Professor: Rushdoony Dr. R.J.R.

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 8 of 19

Track: #08

Year:

Dictation Name: 08 Authority and False Responsibility.

[Rushdoony] Let us worship God. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh unto you. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Let our prayer be set forth before Thee as incense, and the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God we thank Thee that Thou who dwellest in the heaven of heavens has chosen to dwell with those who long for Thy presence and humbly seek Thy face. We thank Thee that Thou art Thee who are the restorer of all things. Strengthen our faith, amend our lives according to Thy holy will, restore in us the joy of salvation. Bind up that which is broken. Give light to our minds, strength to our wills, and rest to our souls that we may rejoice in Thee and praise Thee as Thou hast summoned us to do. Grant us this we beseech Thee in Jesus name, amen.

Our scripture this morning is from the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of Saint Luke verses one through five, and our subject authority and false responsibility, authority and false responsibility.

“There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things?

3 I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?

5 I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” 

When we deal with the question of authority we are dealing with something which is God ordained. But the word authority has been used to cover a multitude of sins. A great deal of what passes for authority in this world is ungodly. Moreover the relationship of authority and responsibility is very important one and a tangled one. Before we go into the subject let us examine briefly some of the errors that impede an understanding of authority and responsibility.

First of all there is a great difference between the authority of God and that of man. Man is God’s creature and subordinate, and no man however God-given the authority he may have in his particular office can identify himself with God and act as though because this is a God given authority I can act like a little God. Man’s authority is derivative and always conditional. Responsibility and authority under God mean accountability to the person or the standard who is greater than ourselves. We must remember that the terms responsible and irresponsible cannot be applied to God. There is no one to whom God is accountable. He is not responsible to some idea or being greater than himself. But all of us who are not God, all of us, are responsible to persons and ultimately to God who is greater than all of us. When men seek to become God they do not live beyond good and evil, as they dream a la Nietzsche and Adam, nor do they live beyond responsibility, they simply live in terms of irresponsibility because as creatures they can only be either responsible or irresponsible. And Adam and Eve who had been created by God, and established in a pilot project for exercising dominion and subduing,