“Paul a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ” – Titus 1:1
One of the hardest things for many Christians to accept is the fact that they are under authority and are also accountable to others with skin. With reference to God, the issue of authority is not questioned all that much, but with reference to God-appointed leaders within the church, an altogether different song is sung.
But here is the bottom line: If one considers him or herself to be under the authority of God, then that same person would also affirm their submission to human authority or else they would have to deny their own authority under God. You see, God has orchestrated that all Christians are to serve under His appointed church authority (cf. Heb. 13:17); thus to deny this would then be a denial to being under God’s authority, you see what I mean?
One cannot say, “I answer only to God,” when God says, “I speak My Will through the authorities that I have put in place on earth and in the church” (Matt. 8:9-10).
Paul was a man totally under the divine authority of God. Before his conversion to Christ, Paul was a distinguished scholar and a highly educated Jewish leader, who learned Greek literature and philosophy, and in addition to all these things, Paul was a Roman citizen, which served as an extreme positive advantage in his day. Yet Paul never ever identifies with any such things when he openly greets his readers in his letters.
After his conversion to Christ, Paul was caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2, 4); given the gift of performing miracles, healings and preaching, not to mention being the most prolific author of the New Testament. Yet, Paul never used any of these advantages. He simply said, “I am a bond-servant of God.” In other words, I am a person living under someone else’s authority.
By the way, the phrase in Titus, “a bond-servant of God,” is only used here and no where else. It is a very unique phrase. Elsewhere, Paul wrote, I am “a bond-servant of Christ” (Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 1:1).
Why did Paul choose to say that he is a bond-servant OF GOD? It may have been his attempt to identify himself with the great patriarchs in the Old Testament. For example, John calls Moses “the bond-servant of God” (Rev. 15:3), and God spoke of “Moses My servant” (Josh. 1:2). Moses’ number two man was called “the servant of the Lord” (Josh. 24:29); and Amos declares that “Surely God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Then in Jeremiah, God said, “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all my servants the prophets” (Jer. 7:25).
Here is the idea: All of God’s choice men whom God used and identified with all served under His divine authority, which means that they did things the way God Himself wanted things done. Paul wanted the readers on the island of Crete to know that he was no different.
You see, the bible says, “We are not our own, we were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20). Since we have been “bought with the precious blood of Jesus” (1 Pet. 1:18-19), “we should no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again on our behalf” (2 Cor. 5:15).
We are all serving under authority, I think we understand this to some extent, but it when comes to seeing a “man” or a “woman” as one aspect of God’s authority, we initially make our own self-determination on whether or not we will accept God’s authority through that person. Why? We may not like what they tell us; we may not like what they do; we may not like the restrictions they put on us. But to believe that you are on the one hand under God’s divine authority and then on the other hand take yourself out from under His chosen vessels of authority on earth and in the church is a great contradiction of belief. When one does this, he or she nullifies the former for the latter.
Why is serving under authority so important? Well, other than the fact that God commands it, there is another important issue we must always take into consideration, and that is, it is means of “COMMISSION.”
You say, “What do mean by that?” After Paul said that he is “a bond-servant of God,” he quickly adds, “and an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
The little conjunction “and” serves as a connecting word. Paul is connecting both phrases together – he is “a bond-servant of God,” AND (i.e. with this comes something else), “an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
“Apostle” basically means, “messenger,” and is used here by Paul to refer to the fact that he is Christ’s ambassador. The idea is that Paul is carrying to others an important message, not from himself, but from someone greater and more important – Jesus Christ. He is divinely commissioned.
Now here is the all-important connection. The message that Paul the messenger is delivering would not be as effective if he was not serving under the authority of God. You see, if the messenger is going to deliver the all important and effective message from the one who sent or commission him, he must be a man or woman serving and living under authority. If the messenger is not living under authority, that would nullify the messenger’s character and bring suspicion to the message. Therefore, it would weaken one’s commission. You see my point?
At one point during a game, the baseball coach said to one of his young players, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?"
The little boy nodded in the affirmative.
"Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?"
The little boy nodded yes.
"So," the coach continued, "when a strike is called, or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?"
Again the little boy nodded.
"Good," said the coach. "Now go over there and explain it to your mother."
You see, every single team has some form of hierarchy whereby authority and accountability is to function. If this hierarchy is not recognized and received, then it weakens the team and watch this – “compromises relationships.”
No child of God has any right to deliver God’s message, whether in word (preaching, testimonies, etc.) or deeds (dance, drama, etc.) unless he is truly “a bond-servant of God,” and exercises it through visible ways of submitting to God-ordained authorities both within the church and on the outside.
