The Consequences of Acting without Authority

By Bob Myhan

Authority is "the power of rule or government, the power of one whose will and commands must be obeyed by others" (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, p. 91). Because He is the Creator, God has all authority. As Peter said,

“We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

 To act without authority is to do something which God has not authorized. Does acting without authority have consequences? Let’s notice what the Old Testament teaches by example and what the New Testament teaches by direct statement. Under the Law of Moses, the priesthood was given to Aaron and his sons (Num. 3:1-3). Not even they, however, could act without authority from God. When two of Aaron’s sons did so, the consequences were both swift and severe.

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke, saying: 'By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.'" So Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, "Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp." So they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, "Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled. You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you." And they did according to the word of Moses. (Lev. 10:1-7)

Not only did Nadab and Abihu die because they “offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them” but Aaron and his remaining sons were not even allowed to put their duties on hold long enough to mourn the loss of the two priests who acted without authority.

On two occasions, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, Moses was instructed by God to get water from a rock. On the first of these occasions,

And the Lord said to Moses, "Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel (Ex. 17:5-6).

But on the second occasion,

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals." So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?" Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them" (Num. 20:8-12).

This time, God did not tell Moses to “strike the rock.” He said, “Speak to the rock.” But Moses acted without authority and was not allowed to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Notice, God did not tell Moses, “Don’t strike the rock.” He simply did not tell him to strike it.

During the period of judges the ark of God was taken into battle without God’s authority. As a consequence, the children of Israel were defeated and “the ark of God was captured” (1 Sam. 4:1-11).

The consequences of acting without authority were severe in the Old Testament. But are they severe in the New Testament? Notice what Jesus said.

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matt. 7:13-19)

Notice the consequences of entering by the “wide” gate as opposed to “the narrow gate.” The wide gate puts one on the “broad” way “that leads to destruction,” whereas the narrow gate puts one on the “difficult … way which leads to life.” Notice, also, that those who “enter by the narrow gate” are to “beware of false prophets” (Matt. 7:15).

“But,” someone asks, “how is one to recognize these ‘ravenous wolves’ if they ‘come to you in sheep’s clothing’?” Jesus said,

“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matt. 7:20)

To show us how to distinguish between teachers of truth and teachers of error, Jesus replaces the figure of “ravenous wolves” with the figure of a good or bad tree. One recognizes a tree as good or bad by examining its fruit. If a tree bears good fruit, it is a good tree but if it bears bad fruit, it is a bad tree.

What is the fruit of a prophet or teacher? His fruit is his teaching. If that which he teaches is truth, he is a good teacher. But if that which he teaches is error, he is a false teacher.

Notice, further, the consequences of being a false prophet or false teacher are severe. Such will be “cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 7:19). It is one thing to believe and practice error; it is another thing, however, to propagate and perpetuate error by teaching others falsely.

There are those, of course, who believe and teach that Christians may believe and practice error without consequence. If that were so, why would Jesus say, “Beware of false prophets”? He said so because one cannot afford to be led astray by those who teach error. There are consequences.

Paul wrote to Timothy of Hymenaeus and Philetus, who “strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.” (2 Tim. 2:16-18)

Jesus explained that those whose religious practices are without authority cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

"Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as `Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. On judgment day many will tell me, `Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But I will reply, `I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized.'“ (Matt. 7:21-23, NLT)

So we see that acting without authority will have eternal consequences. One cannot go on acting without authority here and hope to be with God in eternity. Next week it will be shown that not even Jesus was free to act without authority from His Father. &