God’s power and authority are inseparable

A great deal of artificial distinction has been made between the words “power” and “authority” in the New Testament that does not exist among the Greek words they are translated from, all of which show that a person’s ability to accomplish what they desire stems from their character qualities. The word exousia (Strong’s Greek 1849), which means “that which arises out of being,” is arbitrarily translated as “authority” or “power,” while other mentions of “power” come from dunamai and dunamis (Strong’s Greek 1410 and 1411), which mean the ability to achieve something due to how a person is or what they do. As with anyone else, then, God’s power and authority are inseparable.

Modern churches conveniently claim that they somehow possess the authority of God without demonstrating the power of God.⁷ Devoid of God’s power, modern churches rely on the same false tokens of authority that apostate churches always have, claiming that they perform no miracles because God doesn’t do them anymore, and claiming that God doesn’t speak because he expects you to listen to them instead.⁸

The ancient Jews also made the mistake of separating power and authority. Instead of interpreting Jesus’ ability to do what none of them could as evidence that he had more of God’s authority than they did, they constantly denied, explained away, or ignored his miracles. They asked the Lord: “By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave this authority to do these things?” (Mark 11:28) They did not understand that his ability to do what he did was the authority— because it could only come from God.

The authority Jesus wielded during his ministry should serve as the ideal. The authority of Jesus did not come from his titles, or even his parentage, but from what he did, how he did it, and why he did it. The outwardly demonstrated bona fides of Jesus were that he taught with wisdom that exceeded anyone else’s and worked miracles beyond what anyone else could do. The Lord’s statement that “all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18) was not a declaration of authority in the modern sense of the word. Instead, the Lord was saying that he had attained the ideal character by learning and living exactly as the Father would in his place, inheriting a fullness of the Father’s capabilities through acquiring a fullness of his qualities.⁹

Valid authority is a question of what you can do and have done, not who you claim to be or what you claim to be able to do.¹⁰ Valid authority is a question of who you actually are, as demonstrated by your actual qualities and demonstrated abilities, not titles you claim for yourself or which others bestow upon you. The value of a person is in what they actually do,²³⁷ not in what they claim to be. A wise man with a proven track record is better than any number of self-proclaimed prophets with nothing to show for all their credentials.²³⁸ All of the preceding statements apply equally to institutions. A social club that provides recognizable value is greater than any church that claims unique authority yet fails to enable its members any better than they were before.

The greatest power is the hardest to see. Jesus had power to forgive sins and wielded greater wisdom than any man before or since, but few were able to perceive or willing to receive that power. He worked many miracles, but these did not compare to the much greater gifts he gave in the ideas he taught.²³⁹ Through the beliefs he held, Jesus possessed and imparted to others the ability to endure heavier burdens than they otherwise could, to love others more than they previously imagined possible, to overcome challenges that previously overcame them, and to know God better and become more like him than anyone they knew. Today’s false teachers do the opposite of what Jesus did. They claim to have the greater power to save and condemn the souls of men while they lack the lesser power to achieve even the smallest physical miracles. They claim to be capable of leading you to eternal life when they can’t even figure out daily life.²⁴⁰ They claim to understand the mysteries of heaven without even demonstrating basic common sense.

You cannot separate God’s power and authority; where one is, the other always is: “...the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven...” (D&C 121:36) A person or organization that lacks God’s power likewise lacks God’s authority.