“How much authority do we have as Christians?
How much authority do Mormons have?

How Much Authority do we have?
Who has the authority to Baptize and perform other ordinances in the church? Was there a great authority transfer? Matthew 28:17-20 is called “The Great Commission and explains who has authority in the church.
“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Mat 28:17 – 20
Jesus told his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” How much authority in Heaven? All! How much authority on earth? All! If Jesus has it all in Heaven and on earth then how much is left for anyone else to have? The context tells us that he is not giving nor transferring any to anyone else. “Go therefore …” Because I have all authority, … go therefore. Jesus is commissioning his disciples to go because Jesus has all the authority. He gives them a commission to go. If he were transferring some of his authority to his disciples we would have been told exactly how much and in what area specifically. This section of scripture is accurately called “The Great Commission.” The answer is that no one other than Jesus has the authority to baptize or do any other ordinances. However, all followers or disciples of Christ have been commissioned to make disciples, teach and baptize because Jesus, the one with all the authority has so instructed us. Jesus' followers have commission not authority.

An example from every day life
Say a farm owner told his foreman to take all the field workers down to the “South 40” and weed the 50 rows of carrots. Later another field worker came to work late and the owner said to him, “I forgot to take care of the weeds in my daughter's rows of Corn. I want you to go weed the rows of corn and don't let anyone stop you for any reason unless I personally come and stop you.” As he was in the middle of his task, the foreman discovered what he was doing and wondered, “Why is that person over there weeding in the corn when all the workers are supposed to be weeding the carrots. So he went over to the cornfield to discover what was going on. He asked, “Who gave you the authority to weed this corn?” The worker said, “I don't have any authority on this farm I am just a worker here. The owner has all the authority to determine what anyone is to do on any day. I'm just a worker with no authority.” The foreman asked a different question, “Then by whose authority are you weeding the corn?” The worker stated, “I was commissioned by the owner who has all authority on this farm. I am only doing this because the one who has all authority told me to do it.” For most of us, this is plenty good enough.
The same principle applies for our case. Jesus has all authority in Heaven and on earth. After we become a true believer and follower, Jesus commissions us to do his work. Ephesians 2:10

Marshall Almarode - (509) 582-5627
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