Christ is our authority
The Book of Concord -- The Smalcald Articles
For all his bulls and books are extant, in which he roars like a lion (as the angel in Rev. 12 depicts him, [crying out] that no Christian can be saved unless he obeys him and is subject to him in all things that he wishes, that he says, and that he does. All of which amounts to nothing less than saying: Although you believe in Christ, and have in Him [alone] everything that is necessary to salvation, yet it is nothing and all in vain unless you regard [have and worship] me as your god, and be subject and obedient to me. And yet it is manifest that the holy Church has been without the Pope for at least more than five hundred years, and that even to the present day the churches of the Greeks and of many other languages neither have been nor are yet under the Pope. 5] Besides, as often remarked, it is a human figment which is not commanded, and is unnecessary and useless; for the holy Christian [or catholic] Church can exist very well without such a head, and it would certainly have remained better [purer, and its career would have been more prosperous] if such a head had not been raised up by the devil. 6] And the Papacy is also of no use in the Church, because it exercises no Christian office; and therefore it is necessary for the Church to continue and to exist without the Pope.Here we have Luther's condemnation of the artificial headship of the Pope. This is an issue because Christ is the true head. Only he preserves His church. It's not too strong a statement nor an axiomatic one to suggest that the current and past "pastoral leadership" methods are not dissimilar from the artificial authority of the Pope. Pastors are not the spiritual or earthly head of the church. They are servants of Christ, delivering His headship through their office. The "pastor as C.E.O." or "Herr Pastor" attitudes subsitute a mock authority and headship for the true headship of Christ. When congregations feel they are being led by a false authority, they are compelled to speak as Luther. They are compelled to call the unfaithful servant of God to repentance. They are compelled to assert that the false head relinquish his authority back to Christ... to return to a role as servant of Christ. Melanchthon spoke to this false preeminance of certain pastors over others or even pastors over the church in the "Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope." There are words of danger in pastors claiming law-making authority concerning worship and teaching. This is a papal authority that belongs with Christ and His bride, the Church.
V. In 1 Cor. 3, 6, Paul makes ministers equal, and teaches that the Church is above the ministers. Hence superiority or lordship over the Church or the rest of the ministers is not ascribed to Peter [in preference to other apostles]. For he says thus: All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, i.e., let neither the other ministers nor Peter assume for themselves lordship or superiority over the Church; let them not burden the Church with traditions; let not the authority of any avail more than the Word [of God]; let not the authority of Cephas be opposed to the authority of the other apostles, as they reasoned at that time: "Cephas, who is an apostle of higher rank, observes this; therefore, both Paul and the rest ought to observe this." Paul removes this pretext from Peter, and denies [Not so, says Paul, and makes Peter doff his little hat, namely, the claim] that his authority is to be preferred to the rest or to the Church.Christ, His one flesh union which is the Church, and the Word which also is Him hold preeminent authority. Those who wrestle this authority away from Christ are antichrists.
