The authority of the pastor is derived and declarative. In other words, the pastor has authority only insofar as what he is saying is faithful to the Message of the One who has sent him.   Mark Dever and Paul Alexander

The very first thing which needs to be said about Christian ministers of all kinds is that they are “under” people as their servants rather than “over” them (as their leaders, let alone their lords). Jesus made this absolutely plain. he chief characteristic of Christian leaders, he insisted, is humility not authority, and gentleness not power.   John Stott

The modern world detests authority but worships relevance. Our Christian conviction is that the Bible has both authority and relevance, and that the secret of both is Jesus Christ.   John Stott

His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice.   John Stott

[If] preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must proclaim this message of the inspired Scriptures, for the Scriptures alone have divine authority. If preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must submit themselves and echo the Word of God. Preachers are literally to be ministers of the Word.   Sidney Greidanus 

Prayer is the risen Jesus coming in with His resurrection power, given free rein in our lives, and then using His authority to enter any situation and change things.   Ole Hallesby

God speaks by the Church (the true Church we mean); but He speaks nothing by her but what He speaks in the Scriptures, which she does onlyministerially declare to us; and therefore the authority of God and His law is above hers, who, though she publish, yet did not make it, but is herself subject to it.   John Owen

Jesus preached with authority.  Why?  Because He had authority!  And the preachers of old preached with authority. They preached, “Thus saiththe Lord.” We have lost that today, I’m afraid. Our preaching reflects it and the lives of our people reflect it well. They live as if the pastor had no authority, as if the elders had no authority, and, even more appalling, as if the Word of God itself had no authority. We have returned to the place of the church in the Old Testament where “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” It is true today; every man thinks what is right in his own mind, regardless of what Scripture or sound exegesis may say otherwise.   Don Kistler

We can preach with authority because Christ has given us that authority.  Did He not say, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”  It wasn’t “teaching them to observe all that I have suggested to you,” but “all that I have commanded you!”   Don Kistler

The speaker’s authority does not derive from himself; it derives from the Word. It’s tied to his faithful presentation of it.   Jonathan Leeman

Government is not mere advice; it is authority, with power to enforce its laws.   George Washington

The Bible was the only book Jesus every quoted, and then never as a basis for discussion but to decide the point at issue.   Leon Morris

In order to the existence of such a ministry in the Church, there is requisite an authority received from God, and consequently power and knowledge imparted from God for the exercise of such ministry; and where a man possesses these, although the bishop has not laid hands upon him according to his traditions, God has Himself appointed him.   John Wycliffe

God has work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority. It is not enough that we be just, that we be righteous, and walk with God in holiness; but we must also serve our generation, as David did before he fell asleep. God has a work to do; and not to help Him is to oppose Him.   John Owen

[If] preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must proclaim this message of the inspired Scriptures, for the Scriptures alone have divine authority. If preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must submit themselves and echo the Word of God. Preachers are literally to be ministers of the Word.   Sidney Greidanus 

Man and woman are one in essence. That is to say, Adam and Eve are equal in dignity, value, and glory. In essential unity there is absolutely no room for inferiority of person. The man and woman are equal in every respect except one – authority. Two different tasks are given to people of equal value and dignity. In the economy of marriage, only the job descriptions are different. R.C. Sproul

Supreme authority in both church and home has been divinely vested in the male as the representative of Christ, who is Head of the church. It is in willing submission rather than grudging capitulation that the woman in the church (whether married or single) and the wife in the home find their fulfillment.   Elisabeth Elliot

The very word authority has within it the word author.  An author is someone who creates and possesses a particular work. Insofar as God is the foundation of all authority, He exercises that foundation because He is the author and the owner of His creation. He is the foundation upon which all other authority stands or falls.   R.C. Sproul

Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His lordship.   Elisabeth Elliot

It is not that God is stingy and must be coaxed, for He “giveth liberally and upbraideth not.” It is that we ourselves are so shallow and sinful that we need to tarry before Him until our restless natures can be stilled and the clamor of outside voices be deadened so that we can hear His voice. Such a state is not easily reached, and the men God uses have paid a price in wrestlings and prevailing prayer. But it is such men who rise from their knees confident of His power and go forth to speak with authority.   Vance Havner

