciliatory towards him when they released him from jail on learning that he was a Roman citizen, as we may gather from Acts 16:39:
They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.
Our Greek word is translated “appeased” in the NIV although the meaning “to conciliate” is also possible. The word has the sense of speaking in a friendly manner when Apostle Paul used it to describe his response to those who slandered him in 1 Corinthians 4:13:
when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
The sentence we answer kindly is more literally we entreat. In our passage of Titus 2:15, the meaning is “to exhort” or “to encourage” as reflected in our English versions. It really does not matter which of these two meanings is used in the translation of our Greek word since the sense of the two words is the same.
A pastor who exhorts or encourages a believer is one that strongly urges or spurs such an individual to continue to apply what is taught. He tries to instill confidence in the believer regarding God’s word by the advice he offers to the individual. What we mean is that a pastor should through arguments based on the Scripture stimulate or nudge on the believer to strive to apply God’s word. He should advise the believer to exercise trust in God because the Lord will never fail to keep to what He promised. This encouragement or exhortation is something that a pastor should do repeatedly to believers with humility and gentleness. Although this can be done privately but the most general way of doing it is publicly within the congregation. In other words, when a pastor or any teacher of the word of God instructs a congregation then he should urge them strongly to carry out the requirements of the message of God’s word that has been presented to them and he is to do it repeatedly as the Greek demands because the command, as we have indicated previously, is given in the present tense in the Greek, requiring repeated action. This second area of the authority of the pastor is clearly related to the first area of teaching. This brings us to the other area of authority of the pastor that is related to teaching of God’s word.
A third area of a pastor’s authority is concerned with rebuking of believers. It is this that is given with the word rebuke of the NIV of Titus 2:15. The word “rebuke” is translated from a Greek word (elegchō) that may mean to scrutinize or examine carefully; thus, it means “to bring to light, expose, set forth.” It is in this sense that the Greek word is used to explain the reason those who are unbelievers or those who live contrary to the word of God refuse to be associated with truth of God’s word lest their wickedness be exposed, as stated in John 3:20:
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
This passage explains one of the reasons many Christians do not want to attend Bible teaching local churches for fear that their lifestyle will be challenged and shown to be incompatible with God’s word. The word may mean to bring a person to the point of recognizing wrongdoing hence means “to convict, convince.” This meaning of our Greek word is used to describe one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8:
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
Although the NIV and some English versions use the meaning “to convict” here in John 16:8, the sense of the Greek word is “to prove wrong” so that the Holy Spirit will prove the people wrong when they say they know what sin is and they know about God’s righteousness, and about His judgment regarding sin. Our Greek word may mean to express strong disapproval of someone’s action and so means “to reprove, correct.” Consequently, the word is translated “correct” in the charge given to Timothy that he needs to discharge in 2 Timothy 4:2:
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
In our passage of Titus 2:15, the word is used either with the meaning “to correct” or “to sternly admonish” but it should be done with humility and gentleness.
This third area of a pastor’s authority is certainly dependent on the teaching of God’s word. This is because there is no way a pastor could correct or rebuke or sternly admonish someone without referencing the word of God. He has no authority of his own to do so without the authority of the Scripture since there is no basis for him to judge someone to be wrong unless his standard is the Scripture. This area of a pastor’s authority is indeed difficult because it is not easy to rebuke someone or to correct someone since doing so could result in resistance on the part of the one being rebuked. Furthermore, we humans generally do not want to be corrected because of our human pride related to our sinful nature. However, a pastor has the responsibility of correcting or rebuking of believers when they go wrong either doctrinally or in action. Again, this is to be done, if need be, publicly to the congregation or to an individual and it needs to be done repeatedly as needed since the Greek uses a present tense that here implies repeated action or something done again and again. It is never an enjoyable task on the part of a pastor to rebuke the congregation, but it must be done when there is need for it. I suppose that one of the reasons believers go astray or follow the crowd or society in doing that which is wrong is because pastors refuse to correct or rebuke members of their congregations. Nonetheless, pastors have the unpleasant task of correcting or rebuking either the entire congregation or a select group that stray from the sound teaching of the word of God either in principle or in application.
These three areas of function of a pastor we have considered require him to be authoritative as he carries them out. This assertion is based on the phrase with all authority of the second sentence of the NIV of Titus 2:15. The translation of the NIV implies that the phrase is limited to the functions of exhortation or encouragement and rebuke. This is possible but unlikely. This is because all three areas of teaching, exhortation, and rebuke involve the pastor to be authoritative. A pastor is not to be authoritative in exhortation or rebuke without being so in teaching. Hence, it is unlikely that the apostle intended for Titus to be authoritative in exhortation and rebuking without equally being authoritative in teaching. Of course, the Greek placement of the word “authority” in the verse suggests all three activities are related to authority. The word “authority” is translated from a Greek word (epitagē) that may mean authoritative directive hence, “command, order, injunction” as Apostle Paul used it to indicate how he became an apostle in 1 Timothy 1:1:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
Another meaning of the word is right or authority to command hence means “authority.” It is this second meaning that is intended in Titus 2:15. This means that the Holy Spirit expects pastors to be authoritative in the three areas we have considered when they carry out these functions as it relates to their congregations.
