Sense: to obey an authority
v. — to obey a person who rules or commands.
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey [πειθαρχέω] God rather than any human authority.
Acts 5:29 (RSV)
In today’s example, the Bible Sense Lexicon helps us examine the different types of authorities that people should follow. In Acts 5:29, we see that Peter and the apostles—and by implication all followers of Jesus—are obligated to obey God rather than people. But does this mean that a dichotomy exists between divine authority and human authority? Not necessarily. In the Bible Sense Lexicon concordance for this sense, we also find verses like Acts 27:21, where Paul says that it is good to follow the sensible advice of a human authority: “Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss.’” Verses such as Titus 3:1 reinforce this idea. Thus we find that following God does not necessarily mean we must oppose human authority. Rather, we are to be obedient both to God and to sensible human authorities.
What is the Bible Sense Lexicon?
Sense of the Day is based on content from Logos’ Bible Sense Lexicon, which organizes biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words by meaning based on a variety of semantic relationships. Sense of the Day provides examples of senses in context, along with insight into their application for theology and interpretation.
The Bible Sense Lexicon is a Logos dataset available in Logos 5 Gold and higher base packages. If you’re enrolled in the Logos Academic Discount Program, you can also find the Bible Sense Lexicon in the Biblical Languages base package. Take your studies even further by exploring semantic domains, engaging the biblical text like never before.
Learn more about the Bible Sense Lexicon.