Authority in the Christian Life

by Jean-Marc Berthoud, R.A. Sheats (Translator)

"Berthoud’s book on authority is like cold water splashed on the face—shocking, awakening, and cleansing. Whether addressing authority in the state, the church, or the family, Berthoud brings the water of the Word with bold clarity. One need not agree with every detail of his vision to benefit from this call to uncompromised submission to God’s authority, which is the root of all authority."--Dr. Joel R. Beeke, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand RapidsAuthority in the Christian Life examines the definition, distinction, and necessary conditions for the just exercise of power from a biblical perspective. Probing the origin and purpose of authority, Berthoud delineates the various roles of the powers ordained by God and examines the jurisdictional bounds protecting the separation of powers. His insightful work deals with matters of crucial significance for the life of individuals and nations in the West. In confronting the issues of the day, Berthoud fearlessly addresses questions of authority, power, and force with penetrating biblical clarity and a clear-cut application to the contemporary world."If you are not afraid of being confronted in your positions and opinions concerning the exercise of power and your relationship to civil and church authorities, this book is for you. In the tone of a prophet, the author addresses a straying Church, employing direct language and refusing to spare his reader. The theses he puts forward and the many examples he employs might disturb the citizen of the twenty-first century, but that’s the point. How else can consciences be reached in such a watered-down and consensual context? His theocentric exposition is founded on the biblical texts whose language he employs. At times one would think he is reading a Reformer. Piece by piece Berthoud dismantles the errors he discerns—and they are legion—and sheds a well-reasoned light on them. As some passages were written in the 1970s, their prophetic relevance is all the better measured half a century later. As a historian, he knows how to maintain a necessary distance from the political and ethical models particularly embraced since the beginning of the modern era. As a theologian, he vigorously traces the fabric of the spiritual warfare now at play in our world, showing the impact of a Church which ignores its responsibilities in the face of current challenges."Dominique-Antonio Troilo, Theologian, Historian, Pastor (Switzerland)"All men in general, and modern Americans in particular, have an innate resentment of divine authority. Jean-Marc Berthoud faithfully upholds the heritage of the Swiss Reformers in this faithful and timely reminder that submission to the authority of God in the home, the church, and the state is not bondage. Rather, submission to the authority of God is the only way to experience true liberty."Pastor John Huffman, Belleville, Illinois

156 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 20, 2020

About the author

Né en 1939 en Afrique du Sud de parents missionnaires, Jean-Marc Berthoud est diplômé de l'Université de Witwatersrand à Johannesburg en littérature et histoire anglaise. De 1960 à 1964, il poursuit des recherches en histoire coloniale à la Sorbonne et à Londres.

Président de l'Association vaudoise de parents chrétiens, il est l'auteur de nombreux livres sur la défense de la foi chrétienne face à la montée de la sécularisation et du modernisme.

Éditeur de la revue Résister et Construire et Documentation chrétienne, il vit à Lausanne.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Jean-Marc Berthoud, even if you do not agree with every formulation of authority and or resistance-theory, provides many corrective for glaring errors within the Church. Errors in authority, civil disobedience, hierarchy, amongst other false doctrinal positions. Here are some highlights:

First, right off the rip, in the first paragraph of the first chapter, Berthoud defines keywords for discussing authority. God delegates power, belonging rightfully and perfectly to Him, to man. Authority is exercising power. Force is the "capacity for action," and can be used righteously and wickedly. Berthoud helpfully sums up his giving of definitions by writing, "Authority being the source and expression of power, power is the incarnation of authority."

Second, this highlight follows right after the first. Berthoud covers two pitfalls. One is ungodly challenging (revolt/revolution) of lawful authorities, even if their authority is used for wickedness, and the other is pietism. In his critique of the latter, he writes, "This "pietistic" error often causes, as a reaction, the opposite evil of carnal revolution against legitimate authority." The Christian error or pietism breeds revolution. God knows what he is talking about when he reveals, "Judgment begins in the household of God."

Third, his chapter on God as the source of power is excellent. I love that Berthoud makes the connection that since all authority is from God, then everyone with authority delegated to them must "necessarily reflect God's attributes: sovereignty, justice, effective power, wisdom, truth, goodness, love. We then understand that the text of Romans 13, where the Apostle Paul speaks of power, is not a descriptive text of a more or less sinful power but rather a normative text revealing to us God's plan in establishing, through human authorities, His power over men." My recco is to drink deep from this chapter and read it twice.

Fourth, Berthoud shows that impersonal power (authority used anonymously) is a result of sin and God's curse. Again, the author helpfully writes, "Indeed, the power that God exerts over all things is intimately personal. Consequently, the power that comes from God on the earthly plane must also have a personal character. The anonymous, collective, irresponsible, administrative, the consensual group dynamic power of corporations, committees, majorities, and bureaucracies is not the power that the Apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 13:1-7."

If I continued this list of highlights, I am sure I could easily number them out to somewhere in the 30s at least. Get this book. It's worth it.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This stunning collection of essays from a Swiss, Reformed, theological master, speaks only of the truth which the true Church should always have held: Christ is Lord, not Ceasar. Berthoud has more guts than anyone living under the first amendment when he speaks of the inevitable breakdown of secular society, the deification of the humanist State (the Beast), and the appearance of that man of sin. The civil magistrate, law, education, family – Berthoud covers all areas where Christ ought to reign supreme, and where men ought subsequently to repent of their idolatry and negligence of robbing from Christ the glory He is due.

[Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good and so important. I plan to read it several more times until it sticks.

[Tim Wilder · Rating 2 out of 5]

A variety of inconsistent theories of authority muddled together.