day no. 16,944: ordo amoris and earthly authority

Colossians 3:5

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Rightly ordered affections, or ordo amoris, presupposes that no earthly authority is absolute. The prevalence of sin insists one know which loyalty answers to which. If your father asks you to sin against your God by forbidding something Christ commands or commanding something God forbids, you must honor your Father in Heaven by disobeying your earthly father. If the State commands you to disobey Christ or forbids you to obey Christ, you must defy tyranny and obey God as Peter pointed out in Acts 5:29 when he said, “We must obey God rather than men.”

All earthly authority is derivative.

As Jesus told Pilate, “You would have no authority over me unless it were given to you.” (John 19:11) Pilate had real authority over the fate of Jesus because he had been appointed the governor of Judea. But that authority could be taken away. This fact was something the Pharisees were eager to point out to Pilate as a way of convincing him to crucify Jesus. Pilate’s power was dependent upon the Emperor and losing favor with him would lose him his position, and more likely his life. So, Pilate had power because the Emperor had given it to him and the Emperor had power because God, who establishes governments, had given it to him.

So, taken altogether, we understand that even during His trial, Jesus was providing Pilate with the power and authority to crucify Him. Anyone watching saw one powerless man at the mercy of a powerful ruler. But anyone with eyes to see would have seen one Man in control of His fate and another at the mercy of other people’s opinions. One was doing what He wanted while the other was doing what others wanted. One man was fearfully trying to keep what little power he had. The other was confidently displaying the power of God at work in Him through patient submission to the will of His Father, and that because He had His affections rightly ordered. He loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength and sought the Kingdom and its righteousness first and foremost.  As such, He has received everything else along with it.