Question 223: What are your thoughts on Hebrews 13:17? I believe we should honor and pray for our pastors and leaders. But not worship them. Am I off base?
Answer: Hebrews 13:17 states, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. ‘Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.’”
God has established various levels of authority under His ultimate authority. For example, God has established three institutions and ordained a source of authority for all three institutions, the family, the church, and the state. In the family the husband has been appointed by God as the authority to protect, provide, lead and bless their wives and children (1Timothy5:8; Ephesians 5:23-33). In the church, God has appointed elders, or pastors (shepherds) to oversee the flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-4). In the state, God has appointed civil authorities who are called in Romans 13, servants or ministers of God, to insure justice and to defend their borders and to punish those who do evil (1 Peter 2:13-17).
The Hebrew 13:17 text, the word, “leaders” is plural. God’s Word is clear that there is to be a plurality of leaders (Acts 14:23; Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5) to safeguard against the abuse of power. Scripture does not endorse a pastor alone to be the ruling authority. We have seen many examples historically of a charismatic leader abusing his unbiblical authority and leading 100’s and 1000’s of followers astray. The individual pastor or elder has the power to serve but not to rule. It is only when a called meeting of the elders is in session that they can discuss and make ruling decisions which impacts their flock. Abusive leaders should be confronted and given a chance to repent, defend themselves or be removed from office. The pastors and elders are to serve the congregation and be examples to them because every leader will have to give an account of the way they led.
Being under an authority is not a popular concept in our culture. Our natural inclination is that we want to do what we want to do. Doing what we want rather than what God wants is essentially what sin is all about. Adam and Eve were the first ones to resist God’s authority in order to do what they wanted to do and we’ve all experienced and continue to experience the result of their rebellion. John Scott, theologian, writer and pastor, stated in 1982, “Seldom if ever in its long history has the world witnessed such a self-conscious revolt against authority.”
Since we are to be under various authorities, that does not mean that we are to blindly follow them. We are to be like the Bereans and examine our pastors teaching with Scripture to make sure it is sound as the they did with Paul’s teachings (Acts 17:11). If the church leader is teaching or proclaiming something inconsistent with Scripture, we are to confront him and if he doesn’t repent, we must leave the church. In all cases of authority, we are to submit unless we are asked to do that which God prohibits or if we are prohibited from doing that which God commands. We are to resist any authority who requires us to disobey God’s Word and be willing to suffer the consequences for our disobediences (1 Peter 5:29).
We are to submit to the Godly leadership of our churches but it must be a plurality of elders running the church, not one pastor. We are to pray for our leaders in every institution because God put them there. An American minister once asked the great English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, what was his secret to having such great influence? Spurgeon replied, “My people pray for me!”
We are to support, honor and pray for our pastors but, we certainly are not to put them on a pedestal and worship them. Praise God for the Godly leaders in the home, church and in the government.