Quote:
"However, the Scripture indicates a connection between the accounting given by those who "have the rule over you" (Paul's words, not mine), and our own judgment.
Heb 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
I am not exactly sure how this is going to play out, and I don't figure anybody else does either." -Coonskinner
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In my religious upbringing, I’m sure I heard more emphasis placed on
Hebrews 13:17 than what would be considered average or even balanced (especially in light of the context of the passages surrounding it). It became familiar to me as the verse where Paul delegates ultimate authority to the “church ruler” or “pastor,” especially in cases where organizationally defined boundaries are challenged or as an end all answer to those fuzzy situations in between. There were many times when this verse was brought up after families in the church would inquire about the extra-biblical teachings or the alleged spiritual applications to the church’s membership standards. In short, it was used as a cruel instrument from those who wielded it from the pulpit to quell questioning from church members. If leadership perceived a corporate unrest, or sensed a shift of power to the people, not only was this verse brought up to foretell of “the pastor’s duty on Judgment Day,” but it was served up heavy and with a good dose of fear dripping down the sides. As a result, it became an ugly verse to me. My heart always sunk when it was mentioned.
It was some time after departing from that kind of authoritarianism that my studies eventually brought me around again to the book of Hebrews and to that chapter and verse. I read it many times and in many different translations. I read several well-researched commentaries on it. I read it in context with the rest of the passages proceeding and succeeding it. I read it with friends and family. And finally, I judged its force and intention within the greater scope of the teachings given to Christian disciples by Jesus Christ, and in conjunction with the didactic instructions for the Early Church by the Apostles. And guess what? I fell in love with it. The “minister” I sat under had grossly misunderstood the verse, or if he did, had blackened its meanings with his struggle for control. His logic of it had shaped him into some sort of “life manager” of the saints. But the author of Hebrews suggests something else.
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