Is "Covering" covered in the Bible?
"So who is your covering?"
This is the terse query raised by many modern Christians whenever they encounter those who meet outside the institutional church. But what is at the heart of this inquiry? And what Biblical basis undergirds it?
It is my contention that a great deal of confusion and subnormal Christian behavior is connected with a modern teaching known as "protective covering." This teaching holds that Christians are protected from doctrinal error and moral failure when they submit themselves to the authority of another believer or organization.
The painful experience of many has led me to conclude that the "covering" teaching is a matter that greatly troubles Zion today. And it desperately begs for critical reflection.
In the following pages, I attempt to cut through the fog that surrounds the difficult issues attached to the "covering" teaching. Thorny issues like church leadership, spiritual authority, discipleship, and accountability. I also seek to outline a comprehensive model for understanding how authority operates in the ekklesia (church).
Is "Covering" Covered in the Bible?
Strikingly, the word "covering" only appears once in the entire NT. It is used in connection with a woman's head covering (1 Cor. 11:15). While the Old Testament uses the word sparingly, it always uses it to refer to a piece of natural clothing. It never uses it in a spiritual way. Nor is it ever used in connection with authority and submission.
So the first thing we can say about "covering" is that there is scant Biblical evidence upon which to construct a doctrine! Yet despite this fact, countless Christians glibly parrot the "who-is-your-covering" question. Some even push it as a litmus test to measure the authenticity of a church or ministry.
If the Bible is silent with respect to "covering," what do people mean when they ask, "Who is your covering?" Most people (if pressed) would rephrase the question to be: "To what person are you accountable?"
But this raises another sticky point. The Bible never consigns accountability to human beings! It consigns it exclusively to God (Matt. 12:36; 18:23; Luke 16:2; Rom. 3:19; 14:12; 1 Cor. 4:5; Heb. 4:13; 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:5).
Consequently, the Biblically sound answer to the "to-whom-are-you-accountable?" question is simply: "I am accountable to the same person you are-God!" Strangely, however, this answer is usually a prescription for misunderstanding and a recipe for false accusation.
So while the timbre and key of "accountability" slightly differs from that of "covering," the song is essentially the same. And it is one that does not harmonize with the unmistakable singing of Scripture.
Unearthing the Real Question Behind Covering
Let us widen the question a bit. What do people really mean when they push the "covering" question? I submit that what they are really asking is: "Who controls you?"
Common (mis)teaching about "covering" really boils down to questions about who controls whom. And the modern institutional church is built upon such control.
Of course, people rarely recognize that this is what is at the bottom of the issue. For it is typically well clothed with Biblical garments. In the minds of many Christians, "covering" is merely a protective mechanism.
But if we dissect the "covering" teaching, we will discover that it is rooted in a one-up/one-down, chain-of-command style of leadership. Within this leadership style, those in higher ecclesiastical positions have a tenacious hold on those under them. Oddly, it is through such top-down control that believers are said to be "protected" from error.
The concept goes something like this. Everyone must answer to someone else who is in a higher ecclesiastical position. In the garden-variety, post-war evangelical church, this translates into the "laymen" answering to the pastor. In turn, the pastor must answer to someone with more authority.
The pastor typically traces his accountability to a denominational headquarters, to another church (often called the "mother church"), or to an influential Christian worker. (The worker is perceived to have a higher rank in the ecclesiastical pyramid.)
So the "layman" is "covered" by the pastor. The pastor is "covered" by the denomination, the mother church, or the Christian worker. Because each is accountable to a higher ecclesiastical authority, each is protected ("covered") by that authority. So the thinking goes.
This "covering-accountability" template is applied to all spiritual relationships in the church. And each relationship is artificially cut to fit the template. No relationship can be had outside of it-especially that of "laymen" to "leaders."
But this line of reasoning generates the following questions: Who covers the mother church? Who covers the denominational headquarters? Who covers the Christian worker?
Some have offered the pat answer that God covers these "higher" authorities. But such a canned answer begs the question. For why is it that God cannot be the covering for the "laymen"-or even the pastor?