Our first remark on this subject is that the ministry is an office, and not merely a work. Our second remark is, that the office is of divine appointment, not merely in the sense in which the civil powers are ordained of God, but in the sense that ministers derive their authority from Christ, and not from the people.    Charles Hodge

Ruling elders are declared to be the representatives of the people.   Charles Hodge

If preachers insist on competing with psychiatrists as counselors, with physicians as healers, with politicians as statesmen and with philosophers as speculators, then these specialists have every right to tell them how to preach.  If a minister’s message is not based on “Thus saith the Lord,” then as a sermon it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of the specialists in the department with which it deals.   John Gerstner

The speaker’s authority does not derive from himself; it derives from the Word. It’s tied to his faithful presentation of it.   Jonathan Leeman

Can a self-called man preach with the same authority as a God-called preacher?  Can a man whose confidence in the Holy Scriptures is shaken by personal doubts preach with the authority of the man whose whole heart, soul and mind are dominated by conviction concerning the absolute accuracy of the Bible?  Can a man whose own conscience rises up in condemnation of him for some secret sin in his life preach with the same authority as the man whose conscience condemns him not (I John 3:21-22)?   Richard Owen Roberts

If Jesus, the sinless and perfect Son of God, limited Himself to speaking nothing during His incarnation except the truth He received from His Father, how much more should those who have been called into ministry speak only on the authority of divine Scripture.    John MacArthur

The preacher must put himself out of the way and let God’s Word speak through him unhindered.  No matter what his training, experience, or personal abilities, he has spiritual authority only to the extent that what he says conforms to God’s Word.  But as with Jesus’ own teaching, when a minister of God does faithfully proclaim that Word, those who reject his teaching reject God’s truth and are as much accountable for their rejection as if the Lord had spoken the truth with His own lips.  It is in that way, and only in that way, that a pastor is able to speak with spiritual authority.  It is also in that way that he is commanded to speak with spiritual authority.   John MacArthur

You are not your own; you are a man under orders.  And the One who has drafted you and signed your orders expects that you carry them out in a manner worthy of Him, and in such a way that His authority and His kingdom cannot be ignored.  Now go, labor, work, and do your duty well knowing that it is the greatest privilege under heaven to be in the personal service of the Almighty.   David W. Hegg

The source of my authority in this pulpit is not…my wisdom; nor is it a private revelation granted to me beyond the revelation of Scripture.  My words have authority only insofar as they are the repetition, unfolding and proper application of the words of Scripture.  I have authority only when I stand under authority.  And our corporate symbol of that truth is the sound of your Bibles opening to the text.  My deep conviction about preaching is that a pastor must show the people that what he is saying was already said or implied in the Bible.  If it cannot be shown it has no special authority.   John Piper

Here it is, plain and unvarnished.  Unless I am convinced of error by the testimony of Scriptures or…by manifest reasoning I stand convicted by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s Word, I cannot and will not recant anything…On this I take my stand.  I can do no other.  God help me.   Martin Luther

The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole of man’s reason.   Martin Luther

We must not allow our emotions to hold sway over our minds. Rather, we must seek to let the truth of God rule our minds. Our emotions must become subservient to the truth.   Jerry Bridges

There is nothing so deluding as feelings.  Christians cannot live by feelings.  Let me further tell you that these feelings are the work of Satan, for they are not right feelings.  What right have you to set up your feelings against the Word of Christ.   C.H. Spurgeon

The Bible alone is the only authority that can bind the conscience of a person absolutely because it is the only authority that carries with it the intrinsic authority of God Himself.   R.C. Sproul

The inspiration and authority of the Bible is the bedrock upon which our faith is built. Without it, we are doomed to uncertainty, doubt, and a hopeless groping in the darkness of human speculation.   Sam Storms

Authority resides in God’s inspired Word (the Bible) interpreted by God’s Spirit operating through Spirit-taught human agents.   M.F. Unger

The supreme judge by which all controversies are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.   Westminster Confession of Faith