Power and Authority

The Bible makes a helpful distinction between “authority” and “power”. Some disagreements would disappear, if the terms were defined more clearly and “power” was more carefully delineated.

Jesus had authority due to the wisdom of his teaching, but he had no power to enforce his decisions. He had the power to force out out demons and heal the sick.

The Jewish leaders had authority over religious issues. They had a little bit of power, due to their ability to throw dissenters out of the synagogue, but people could choose to ignore them if they wanted to. The real power was exercised by the Romans. The Jewish leaders needed Roman power to kill Jesus.

The preaching of the gospel led to a shift of authority from the religious leaders to Jesus. However, Jesus had no power, so he had to use his authority cleverly to influence people and challenge them to change their thinking. The authority that Jesus had been given did not last, because when the chips were down prior to the crucifixion, many people gave authority back to the Jewish leaders.