Hmmm . . .
Of course, the real problem with the "God-denomination-clergy-laity" model goes far beyond the incoherent, pretzel logic to which it leads. The chief problem is that it violates the spirit of the NT!
For behind the pious rhetoric of "providing accountability" and "having a covering," there looms a system that is bereft of Biblical support and driven by a spirit of control.
This is the terse query raised by many modern Christians whenever they encounter those who meet outside the institutional church. But what is at the heart of this inquiry? And what Biblical basis undergirds it?
It is my contention that a great deal of confusion and subnormal Christian behavior is connected with a modern teaching known as "protective covering." This teaching holds that Christians are protected from doctrinal error and moral failure when they submit themselves to the authority of another believer or organization.
The painful experience of many has led me to conclude that the "covering" teaching is a matter that greatly troubles Zion today. And it desperately begs for critical reflection.
In the following pages, I attempt to cut through the fog that surrounds the difficult issues attached to the "covering" teaching. Thorny issues like church leadership, spiritual authority, discipleship, and accountability. I also seek to outline a comprehensive model for understanding how authority operates in the ekklesia (church).
Is "Covering" Covered in the Bible?
Strikingly, the word "covering" only appears once in the entire NT. It is used in connection with a woman's head covering (1 Cor. 11:15). While the Old Testament uses the word sparingly, it always uses it to refer to a piece of natural clothing. It never uses it in a spiritual way. Nor is it ever used in connection with authority and submission.
So the first thing we can say about "covering" is that there is scant Biblical evidence upon which to construct a doctrine! Yet despite this fact, countless Christians glibly parrot the "who-is-your-covering" question. Some even push it as a litmus test to measure the authenticity of a church or ministry.
If the Bible is silent with respect to "covering," what do people mean when they ask, "Who is your covering?" Most people (if pressed) would rephrase the question to be: "To what person are you accountable?"
But this raises another sticky point. The Bible never consigns accountability to human beings! It consigns it exclusively to God (Matt. 12:36; 18:23; Luke 16:2; Rom. 3:19; 14:12; 1 Cor. 4:5; Heb. 4:13; 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:5).
Consequently, the Biblically sound answer to the "to-whom-are-you-accountable?" question is simply: "I am accountable to the same person you are-God!" Strangely, however, this answer is usually a prescription for misunderstanding and a recipe for false accusation.
So while the timbre and key of "accountability" slightly differs from that of "covering," the song is essentially the same. And it is one that does not harmonize with the unmistakable singing of Scripture.
Unearthing the Real Question Behind Covering
Let us widen the question a bit. What do people really mean when they push the "covering" question? I submit that what they are really asking is: "Who controls you?"
Common (mis)teaching about "covering" really boils down to questions about who controls whom. And the modern institutional church is built upon such control.
Of course, people rarely recognize that this is what is at the bottom of the issue. For it is typically well clothed with Biblical garments. In the minds of many Christians, "covering" is merely a protective mechanism.
But if we dissect the "covering" teaching, we will discover that it is rooted in a one-up/one-down, chain-of-command style of leadership. Within this leadership style, those in higher ecclesiastical positions have a tenacious hold on those under them. Oddly, it is through such top-down control that believers are said to be "protected" from error.
The concept goes something like this. Everyone must answer to someone else who is in a higher ecclesiastical position. In the garden-variety, post-war evangelical church, this translates into the "laymen" answering to the pastor. In turn, the pastor must answer to someone with more authority.
The pastor typically traces his accountability to a denominational headquarters, to another church (often called the "mother church"), or to an influential Christian worker. (The worker is perceived to have a higher rank in the ecclesiastical pyramid.)
So the "layman" is "covered" by the pastor. The pastor is "covered" by the denomination, the mother church, or the Christian worker. Because each is accountable to a higher ecclesiastical authority, each is protected ("covered") by that authority. So the thinking goes.
This "covering-accountability" template is applied to all spiritual relationships in the church. And each relationship is artificially cut to fit the template. No relationship can be had outside of it-especially that of "laymen" to "leaders."
