I Am a Man Under Authority

illustration by Viktor Miller-Gausa

Mike Matthews
Editor in Chief

I’m constantly amazed how often Genesis provides the perspective our culture needs to put its most pressing challenges into perspective. That includes the political divisions tearing our Western countries apart. (See “The Answer for a Culture in Chaos,” p. 48.)

In humanity’s rush to dethrone the Creator, they’ve raised up many different idols over the centuries. Our contemporary culture is too savvy to name their gods, so they refer to them by pseudonyms like NO AUTHORITY.

But it’s impossible to make sense out of life—or to bring justice and peace—without authority. God didn’t structure the universe to run in a vacuum, and every authority except God’s authority ultimately leads to frustration and ruin.

Emphasizing authority is so counterculture. Yet that’s just what we need to be shouting from the housetops.

There was a time when everyone understood the importance of authority, and the only question was which authority is best. The centurion summarized it well, when he explained why he turned to Jesus Christ: “For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Matthew 8:9).

I enjoy working with biblical theologians who don’t hesitate to put the Creator on his throne and assert unflinchingly that his words are still best. Christians are involved in kingdom work, so we’d better make sure that we’re posting the King’s proclamations everywhere we go.

Answers in Genesis, the ministry behind this magazine, is all about “biblical authority.” That term doesn’t get much attention anymore. It simply means that every decision requires a decision-maker, and if we have access to a perfect decision-maker—who never makes mistakes and who claims to be our king who rules for our good— then we need to follow his authority. Any other authority will hurt us in the end.

It’s a message of love, it’s a message of truth, and it offers the only real hope for peace on earth. The problems are excruciatingly complex, but unless we start at the right place, in Genesis, how can we hope to solve them?