Power

Power is troubling for many Christians. We are suspicious that its exercise violates the ethos of the Sermon on the Mount with its call for meekness and willingness to be last. Power is also easily corrupted. In Lord Acton’s well-known words, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The more power we have, the more evil we can do, and the more likely is the devil to seek to waylay us.

The Ambiguities of Power

Power is frequently used to oppress and exploit others (Micah 2:1-2; James 5:1-6). Many contemporary feminists call for the abolition of the power model of society and organizations and brand its attendant hierarchical structure as a remnant of discredited patriarchal and unchristian ways. In its place they call for an ethic of sharing and collegiality. Anabaptist and other circles that stress nonviolence warn of the seductions of power politics and instead urge us to take up the role of servants who simply and humbly follow Jesus’ commands.

At the same time many Christians see no particular virtue in refusing to exercise power while the world and the church engage in oppression and injustice. We also tend to appreciate good leaders. Anyone who has sat through an unstructured meeting or a small group with ostensibly no one in charge or when no one will make a suggestion for fear of upsetting someone else knows the yearning for proper structure and authority. Christians are especially divided about whether we should ever exercise the forms of power we usually call coercion and violence. Those who do accept them insist that they can only be used as a last resort. The division roughly parallels the distinction between those who are committed exclusively to nonviolence and those who accept just war views.

Usually we end up exercising power. Some do so with sneaking guilt. Others just accept power and its consequence uncritically, whether it is the coercion that lies behind most political power, the marginalizing of others produced by intellectual power or the dehumanizing that may come from applying business models to church or vice versa. This ambiguity is reflected in the “theology of the powers,” which is associated especially with Walter Wink. This view says that power formations were originally a good gift of God, but now that they have fallen, we must work with them but maintain a continuing aloofness to their seductions.

Types of Power

There are many forms of power, including wealth, appointed office, intelligence, access to information, charisma, skill, physical strength and military means. Power can include control of things, like cars or word processors, as well as control of people. It exists not only in large-scale settings, for we can speak of a powerful argument, a powerful computer or a powerful sermon. Anything that can accomplish an end is a form of power.

Biblically, all power comes from God and belongs to God (Matthew 26:64; John 19:11). The New Testament draws explicit attention to Jesus’ power: his power over all things is a manifestation of his kingdom (Mark 4:14; Mark 5:17; Mark 11:20-22). God’s power is delegated to human agents in the form of authority or office (Genesis 1:26-28; Psalm 8:5-8). This includes those within the church structures, such as elders or apostles, and also those in other positions, such as kings or teachers.

The Right Use of Power

We cannot reject power as such. It is a pervasive and inescapable fact of our lives as God’s creatures. While it may be true that power corrupts, it is also true that an unwillingness to use legitimate power can also corrupt. We must be cautious with power, even suspicious of it, and we must carefully judge the forms of power and the ends of power, but we can never escape the God-given responsibility to exercise power. Jesus continually stressed the right use of power and the right types of power. He emphasized that the key to power is that it is a means of servanthood, thus reversing the common understanding (Mark 10:42-45; John 10:17-18). Paul also emphasized that “the governing authorities” are “God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:1-4 NRSV). This might sound trite to us, accustomed as we are to the language of public servants, but these were radical words when applied to Roman emperors and their subjects. To put it mildly, in the ancient world servanthood was not usually taken to be an attribute of imperial power.

It may also help us to use the common distinction between power (generally understood as the mere ability to achieve something) and authority (understood as legitimate power), which is close to the New Testament’s distinction between dynamis (2 Cor. 8:3; Ephes. 3:16) and exousia (Matthew 21:23-27). The late Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt even went so far as to treat these two as opposites: that is, people are reduced to exercising power when authority is not possible. We do not need to polarize these so sharply in order to benefit from the distinction. The existence of legitimate authority highlights the fact that even authority over people need not be exercised contrary to the will of those subject to it. Many forms of authority stem from leadership that wins people over gladly, something that Jesus, along with any good preacher or political leader, exemplifies. Even a great general commands not merely by military discipline and threat but by inspiring those who are commanded. A willingness to risk death comes from inspiration as well as fear.

Authority and Gift

The form of power called authority is clearly something we should exercise. The exercise of such authority is in turn tied to the gifts we have been given by God. When we have a particular gift—whether healing, administration, preaching or auto maintenance—we already have a factual authority in that area because we have an insight, and therefore an ability. We should follow good administrators in organizations, follow good medical advice in areas of health and learn wise ways from wise elders. In each case we are thereby recognizing an authority, a power, and at the same time we are conferring an authority and submitting to legitimate power. The key to using power well is not trying to avoid it in a desperate search for a world in which no one is ever subject to another but rather knowing its strengths and temptations. It means recognizing and submitting to giftedness as a blessing from God.

» See also: Organization

» See also: Politics

» See also: Power, Workplace

» See also: Principalities and Powers

» See also: Structures

» See also: System

References and Resources

K. Rahner, “The Theology of Power,” in Theological Investigations (Baltimore: Helicon, 1966) 4:391-409; P. Schouls, Insight, Authority and Power (Toronto: Wedge, 1972); W. Wink, Engaging the Powers (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1992); W. Wink, Naming the Powers (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984); W. Wink, Unmasking the Powers (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986).

—Paul Marshall