TL

Sue wrote: ””I do not feel that any person should have personal authority over another, due to the prevalence of sin. “

NN responded: ”Yet this is the instruction which the Bible repeatedly and explicitly gives us.

Rom 13:1 ~ Let every person be subject [hupotassoe] to the governing authorities [exousia]. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
(Titus 2:9, Titus 3:1, 1 Pet 2:13-18, Eph 6:1, Col 3:20, etc.)

Sue speaks of one individual exercising personal authority over another individual. And NN responds citing a group of people in a government exercising authority over towns, cities and nations. NN also cites the condition between masters and slaves which we know now that God never approved of or ordered. Perhaps, NN you think that God approves of the relationship between masters and slaves? Do you have slaves? As for children, such parental authority begins to diminish in the first year of the child’s life until the child reaches an age of personal accountability.

Personal authority over another is like two friends who have an hierarchical relationship. One exercises authority over the other, ruling over his decisions and actions, making choices for him, making decisions for him. In real life such a ‘friend’ would not be a friend for long.