Church Authority
H. Allon, D. D. Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead… It is indispensable to every society to have a central person or idea round which it may revolve; a supreme government to which it must refer and submit, The will of the person, the essence of the idea, is the reason and law of its existence. Such in the Church is Christ. Accordingly He combines in Himself all the elements of which the Church is to consist. The idea of Christian life is that the qualities of spiritual and visible worlds should be brought together. It recognizes, therefore, as its appropriate Head the God-man who combines the Divine nature to be communicated, and the human capacity for its communication, and who embodied in His incarnate life the model of what human nature should be. Around the Mediator, then, all believing men are gathered. He is the central figure around whom the Church is grouped, the essential bond and reason of its existence. As Head of the Church Christ is — I. THE SOURCE OF THE PECULIAR TRUTHS WHEREBY IT IS FOUNDED. That which constitutes a society is not the truth it has in common with others, but that which is peculiar to itself. A literary society may have a morality common to themselves and hundreds about them; but it is their peculiar element of literature which constitutes them a literary society. So the Church may have a great deal of the morality common to them and unregenerate men, and so with theological ideas. Hence the name Christian cannot be accorded to those who deny the Deity and atonement of Christ, and the personality and regenerating influence of the Holy Ghost, because these are the characteristic revelations of the New Testament. Of these truths Christ is the source, and all His work concerns itself with them. As the great Prophet of the Church He announces them, as its Priest He realizes them, as its King He reigns to enforce them. II. THE SOURCE OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE WHEREIN IT CONSISTS. The idea o! a society is the reception by its members, and their practical embodiment of its peculiar truths. The Church is, therefore, more than an association of theoretic believers in the atonement and regeneration; it lives under their power and for their promulgation. Common theories only bring men into juxtaposition; common experiences knit them together. The truth which Christ has given the Church becomes a quickening thing. 1. This supposes that previously men were dead. Moral death is the most lamentable of all deaths. 2. In this condition Christ finds him. "You hath He quickened." Restoration to moral life is effected — (1) By His atonement, by which He rescues men from legal death, and procures a reversal of the sentence of condemnation. (2) By His Spirit the soul is quickened, and men having the Spirit of Christ are born again. (3) This moral life is a right state of the heart towards God, and is sustained by these truths. They constrain to holy obedience. III. THE SOURCE OF ALL THE AUTHORITY OR LAW WHEREWITH IT IS REGULATED. He determines the precise, direction and shape which spiritual feeling should assume, but such direction need not interfere with the spontaneousness of the feeling. And so the Christian precept prompts the desire for duty and directs it, but is nowhere arbitrary. Thus is it also in the associated life of the Church. Whatever law Christ has given He has given in accordance with the spontaneous prompting of Church life; the prompting might be vague, the precept enlightens it. At the same time, when institutions are needed Christ alone has authority to enjoin them as laws. This we see e.g., in the sacraments. Christ is the sole legislator, and for any individual to interpose an authority between Christ and the Church is open rebellion. IV. CHRIST ADMINISTERS THE PROVIDENCES WHICH CONSTITUTE ITS EXPERIENCE. This is part of His mediatorial right in pursuance of His purpose of world restoration. 1. Within the Church He orders the succession and distinctions of its ministry, the accession or removal of its members, their spiritual birth or translation, their trials and privileges. 2. Without the Church He determines or permits the experiences that shall visit it; the waves that shall beat upon the ark; the assaults upon the fortress.Lessons — 1. If Christ be the source of all spiritual truth and life, our constant temper should be practical gratitude for our participation of it. 2. If Christ be the source of all authority, our constant habit should be holy obedience. 3. If Christ provides, then we may safely leave all things in His hands. 4. Let us assure ourselves of its final and glorious triumph. (H. Allon, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. WEB: He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.