Evangelical churches — especially the UPCI — make Hebrews 13:17 a full-fledged doctrine that pastors must be strictly obeyed or else a congregant will face the disapproval of God, chastisement by unfortunate life events, and even the danger of damnation. Well, after being used and abused for decades by a preacher for fun and profit, I’ve been thinking about various doctrines that evangelical churches use to establish the atmosphere that makes such chicanery possible, and their actual scriptural support.
Hebrews 13:17 (KJV): “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
Sounds serious. For fun, I asked Claude.AI about it. I don’t know Greek, so I can’t double-check these things, but if AI is correct, it turns out that the English translation may be doing a lot of heavy lifting that the original language doesn’t support.
Peithesthe tois hēgoumenois hymōn kai hypeikete; autos gar phylassousin hyper tas psychas hymōn, hōs logon apodedomenoi: Houto poieite, meta charas kai ou stenazontes, hoti asympheron hymin.
Transliteration:
Be persuaded by your leaders and submit to them, for they are watching over your souls as those who must give an account; do this with joy and not groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Claude’s take:
The Greek work translated “Obey” is peitho, which more literally means “be persuaded by” or “have confidence in.” Notice it’s not hupakouo, the stronger word for obedience, used for children obeying parents, servants obeying masters, or obedience to God. The choice of peitho suggests trust and willing deference to persuasion, not hierarchical command.
The Greek translated to “them that have the rule over you” hegeomai, meaning “to lead, guide, go before.” It’s the root of the English word, “guide.” “Rule over” imports an authority structure the word doesn’t necessarily carry.
A more literal rendering might be: “Be persuaded by your guides and yield to them, for they watch for your souls as those who will give account…” That’s a different flavor than “obey your rulers.
Matthew 20:25-27 (KJV): “Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.”
Mark 10:42-45 repeats this almost verbatim.
Jesus explicitly rejects the authority model being imported into Hebrews 13:17. He says flatly: “It shall not be so among you.”
1 Peter 5:2-3 (KJV): “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”
Peter — an apostle — explicitly tells elders not to lord it over people. Leadership is by example, not command.
It’s a very popular preaching contrivance to dig into the Greek behind a passage of scripture. Isn’t it funny, then, how in 30 years of going to a UPC church, I’ve never seen someone talk about the Greek behind this scripture? And it’s also very telling that the UPC considers the KVJ to be the “official” version of the Bible, isn’t it?
Hebrews 13:17 (NIV): “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.”
While, I agree that the NIV waters down the power of the language in the KJV at times, but I’m starting to suspect there’s more honesty in that translation than I’ve given it credit for now. That’s much closer to the Greek, anyway.