Both halves, side by side
What is disclaimed
“No pastor can represent God.”
“Nobody can speak on his behalf.”
“If he thinks he can, he is presumptuous.”
“Why would I talk like a spokesman for God?”
“Their aim is to hit you” with verses.
What is claimed
“God is correcting me through the pastor.”
“When God sends his word through a man of God, don’t ever reject it.”
“Who is he to tell me?” is “playing with consuming fire.”
“I sent a shepherd to you and you rejected him … God will hold you to judgment.”
“Anybody opposes, God will take care of.”
Read three short passages. Then decide.
- Jeremiah 23:16–21. Whom does God tell the people not to listen to?
- Acts 5:34–42. Who said “fight against God,” and to whom?
- Hebrews 12:5–11. Whose discipline is it?
- Can a pastor say that rejecting his preaching is rejecting God? What does Scripture say about testing teachers?
- What did Gamaliel mean in Acts 5:38–39, and to whom was he speaking?
- Does Hebrews 12:5–11 refer to discipline from God or from church leaders?
The other side, fairly
God does speak through preaching. Jesus told the seventy, “He that heareth you heareth me” (Luke 10:16). Paul thanked God that the Thessalonians received his preaching “not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The Second Helvetic Confession (1566) says that when Scripture is preached by ministers lawfully called, “the very Word of God is proclaimed.” And congregations can wrong faithful pastors.
So there is a charitable reading: no one speaks for God on his own authority, but a faithful sermon from Scripture carries God’s authority. This page grants all of it.
Pair them up
Tap a disclaimer on the left, then the claim on the right that answers it most directly.
What is disclaimed
What is claimed
Tap a disclaimer to start.
Which half does the preacher want you to believe?
If no one speaks for God, disagreeing with a pastor is not disagreeing with God. If it is, he is claiming to speak for God.
The charitable reading needs the test
If the authority belongs to the message and not the man, the only way to know whether a sermon carries it is to check the message. Every text behind the claim says so. Luke 10:16 was said to men sent with one message: “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (10:9). The same Paul who wrote 1 Thessalonians 2:13 told the same church, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (5:21). And the Second Helvetic Confession says in the same sentence: “the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches.” Its chapter 18 condemns ministers who “go off of their own accord,” citing Jeremiah 23.
“If what I preach is God’s Word, then rejecting it is rejecting God. So check it.”
“‘Who is he to tell me?’ … you’re playing with consuming fire.”
One treats you as a Berean (Acts 17:11). The other treats the Berean’s question as the sin.
Jeremiah is the wrong prophet to claim
Preachers who compare their critics to Jeremiah’s persecutors forget what Jeremiah wrote: “Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you … they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD” (23:16). “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran” (23:21). In chapter 28, Hananiah and Jeremiah both said “Thus saith the LORD,” and contradicted each other; the claim proved nothing. Deuteronomy 18:22 calls the man who speaks in God’s name what God has not said “presumptuous,” the preacher’s own word, and tells the hearer: “thou shalt not be afraid of him.” At Jeremiah’s trial it was the priests and prophets who wanted him dead; the princes and people heard him and spared him (26:11–16). See Dossier 03.
In his book, the men who demanded belief on their own say-so were the false prophets.
Criticism proves nothing
Jesus blesses those reviled “falsely, for my sake” (Matthew 5:11). Peter asks, “what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?” (1 Peter 2:20), and warns against suffering “as an evildoer” (4:15). Criticism of a pastor may be persecution, or correction he deserves. Whether it is true decides which, and you only find out by hearing it. See Dossier 42.
The cause decides, not the criticism.
Gamaliel, and Hebrews 12
“Lest haply ye be found even to fight against God” (Acts 5:39) was said by a member of the ruling council, to the council, in defence of the apostles it was trying to silence. His advice was to wait, not to forbid questions; commentators divide over it (Chrysostom praised it, Calvin called it “unmeet for a wise man”). The council beat the apostles anyway, and they “ceased not to teach and preach” (5:40–42). Turned on members who ask questions, the passage is read backwards.
Hebrews 12:6, “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,” is about the Lord disciplining his children through hardship, compared with earthly fathers (12:9). A pastor is not in the passage. See Dossier 16.
Gamaliel defended the apostles against those trying to silence them.
Its own warning, and its cover
“Be careful when people use Bible verses … their aim is to hit you.” Then Eli’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, “this night thy soul shall be required,” and “consuming fire” are aimed at those who question. The fire of Hebrews 12:29 closes a warning not to refuse “him that speaketh from heaven” (12:25), which is exactly who the preacher says he is not. See Dossiers 77, 19 and 68.
And the humble disclaimer comes first, so that the claim slips past. The listener remembers the humility, not the threat. See Dossier 72 and Dossier 35.
Incompetence or deception
- “No one can speak for God” and “rejecting my word is consuming fire” in one message are two positions that cancel each other.
- Threatening judgment on “who is he to tell me?” removes the one question Scripture tells every hearer to ask (Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1; Galatians 1:8).
Either the preacher does not notice he is contradicting himself, which is incompetence in the one skill his office requires, or he notices and uses it, which is deception. There is no third option. Which would you accept from a doctor who said, “I can’t tell you what’s wrong with you,” and then, “If you get a second opinion, you’ll die”?
What an honest version sounds like
“No pastor speaks for God on his own authority. When I preach, my job is to bring you God’s Word from Scripture, and when I do that faithfully, it is God’s Word you hear. So test what I say. Read the passage. If I have got it wrong, tell me. If I have got it right, then it is not me you are answering to.”
Which treats you as a Berean, and which is afraid of you?
Check it yourself
- Jeremiah 23 and 28, then Acts 5:17–42, then Hebrews 12.
- Deuteronomy 18:15–22 and Jeremiah 26.
- The Second Helvetic Confession, chapters 1, 2 and 18 (free at CCEL).
- Dossiers 06 (the main one), 15, 37, 75, 79 and 80.
Want the whole case?
The full dossier sets each text in context, quotes the Confession in full, and lists every correction to the brief.
Read the full dossier → Simple English →