The word authority raises all kinds of red flags in our culture. This is why people today become uncomfortable when they encounter Paul in this passage. Paul claims the position of a father (v. 15), calls on the Corinthians to imitate him (v. 16), and warns them about the possibility of being disciplined (v. 21).
Let’s take a look again at 1 Corinthians 4:14-21
14I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. 16So I urge you to imitate me. 17That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go. 18Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. 19But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. 20For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. 21Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?
It is important for us to acknowledge our resistance to authority as modern people who grew up in an individualistic culture, very far removed from the Biblical setting. Therefore, it is important that we understand what authority is and what it is not.
Authority is not authoritarianism. Authority is the ability to influence others—the right to give orders and make commands with the good of others in view. Authoritarianism is enforcing strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom. It is “showing a lack of concern for the wishes or opinions of others; domineering; dictatorial.”
Authority is having a supervisor who seeks his or her staff’s good in harmony with the good of others, leading to personal and social flourishing. Authoritarianism, however, is having a supervisor who demands strict obedience and crushes both individual and social flourishing for the purpose of maintaining control.
The problem is that all of the uneasy feelings associated with authoritarianism (which are good and proper!) have been imported into the conception of authority. If we read the Bible incorrectly as an authoritarian document, we will buck it because we view it as being against us. If we read the Bible rightly as an authoritative document, we will delight in it because we view it as being for us and for our flourishing. The same is true of this passage.
One can either wrongly view Paul as a dictator or rightly view him as a God-given authority for the Corinthians. The Corinthians are in rebellion. Yet Paul still comes to them with fatherly care. He wants them to respond to his stern warnings and follow his example to prevent having to use his authority to discipline them. Discipline is not inherently wrong either. When carried out properly, it is for the good of the individual and the community. (This is especially true given the kind of sin Paul is dealing with as we can see in the next chapter).
What do you think about the tension between being rightly authoritative or being overly authoritarian? How would you keep from being too soft or too hard with people?
Text your response to the above prompting questions to your group and/or share it as a comment below
I think you need to get a bit of both in order to reach a certain point in your faith. It’s always said that you need to do things like devos, pray, and go to church I think in order to build the habits of wanting to go you need to go at first. This would be the authorative way but soon after it becomes authorative where it’s a person’s personal freedom and it becomes up to them if they want to leanr about God.
I don’t think Paul was being too harsh in this passage. In this case, Paul was still giving the the option of the Corinthians to choose to imitate his life or not. Paul is also exerting his authority over them because he simply cares about them and his words are meant to benefit the Corinthians and not himself. I think being rightly authoritative means being in a position where your authority is for the good of others while overly authoritarian is forcing authority upon others to exclusively benefit yourself. In order to prevent myself from being too soft or too hard with people, I would ask God to give me the wisdom on how to be assertive to others while maintaining the right boundaries that allow me not to be too harsh.
I think it is hard to have authority with the younger generation these days. From experience, when I try to exert any sort of authority or influence, I see people shut down because they cannot take any sort of feedback. They tend to view older people exerting authority as a lecture instead of someone trying to look out for their good and the good of others. Perhaps it is the feeling of authoritarianism that shuts them down but it is difficult to enact any sort of influence nowadays because people seem to be overly sensitive or triggered about everything. I know there are exceptions but the general trend as I see it tends to be leading more towards not being able to have any authority or influence about anything.