What does it mean for a pastor to be authoritative in these areas of his function? Let me first state what it does not mean. It does not mean to quote revered scholars. I mention this because it is considered a part of being scholarly to quote the work of revered scholars. On several occasions, I have heard learned pastors in their preaching spend most of their time quoting what is said by revered scholars of the past regarding a passage so that it is difficult to know what it is they believe or teach about a given passage. Apparently, those who do this seem to be satisfied that they have preached a sermon but that is, in my judgment, failure to be authoritative in teaching. To be authoritative in teaching or in the areas we have mentioned means to be confident in God’s word so that a person will declare it without any hesitation or doubt about is validity. In effect, to be authoritative requires that the pastor have absolute confidence in God’s word and have experienced what he teaches so that there is no doubt in his mind as to the authority behind what he teaches. He is confident because he knows that the Holy Spirit has led him in his study and so he carries out his function knowing that he is operating under the authority of the Lord of the church. To underscore my point, let me illustrate using what is said of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Jews with respect to teaching with authority in Luke 4:32:
They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.
The reason for the astonishment of the people who heard Jesus teach was the authoritative nature of His message as in the clause because his message had authority. Literally, the clause reads because his word was with authority. Certainly, when Jesus taught, He did so under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which makes the difference in any teaching of God’s word. However, the people noted that Jesus spoke with the kind of confidence that revealed He knew what He was teaching. He taught the people as no other teacher of that time, as indicated in Mark 1:22:
The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
The teachers of the law, like so many pastors today, relied on the authority of the past teachers so that they would be fond of quoting the revered authorities. But Jesus would not quote any authority but gave His explanation in an authoritative manner because of who He is. It is this manner of teaching that astonished the people. You see, people at that time tend to accept declarations from authorities. We do the same today because we listen to pronouncement of authorities in various fields although in some cases, we really do not accept their pronouncements. I imagine that even among Christians there is this habit of giving deference to authoritative teachers. It is not that it is wrong to listen to those who are considered experts but we should be careful to recognize that no one is authoritative or expert in the teaching of the word of God without the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Why did Jesus teach with authority? It is because He is the Son of God. Furthermore, He taught the truth because He is the truth. You see, what makes a difference in teaching authoritatively and quoting authorities is a matter of experience. When something is known by experience the person explains it in such convincing manner than when a person is teaching something that he has not experienced. In effect, when a person knows the truth of God’s word by experience then he would teach it to others in such a convincing way that it is hard to miss the teacher’s confidence in his teaching. Our Lord being the God-man taught truth that He knew by experience so that there was no doubt as to the validity of what He taught. Thus, it is only when a pastor has confidence in what the Holy Spirit has taught him and believes in its validity that he would be authoritative in his teaching, exhortation, and rebuking of others. The implication is that every pastor should strive to study under the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit and to have confidence in the truth of God’s word in order to be authoritative or in the phrase of the NIV of Titus 2:15 with all authority. The Greek word (pas) translated “all” here means “full” so that the pastor should be confident that He has the full authority of the Lord Jesus Christ behind him as he carries out his function of leading the congregation with respect to teaching, exhortation or encouragement, and rebuking that he carries out. Of course, a pastor must guard against being arrogant so that he abuses the authority the Lord had given him because he does not understand the limitation of his authority as one governed by his function.
In any case, the authority of the pastor is related to his function as it concerns the congregation. However, there are those who would want to challenge his authority regarding his function, but it is important for him not to permit such. It is this denial or devaluing of his authority that the Holy Spirit instructs the pastor next in the last command of Titus 2:15 Do not let anyone despise you. The word “despise” is translated from a rare Greek word (periphroneō) that appears only here in the Greek NT; it means “to have disdain for, disregard, look down on, despise.” The Holy Spirit knows that the enemy of truth can work in the soul of believers to cause them to want to despise or look down on their pastor for whatever their reason is that He instructed Titus and so all pastors not to permit anyone to look down on them as they carry out their function. People may have different reasons for wanting to despise or look down on a pastor. It could be that they may think they are better than he is in any of the areas of life they think. In case of the church in Ephesus, theirs concerned Timothy’s age so that the Holy Spirit instructed him, as with Titus, through Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:12:
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
The instruction to Titus is Do not let anyone despise you. How can Titus or any pastor keep members of his congregation from looking down on him for any of the many reasons people have? I can tell you for sure that he is not to do so by being pugnacious or by bullying his way through the congregation. There is one way of doing this, it is to live exemplary life both in his doctrine and its application. We know this because of the instruction given to Timothy of setting an example to those in his local congregation. This same instruction is given to Titus as we have considered in Titus 2:7:
In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness.
We are saying that it is through setting example to believers in the congregation that the pastor will ensure that no one despises his authority or looks down on him as he carries out his function regarding the congregation that he is the overseer. Of course, we have focused on the pastor, but the same truth applies to all believers. If you do not want people to look down on you with justification, then you should endeavor to be exemplary in your spiritual life around them as evident in everything you do.
There is one more thing about the instruction Do not let anyone despise you given to Titus which concerns its application to the congregation. Since this epistle is to be read to the church, then we can deduce that the Holy Spirit through the apostle tells believers in all congregations not to despise or look down on their pastors. Hence, you should endeavor never to look down or despise your pastor.
Let me end by reminding you of the message that we have expounded which is: A pastor needs to be authoritative in his function of teaching, encouraging and rebuking of believers while not allowing anyone to look down on him. He keeps believers from challenging his authority by being exemplary to the congregation.
08/25/17 [End of Lesson #57 and 58]