Kay

“When we take the worldly way of leading which is “ruling” and make it “the” way of Jesus, we have distorted the teaching that the one who wants to be the greatest is to be the servant of all. The servant “feeds”. The servant does not “rule over” God’s sheep.”
Cheryl,
Comp/hierarchists have this idea of ruling/authority so deeply ingrained that it’s really difficult for them to see past it. I think part of the problem, especially for new Christians or those who do not study on their own, is with the choice of words by translators.
Recently a comp. sited Hebrews 13:17 “obey them that rule over us”. The problem, I pointed out, is that the word ‘peitho’ sometimes translated as “obey” there, is also translated as:
assure, confident, convinced, followed, have confidence, having confidence, listen, persuade, persuaded, persuading, put confidence, put…confidence, put…trust, relied, seeking the favor, sure, took…advice, trust, trusted, trusting, trusts, urging, win…over, won over.
It’s not as though the elders of the Church are making “rules” that must be “obeyed.” What rules are they enforcing? The comp. had no answer for that.
Further, how could they enforce such “ruling”? Elders cannot force the sheep to obey. If anyone had that authority it would be the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit never forces us either. Doesn’t the Holy Spirit do the convicting? Does the Holy Spirit need a “chain of command” to do it? Really! Like the HS. needs man’s help??

Another comp. asked me, “I assume you don’t think that parents have no authority over their children, do you?”
I replied, Actually, I don’t find one Scripture telling me to take authority over my children – my children are adults with children of their own. But, I didn’t find one telling me to do that when they were young either. I also don’t see any Scriptures telling parents to force their children to do obey. (?) Jesus doesn’t force us to follow Him – He leads by example. “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Out of love for my children, I sought to teach them by example. They were intrusted to the care of my husband and myself – we didn’t see that as having authority over. We saw it as a blessing and a challenge to walk out our faith.