Authority comes from God- how?

[coolduude]

St. John, Chapter 19:11 reads:

11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

I never quite understood how authority comes from God. For example, I knew that Pilate was appointed by the Emperor and that was an act of free will. Thus, how does authority not come from acts of free will and instead come from God?

Another example is the President of the United States. He is elected by the people choosing to vote for him- acts of free will. He is not chosen or appointed by God but by individuals. So how does authority come from God and not the results of conscience decisions?

If this doesn’t make sense I’ll try to explain it again

Coolduude

 

[Veronica97]

God’s Will comes in two ways: either He ordains something to happen or He permits it. So if someone is elected, appointed (or appoints themselves) to political office, then God has either ordained it or permitted it. All authority does come from God (as does EVERYTHING we have). Now that elected person can ABUSE their authority and do all sorts of wrong or terrible things. But THAT is FREE will.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

To me it’s a legislative authority.

For example, taking the business of the American President - he is elected only along certain legal lines, which were set up in the past, but even then they were partly modelled upon other legal lines.

So when the public votes in a President, they do so based on what might be called legal precedent. So, in one sense, irrespective of who they choose, the authority isn’t just theirs, but granted by a legal constitution. They merely make a choice, but the authority comes from the constitution.

Who framed the constitution? The US Fathers.

So in one sense the authority is not the public itself, since they merely carry out the process previously ordained if you like, by previous authority.

The Roman Emperors were also bound by previously imposed laws.

If you trace that back far enough, you end up with God.

Mind you I think he takes a more active role than that, and sometimes intervenes, in a hidden way, to appoint certain people.

But by the same token, God has also granted the devil a certain amount of authority, and I strongly suspect the devil puts his own people in place from time to time - Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin etc.

Either way, the authority comes “from above” in the final analysis. But any leader who thinks his authority is unassailable regardless of his behaviour has neglected the fact God is just, and will demand an accounting. Sometimes that accounting demands the overthrow of a leader.

To complicate matters, we can’t see what happens behind the scenes. If the fictictious story of Job has any spiritual truth behind it, God gave the devil authority to torment him, but within limits. The fact is though, the buck stopped with God.