Cheryl Schatz

Kay,
You said:

“2. Do Church leaders have authority?”

It’s not their own personal authority obtained from God. It is the authority of God’s Word. The authority is God’s. Paul didn’t take authority over people, but rather authority over error and false doctrine.

That is such an important point. To one who was to be a watchman to protect the sheep was told to take authority over them. The authority was to identify false doctrine and to speak forth God’s word (1 Peter 4:10, 11) But the sheep were to submit to the protection for the reason that the watchman on the wall did not have personal power or authority over them. If the church did not listen to the warning, there is nothing that the watchman could do to force them.