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Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority (John Dalberg-Acton, 1887)
Why do those with the most power or authority seem to inevitably abuse it? Why does it seem so true that absolute power really, truly, corrupts people far beyond the normal person? It’s tempting to think that power itself is a problem – that something about it leads us into greater sinfulness than we thought we were capable of. But when we think about it biblically, the sinful ways we use power always come back to us.
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)
We don’t sin because of power, Satan, or our past. We sin because, in that moment, we believe sin will bring us the greatest satisfaction. Despite how destructive we know it is, we convince ourselves that the risk, and the pain, is worth it in the end. It’s our desires that lead us toward sin.
For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.“For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (Luke 6:43-45)
Power, whether as a famous teacher or even as a manager of a small office, doesn’t create sin. Instead, it simply reveals what’s already in our hearts, often amplifying it by allowing a person in power to give in to their desires without much risk to themselves. Small dips into sin eventually turn into total immersion, and the desire to pursue even more sin grows alongside their ability to indulge in it.
as it is written: “There is no righteous person, not even one; There is no one who understands, There is no one who seeks out God; They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, There is not even one.” (Romans 3:9-12)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
When we reflect on why any of us give in to sin, we compromise the necessity of the gospel by ignoring the depth of how sinful we truly are. We aren’t basically good people other than this pesky sin problem. We aren’t just sinners because we sin – we sin because we are born sinners. And it’s that total lack of any goodness within us that makes Jesus Christ so necessary.
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for the one who has died is freed from sin. (Romans 6:6-7)
However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? (Galatians 4:8-9)
Before Christ, we could only sin. We loved sin and its promises of satisfaction, happiness, and salvation from our problems. We were slaves to sin by our own choice, because we wanted everything it offered.
Through His death on the cross, Christ set His people free from the shackles of sin and its necessary punishment for death. He lifted the blinders from our eyes and showed us what sin truly was, and where it was leading us. We cried out to Him for salvation because we realized that Jesus Christ is truly the only one who can offer us salvation and satisfaction. Christ, alone, is the only thing worth pursuing.
Yet so often, and so easily, we turn back to those things that can only bring death. We surrender ourselves to the slavery that Christ’s blood freed us from. Yet no matter how much we foolishly give in to our sinful desires, God’s grace continues to cover us.
… that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
The reality of how depraved we are isn’t just something for the average Christian. No one who follows Christ, no matter how intelligent, mature, or famous is beyond the risk of falling into sin. Putting on Christ isn’t a one-time thing, but a daily decision to reject who we were and instead be who God calls us to be in Jesus Christ.
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
We need to realize that the Christians we look up to the most are just as easily swayed toward sin as the rest of us. Spiritual maturity and wisdom offer great protection against such things, but no one will arrive at a place where they don’t need to constantly be on the lookout for their sinful desires. Being in a ministry isn’t a protection from those temptations – if anything, the affirmation and admiration of others should cause leaders to cling to the cross even tighter because that amount of power and prestige is going to remove our barriers for sin and allow us to pursue our desires like never before.
Power doesn’t corrupt pure hearts. Instead, it gives corrupted hearts the ability to pursue what they desire most. No one, not even great men and women of God, is immune to our sin nature. And without an abundance of caution, the power to indulge in more sin will soon lead to the act of indulging in more sin.
