Rebellion

In recent years there has been a great deal of discussion in society and the church about the abuse of authority. We hear frequent warnings against domineering husbands, heavy-handed elders, overreaching pastors, and tyrannical governments. Experience shows that these are real concerns, and they deserve serious responses. Thankfully, Scripture speaks plainly to them, and the Bible forbids the use of authority for selfish gain and wrong ends. Christ condemns those who lord it over others, and the Apostles remind superiors that they will give an account to God for how they exercise their authority.

But there’s another danger that seems to receive far less attention — one that is just as spiritually destructive and far more culturally acceptable: the sin of rebellion. We live in a society shaped by the ideal that, in the pursuit of independence, it sometimes becomes necessary “to throw off such Government.” We almost romanticize revolution. Increasingly, people are growing deeply suspicious of authority in any form, and rebellion is reframed as courage. Resistance is praised almost reflexively. Submission, by contrast, is viewed as weakness or moral compromise.

Yet Scripture doesn’t speak this way. While the Bible is unsparing in its condemnation of abusive authority, it is equally severe in its judgment of rebellion against lawful authority. While many acknowledge the former, the latter is frequently minimized, excused, ignored, or even championed among professing Christians.

In thinking about rebellion, we need to begin where the Bible begins: with God’s ordering of the world through legitimate authority. Authority isn’t a human invention or merely the result of a social contract. It’s a divine ordinance, “For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God” (Rom. 13:1). Structures of authority in society, the church, and the home are necessary to preserve order, peace, and righteousness. In part, God governs the world through these authorities, so our service to him is found in submission to them: “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution” (1 Pt. 2:13).

In Reformed teaching, this reality is often described in terms of superior and inferior. These categories are relational. A superior is one whom God has placed in a position of authority; an inferior is one who stands under that authority — in state, in the church, and in the family. These authorities differ in scope and function, but they share a common source. To reject lawful authority, therefore, is never simply a horizontal act. It is ultimately an act directed against God: “Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves” (Rom. 13:2).

This is why the Fifth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother” (Ex. 20:12), is foundational to biblical ethics. It doesn’t simply relate to family life; it establish the principle that authority is a good gift from God and that honoring lawful superiors is a moral duty rooted in God’s will. While it specifically names parental authority, Scripture and the Reformed faith have long understood that it includes all lawful superiors. As the Westminster Larger Catechism says, “The general scope of the fifth commandment is the performance of those duties which we mutually owe in our several relations, as inferiors, superiors, or equals” (Q&A 126).

This commandment speaks to both sides of the authority relationship. There are duties that superiors owe to inferiors. Fathers are warned to not provoke their children. Elders are exhorted to shepherd willingly, not domineeringly. Civil rulers are said to be ministers of God, punishing evil and rewarding what is good. Husband are commanded to live with their wives in an understanding away. Any abuse of authority is not excused; it is condemned.

But the commandment also places responsibilities on inferiors. Honor and submission are truly owed to those whom God has placed in authority (Rom. 13:7). It’s true no superior may command what God forbids, and inferiors may not obey in ways that violate biblically informed conscience. But within those bounds, submission is not optional — it’s an act of obedience rendered ultimately to God. To collapse the biblical commands into mere warnings against abusive authority is to flatten Scripture. God cares deeply about how authority is exercised, but he also cares deeply about how it is received.

We shouldn’t be uncomfortable speaking about rebellion, because Scripture is not. The Bible consistently treats rebellion against lawful authority as a serious sin — one that reveals a deeply disordered heart. Paul includes “disobedient to parents” among the marks of a reprobate mind (Rom. 1:30). In his final letter, he warns Timothy that the last days will be characterized by people who are lovers of self, arrogant, and disobedient to authority (2 Tim. 3:2). Peter and Jude both describe false teachers as those who “despise authority” (2 Pt. 2:10) and “reject authority” (Jude 8), associating this posture with spiritual corruption and impending judgment. The Apostle John rebuked Diotrephes for his refusal to submit to to apostolic authority and his love of preeminence (3 Jn 9).

Those things are said with a biblical background that is very clear about how God meets human rebellion. One of the most graphic memorials to this was when Moses’ legitimate authority was challenged by Korah. The ground opened and he, and all who belonged to him, “went down alive into Sheol” (Numb. 16:33). All who walk in that way will likewise perish in his rebellion (Jude 11).

Not every act of resistance is sinful. The Bible does recognize lawful resistance in certain cases: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). But those moments are still marked by humility and costly faithfulness, not by contempt, mockery, or self-assertion against the authority being resisted. By contrast, rebellion proceeds from a prideful heart. William Gouge wrote, “No more pestilent vice for an inferior than this: it is the cause of rebellion, disobedience, and disloyalty: only by pride, cometh contention.” Rebellion delights in throwing off restraint, refusing to be governed, and assumes an attitude of self-rule.

The biblical call to submission can press upon us in uncomfortable ways. Yet, out of a fear of God and for the sake of conscience, it’s something that is pleasing to the Lord. This means Christians need to cultivate a posture of humility toward those God has placed over them. As citizens, we’re subject to governing authorities (Rom. 13:5); children are to obey their parents (Col. 3:20); wives are to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22); and members of the church are to obey and submit to their leaders (Heb. 13:17). This doesn’t require blind obedience, but it does require a willingness to be governed — to be told no, to be corrected, and to submit even when submission feels costly. Ultimately, submission proceeds from faith, trusting God and the way he orders our lives.

To resist lawful authority without just cause is not a mark of maturity or courage. It is a sign of a heart that has not yet learned to bow. And until we recover a biblical seriousness about rebellion, we will struggle to cultivate the peace, order, and godly fear that Scripture envisions for society, home, and church.