Understanding Authority

In order to understand this paper we are first going to need to take a look at the word authority. Authority means “the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes; jurisdiction; the right to control, command, or determine.” ("authority.") This authority can come from a teacher, pastor, principle or anyone else that has the ability to control or command someone or something. The Biblical definition, states that authority is “the legal and/or moral right to exercise power, or power that is rightly possessed. In the Bible God is presented as the ultimate, personal authority and the sources of all authority” (“Douglas, J. D., and Merrill C. Tenney.” p.61). In many of the stories such as Metamorphosis, Ivan Ilyich and The Guest there was a clear definition that even though there was authority; the understanding of such authority was not concrete in any fashion.

Kafka’s understanding was that the world was not one that was in control and wished to share that with many through his writings. Kafka’s expression in his life was that of those in “incomprehensible authority” were riddled with guilt while not being able to have a successful relationship with anyone (“Mack, Maynard.” p. 2298).

Kafka although not liking the difficulty of authority of his father, he understood that authority existed for the benefit of oneself too. We see that through Kafka’s story the Metamorphosis the struggle with the realism of life and the false life in which authority played a big part. He was able to express the lack of love he felt in regards to the lack of nurturing concepts in which Gregor faced. Colossians 2:18-19 contrasts the concepts in which Kafka lived under by stating this about what he described similarly to a false...

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... lives not just part but over our whole life. Luke 6:46 tells us that we will only know what Christ is like if we put our complete life in His authority.

Works Cited

“authority.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 18 Sep. 2011. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/authority>. “Barker, Kenneth L.” “Colossians 2:18-19.” Zondervan NIV Study Bible: New International

Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008. p.1851 Print.

“Barker, Kenneth L.” “Rom. 13:1-2.” Zondervan NIV Study Bible: New International

Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008. p.1759 Print.

“Douglas, J. D., and Merrill C. Tenney.” “Authority.” NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible. Grand

Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1989. p.61. Print.

“Mack, Maynard.” The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. 5th Continental Ed. New

York. Norton, 1987. p.2298. Print.