To Author Life in Others: A Book Review of “Authority” by Jonathan Leeman
Leeman presents five principles on how good authority works. I was most motivated to read that authority is neither permissive nor authoritarian, but rather, it administers discipline. In other words, discipline is the power of authority. Applying this principle as a parent, I hope to show kindness through predictable outcomes, as well as provide an environment of encouragement and affirmation.
How can you wield and yield to authority in a healthy way? In Authority, Jonathan Leeman, author and editorial director for 9Marks, shares how godly rule protects the vulnerable, strengthens communities, and promotes human flourishing.
Leeman writes that to have authority is to be an author—authoring a life of flourishing, trust, and freedom in others. When authority is exercised correctly, it teaches us to see what God is like. All of us have God’s word to see how God perfectly administers his authority, and we’ve seen examples of good and bad authority on earth.
Leeman admits the tension of authority of balancing truth and justice with mercy and compassion, especially in the Christian understanding of the subject. He relates this to God’s immanence and transcendence. Humans in authority need to find a way to balance both. Leeman calls this authority-in-redemption.
The book also, maybe surprisingly, studies submission. But the juxtaposition is important as they are the two sides of the same coin. As humans, we are most ourselves when we learn to be submissive.
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The End of Exodus
At the beginning of Exodus, the Israelites are dwelling in Egypt. By the end of Exodus, the Israelites are out of Egypt and God is dwelling with them. At the beginning of Exodus, the Israelites are building things for Pharaoh. As the book closes, they are building things for God. God had come to tabernacle among his people, so read the details in Exodus 25—40 with a renewed appreciation.
The book we call Exodus is named such because the Lord delivered the Israelites from Egyptian captivity. But out of the forty chapters in Exodus, only the first twelve are devoted to Israel’s life in and leave from Egypt.
The last and longest section of Exodus is devoted to a portable dwelling place called the tabernacle. From Exodus 25 to 40, we read about instructions and constructions. The reputation of this part of Exodus for readers is not stellar because the minutiae, the level of detail, is intense. These chapters cover:The kinds of contributions the people were to make (25:1–9)
Instructions for the ark of the covenant (25:10–22)
Instructions for the table of bread (25:23–30)
Instructions for the golden lampstand (25:31–40)
Instructions about the tabernacle design and measurements (26:1–37)
Instructions about the bronze altar that stood in the courtyard (27:1–8)
Instructions about the courtyard of the tabernacle (27:9–19)
Instructions about oil for the lampstand (27:20–21)
Instructions about the garments and consecration of the priests who work at the tabernacle (28:1—29:46)
Instructions about the golden altar of incense (30:1–10)
Instructions about the bronze basin that stood in the courtyard (30:17–21)The details are many, and readers can find themselves lost among the linens and cubits and multiple metals. But notice the obvious: the instructions about the tabernacle and its furniture are lengthy. The inclusion of such lengthy instructions surely highlights the importance of the tabernacle.
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The Story Of Us All
Faith is believing that we were born one way but can be born again another way. Anyone can be found, if only he will admit that he’s lost. Christianity is the hope of the world for those who have no hope in themselves. The fundamental story of the world is not the story of good guys and bad guys, or of oppressors and the oppressed, but of sinners and a Savior.
The story of Holy Week reminds us of the story of the world. And as the Passion of Christ tells the story of the world, it reminds us of our story as well.
We are sinners in need of a Savior.
Not theoretical sinners. Not “nobody’s perfect” sinners. Not “we all make mistakes” sinners. Real sinners—inside and out. Dead in our sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1), desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9), enslaved by passions and pleasures, being hated and hating one another (Titus 3:3)—that kind of sinner.
In need of a real Savior. Not a myth or a metaphor. Not a better version of ourselves. Not a hero of our own making. We need a man like us, and we need a God utterly unlike us. We need a genuinely historical person who transcends history. An eternal Son born in the fullness of time. A dying sacrifice who does not stay dead.
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Leveraging Leviticus
Leviticus is a book of hope, not in running from God but in running to Him, where He redemptively points us to the unblemished Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. By His stripes we are healed.
For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.Leviticus 17:11, NKJV
Whenever I read the opening chapters of Leviticus I am taken aback by all the different sacrificial offerings (burnt, peace, grain, guilt, sin), the frequency with which they are to be made, and the detail in which they are presented. I am much relieved to be ministering on this side of the cross.
Leviticus gives us an idea of the insidiousness and pervasiveness of sin. No one is untouched by it. Sin is a stain to life, our awareness brought to the fore in the presence of the holy God. As with Isaiah, the closer we draw near to God the more acutely aware we become of our sin and sinfulness, and of our abject helplessness to do anything about it (Isa. 6:5).
What particularly strikes me in the descriptions of these sacrifices is all the attention given to unintentional sins (Lev. 4-5), those sins of which we are unaware and may commit inadvertently or by omission. It brings to mind the expression that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
When it comes to sin in our lives, we tend to think of willful sins, those sins we commit or omit with intention. The psalmist has this in mind when he says, “Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression” (Psa. 19:13).
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