But this line of reasoning generates the following questions: Who covers the mother church? Who covers the denominational headquarters? Who covers the Christian worker?
Some have offered the pat answer that God covers these "higher" authorities. But such a canned answer begs the question. For why is it that God cannot be the covering for the "laymen"-or even the pastor?
Hmmm . . .
Of course, the real problem with the "God-denomination-clergy-laity" model goes far beyond the incoherent, pretzel logic to which it leads. The chief problem is that it violates the spirit of the NT!
For behind the pious rhetoric of "providing accountability" and "having a covering," there looms a system that is bereft of Biblical support and driven by a spirit of control.
Comment
-
Comment by Minister Robbin Swinger Otey on January 15, 2009 at 6:42pm
-
"Are you sure that you are addressing a "universal" occurance, and not a personal notion?
Rabbi Jaja"
........................................................................
i can affirm the sistah's blog as a common fact among my peers and many of our fellow laborers in Christ. It is not just her personal notion. sadly to say.
in 24 years of working with and for ministry i have heard it time and again.
usually in the context of "are we going to take you seriously because of who you have to answer to". it seems the assumption is that if you are not "covered" then you are one step away from rebelling against authority!
now, of course, we can all think of someone that does not want to submit to the leadership so they go off and start "their own thing". i am not talking about those individuals. rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft & punishable by death.
i have faced many a pastor that felt that if they did not affirm the calling on my life then it was not "real" all the while having flesh, jealousy, and moor being the true motivation for their unwillingness to "tell the TRUTH and shame the devil" about me.
in the case of my move to another state, some of the ministers here in colorado territory seemed to think that i did not know Yeshua before i met them! amazing! egotistical! and inaccurate!
what really makes it bad is that ones that have approached me as such are not a part of a denomination or any other entity that they have to "answer to". hhhmmm
ya'll know some of our peers/pastors/and other titled "officials" have serious control issues... serious control issues... maybe even some of my readers today...
these spiritually abusive people will try to have you bound up, licking the ground they walk on, waiting on their permission to do what Yahweh called you into your mother's womb to do, while our brothers and sisters of all ages and walks of life are dying and going to hell!
now, please do not get this twisted!
i am speaking to those of us that KNOW and have been AFFIRMED with signs following that we have a ministry of proclamation, which means we do moor that just live our lifestyle but we actually proclaim the gospel in some form or fashion.
the way that i am handling it right now is to continue to submit to the non-affirming leadership but i also pursue other avenues of expression, this website being one of them. many have encouraged me to leave the ministry. one preacher told me that i would only last 6 months because they know me & my pastor, but i know that my time is not yet and i am 14 months and counting!
there is more humbling to be done, moor teaching to be had, moor relationships to build before the Lord will move me or release me to go and i know that. there are some necessary lessons for me to learn. like how to love the unlovable and those that choose to mis-treat you.
now, some of you are going to go my page and see who my pastor is. it is not there. some of you know who he is. he is an awesome man of God with a right now Word, we just seem to have a personality conflict and apparently i am not the first. LOL
unity divine in 2009 is my message starting with me deciding to give up the right to be right and by taking a moor pragmatic approcah to proclaiming the gospel.
i just do it! i just do it in Love, Truth, Peace, Freedom and Justice! i just do it with respect for my leadership as well as honor for the calling on my life!
please pray for me that i will stay on task until my work is done and that a true mentor will manifest so that i can grow higher in the work of the Lord.
we are all covered by the same Holy Spirit, the Blood of Yeshua, and the same Abba Father.
peace & love,
yuriela bey
-
Comment by Patrick D. Joubert on January 12, 2009 at 5:07pm
-
WOW...!!!
-
Comment by Anointed Sister on January 11, 2009 at 7:37pm
-
TEACH Sister TEACH...thank you for sharing your insight.
© 2024 Created by Raliegh Jones Jr..
Powered by
You need to be a member of Black Preaching Network to add comments!
Join Black Preaching Network