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And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment (Matthew 8:13, ESV).
Today, let’s talk about a word we often misunderstand—authority.
In the New Testament, the Greek word for authority is exousia. It’s a fascinating word because it carries a dual weight. It doesn’t just mean giving orders; it implies authority operating in two distinct ways: positional and missional.
All believers have positional authority. Paul writes in Romans 8 that we are heirs of Christ, meaning we possess positional authority because of our heritage with the Father in heaven. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 4:4 that greater is He who is in us (the Holy Spirit) than he who is in the world (Satan)—again, positional authority.
But we also have missional authority to accomplish our assignments from Jesus. When I walk the narrow path of His will, I can pray by faith for mountainous obstacles to be removed.
To see the difference between these two, look at Matthew 8:5-13. A Roman centurion—a man who could yell, “Jump!” and watch 100 battle-hardened soldiers shout back, “How high?”—came to Galilee looking for Jesus. The centurion’s servant was at home, paralyzed and in terrible agony. Jesus, with His counter-cultural mercy and extravagant grace, immediately said: “I will come and heal him.”
But the centurion stops Him: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes.”
This is a seminary degree in positional authority: The centurion understood how the world worked: you have authority because of the rank on your shoulder or the bureaucratic seat you occupy. He looked at Jesus and realized that Jesus held ultimate positional authority over physical reality, sickness, and the unseen world. He didn’t need Jesus to physically show up and pace the room. He just needed the One in supreme command to issue the executive order. Just speak the word.
Jesus was astonished. He looked at the crowd of religious insiders following Him and dropped this statement: “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” Then, Jesus turns back to the centurion and says, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.”
Right there, the coin flips to missional authority—the Ph.D. in knowing how to walk with God’s power. The centurion didn’t just stand there basking in Jesus’s position; he was instantly sent out on a mission. Missiologists point out that biblical authority must move past static, hierarchical control. True authority is relational, kinetic, and validated by our direct participation in the missio Dei or the mission of God.
By telling the man to “Go,” Jesus mobilized positional right into active, purpose-driven deployment. Other global missiologists suggest this shifts leadership from linear power to a decentralized, Spirit-empowered reality. The centurion walked away not just acknowledging a King on a throne but acting as a bearer of the King’s active power, sent to accomplish a specific task—the healing of his servant.
Positional authority recognizes who Jesus is. Missional authority goes to work because of who He is.
Which brings us to a question as we look around our world today. We are living in the last times of human history. It is easy to sit in our pews, sing the songs, and nod along to preaching about Jesus’s positional authority. We like knowing He’s in control. But are we willing to step out under His missional authority?
When the Son of Man returns, will He find a people who merely salute His rank, or will He find a people actively moving out on His mission, with the faith to see the paralyzed, both people and the needs of our culture, completely healed?