Speaking Truth to Authority

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he writes:

But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the oth¬ers, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? (Galatians 2: 11-14, NLT)

Speaking truth to authority is one of your most fundamental obligations as a Christian. It means to provide information hon¬estly and fearlessly to your leaders. It does not water down the need to honor your leaders neither does it encourage disre¬spect of your leaders.

For an understanding of our text above, it is important to note that immediately following the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension into heaven of Jesus Christ in 33AD, Apostle Peter became the leader of the church with the church’s headquarter in Jerusalem. As part of the persecutions faced by the church at that time, Peter was imprisoned by King Herod around 38AD. After his imprisonment and liberation from prison, he left Jerusalem (Acts 12:17) and from then on devoted himself to missionary activities, while James took over the leadership of the church. All in all, every Apostolic and high level deci¬sions is usually vested under the joint authority of James, Peter and John (Galatians 2:9). Not too long after the Jerusalem council which took place around AD42 (Acts 15:1-21), Apostle Peter came to Antioch and as it is unlawful for a Jew to eat with the Gentiles according to the Jewish tradition, even though Peter was eating freely with the Gentile Christians before some Christian emissaries came from Jerusalem, as soon as they came, he applied some “diplomacy” by withdrawing from eating with the Gentile Christians and consequently, painful as it must have been to Paul, he had to correct Peter in order to uphold the Christian value of truth and oneness. The question then is:

Are you able to tell your leaders what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear?

As a follower of Christ, you are expected not to hide the facts but to reveal them even if they run counter to someone’s pre¬ferred course of action, Christ has not call you to indulge your leader, but to equip him or her with necessary information needed to make the right decision and to always do the right things even if that makes them uncomfortable.

The duty to speak truth to authority is known in philosophy as a ‘positive obligation’ – a duty to do the right thing, and not just to refrain from doing the wrong thing. A major factor that can make it challenging to fulfill this particular duty is that, sadly, not everyone appreciates it. In the social community as well as church community, majority of the people are not ac¬customed to looking for frank and fearless advice, or listening when it is offered. But the divinely appointed ones do, and those who are privileged to work with these kinds of leaders know what a joy it is for brethren to work in an environment like that.

Speaking truth to authority is not a comfortable thing to do, but it goes a long way to define your value as a person, and to classify you either as one who contributes positively to his community and the well-being of people served or someone who for lack of courage or as a result of temporary self-gain failed to speak truth, and let down both Christ and the people being served. People who draw back from speaking truth to authority gradually sell their conscience and eventually play along, they pretend to be happy but deep down they are not because they continually act contrary to the still small voice of God in them. All the atrocities being committed by government leaders and church leaders are purely enhanced because majority of those who are their immediate subordinates fail to speak the truth to them. My advice is this: where you cannot speak truth for whatever reason, you have a choice to resign rather than make void your calling.

Jesus of Nazareth was continually speaking truth to the religious authority of his time. Craig A. Loscalzo in his book Evan¬gelistic Preaching that Connects puts it this way “The religious establishment in Jesus time could not tolerate blatant opposi¬tion to their authority. In fact, the word was quickly spreading that Jesus taught as one who had authority, not like the scribes. If you want to create a problem with the religious establishment, just get people to start calling into question the way of looking at things. The good news that Jesus and his disciples preached not only didn’t make sense to the leadership, it made them mad.” So, the question to you again, is:

As a leader, are you able to absorb the truth when spoken to you, whether done constructively or unconstructively, knowing that truth is always bitter?

Saint Thomas Aquinas raps it all up in his book Summa Contra Gentiles when he says “A thing that can be use both for good and for evil cannot be man’s highest good”. As needful as authority is, it’s major defect is that it can be used for evil, be¬cause of this, it is imperative for all lieutenants to continually speak truth to their leaders. What could have happened to Christianity had Paul failed to speak truth to Peter? If we all make it a duty to always speak truth to authority we will to a large extent make Christian race less laborious and the world a better place, then we can join Apostle Paul in saying “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 9:1 NKJV). Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

‘Tunji Oreyingbo
www.sanctifiedword.org