Contemporary American culture has an anti-authority vibe. We don’t like to be bossed around.

Jesus challenged some assumptions about authority. In Matthew 20:25–26, Jesus told His disciples, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you” (emphasis added).

Yet Christians can’t be anti-authority per se.

After all, Jesus taught with authority (Matthew 7:29). He praised the faith of a soldier who described himself as being “under authority” (8:9). And He gave His disciples authority to exorcize demons and heal diseases (10:1).

So, what should Christians make of authority?

Baptist theologian Christa L. McKirland offers an answer in A Theology of Authority by focusing on what authority is, how it’s expressed, and how it’s identified and evaluated.

Defined
McKirland defines authority in terms of power, which means “being able to do something but not necessarily having a right to do it.”

A young teenager might have the ability to drive, but not have the legal right to do so without first obtaining a learner’s permit or driver’s license.

Authority is a specific use of power.

McKirland draws on philosopher Richard De George, who distinguishes between executive and nonexecutive authority.

Executive authority is “power to command obedience and enforce consequences if disobeyed,” McKirland says. It can be delegated to subordinates, and it subdivides into imperative and performative forms. The proper response is obedience or cooperation.

Police officers ordering armed suspects to drop their guns are exercising executive imperative authority. So are judges assigning public defenders to indigent clients.

McKirland defines nonexecutive authority as “power to influence belief and inspire imitation.” It subdivides into epistemic and exemplary subcategories, and it cannot be delegated. The proper response is belief or imitation, respectively.

Professors exercise nonexecutive epistemic authority when they teach students about their areas of expertise. The master-apprentice relationship in professional trades is an example of nonexecutive exemplary authority.

In ordinary language, we say executive authority is about having authority, while nonexecutive authority is about being an authority.

McKirland engages with theologians Letty Russell, Bernard Ramm, and Walter Liefeld to expand our understanding of authority.

We typically assume executive authority means having authority over others, but it can also encompass giving power to or sharing it with others.

Nonexecutive authority similarly empowers (to) and collaborates (with), but it can also exercise influence through the authority figure’s willingness to become vulnerable. This is a uniquely Christian insight.

Expressed
Next, McKirland turns to how God, Scripture, and Christians express authority.

The Trinity is the source of all authority and our “absolute executive authority,” writes McKirland. God also is “holy, humble, and power sharing,” she says.

Divine power sharing is evident at creation. God gave the sun and moon power to “govern” (Genesis 1:16,18), and granted creation generative power for growth and flourishing (verses 20–24).

The ultimate revelation of God’s authority in action is Jesus, who declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). This statement encompasses both executive and nonexecutive authority.

Jesus exercises all authority humbly (Philippians 2:5–11) and by sharing power. His gift of the Holy Spirit empowers believers for doing His work (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:7).

“The Spirit is our bridge for understanding both executive and nonexecutive authority as it pertains to the life of the believer in an ecclesial context,” McKirland writes.

McKirland discusses what it means to affirm Scripture as an inspired and inerrant divine revelation.

Because it is revelatory, Scripture has executive authority. As the old bumper sticker puts it, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” But revelation comes from the Revealer, so the Bible’s executive authority is delegated.

Most Christians interact with Scripture through contemporary translations and human interpreters (scholarly or pastoral). McKirland argues that these have nonexecutive epistemic authority based on how faithfully they reflect the divine intention of the originals.

Finally, McKirland considers how Christians express executive and nonexecutive authority. How turns on what for.

Royal priesthood is the what for of believers’ authority. God created us for “unitive relationship” with Him. All people are made in God’s image and have the capacity to function as royal priests. This priesthood is not a solo task.

Because of sin, we seek power over others. But the Spirit empowers us for serving.

Moving from what for to how, McKirland outlines principles for interpersonal use of authority.

McKirland is part of the Free Church tradition, which tends to be more egalitarian than many other Christian traditions. Thus, I believe her recommendations will resonate with Pentecostals.

First, “Apostolic divinely delegated authority is different from nonapostolic leaders’ authority,” McKirland writes.

Although this insight can sound cessationist, classical Pentecostals affirm it. Ordinary pastors do not exercise extraordinary authority as Paul did.

Second, McKirland acknowledges believers exercise “occasional and delimited executive equipping authority” (see Ephesians 4:11), but she denies they exercise executive imperative authority as individuals. 

The ordinary expression of believers’ authority is nonexecutive epistemic and exemplary.

Third, the New Testament emphasizes the “Spirit-empowered sibling relationship” of believers, and each congregation functions as a “learning community.”

Although McKirland doesn’t cite Romans 15:13–14, this text captures all three elements of her point:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another (emphasis added).”

Fourth, Christians can exercise executive imperative authority, but it must be “both corporate and guided by the mind of Christ.” McKirland cites church discipline as an example (Matthew 18:17–18).

Fifth, the Church serves as a witness to “Jesus’ reign in our midst and his coming reign over all creation.” In other words, Christians demonstrate now in their common life what Christ will consummate globally in the future.

Identified and Evaluated
The theological rubber hits the practical road in the final section of McKirland’s book.

Since all believers are spiritual siblings, McKirland maintains they need neither office nor position to do ministry. This includes preaching and teaching, baptizing and serving Communion, discipling others, and exercising oversight.

McKirland acknowledges pragmatic reasons for instituting offices and positions. Her concern is they might deemphasize the priesthood of all believers and result in a hierarchy that shouldn’t exist among siblings.

All Christians should strive to grow as nonexecutive epistemic and exemplary authorities — not to gain power over others, but to become Christlike.

Similarly, Christians who exercise executive performative authority should do so to equip other believers for “works of service” (Ephesians 4:11–12).

Throughout A Theology of Authority, McKirland challenges readers with a fresh engagement of Scripture, encouraging them to use their sanctified imaginations to find ways of doing church that avoid wrongheaded notions about authority.

One need not agree entirely with the book’s conclusions to acknowledge the search is worth undertaking, especially in a cultural moment sensitive to the misuse of authority.

Book Reviewed
Christa L. McKirland, A Theology of Authority: Rethinking Leadership in the Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2025).

This article appears in the Spring 2026 issue of Influence magazine and is reposted here by permission.