What are the sins of superiors?
The sins of superiors are, besides the neglect of the duties required of them,1 an inordinate seeking of themselves,2 their own glory,3 ease, profit, or pleasure;4 commanding things unlawful,5 or not in the power of inferiors to perform;6 counseling,7 encouraging,8 or favoring them in that which is evil;9 dissuading, discouraging, or discountenancing them in that which is good;10 correcting them unduly;11 careless exposing, or leaving them to wrong, temptation, and danger;12 provoking them to wrath;13 or any way dishonoring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behavior.14
Scripture proofs
The Westminster Assembly's proof texts (KJV). The bracketed numbers in the answer above mark the clause each set of references supports; expand a row to read the verses.
1 Ezek. 34:2–4
Ezek. 34:2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
Ezek. 34:3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
Ezek. 34:4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
2 Phil. 2:21
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
3 John 5:44; John 7:18
How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
4 Isa. 56:10–11; Deut. 17:17
Isa. 56:10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Isa. 56:11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
5 Dan. 3:4–6; Acts 4:17–18
Dan. 3:4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
Dan. 3:5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:
Dan. 3:6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Acts 4:17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Acts 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
6 Exod. 5:10–18; Matt. 23:2, 4
Exod. 5:10 And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.
Exod. 5:11 Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished.
Exod. 5:12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
Exod. 5:13 And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.
Exod. 5:14 And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?
Exod. 5:15 Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?
Exod. 5:16 There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.
Exod. 5:17 But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD.
Exod. 5:18 Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.
Matt. 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Matt. 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
7 Matt. 14:8; Mark 6:24
And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger.
And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
8 2 Sam. 13:28
Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
9 1 Sam. 3:13
For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
10 John 7:46–49; Col. 3:21; Exod. 5:17
John 7:46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
John 7:47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
John 7:48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
John 7:49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD.
11 1 Pet. 2:18–20; Heb. 12:10; Deut. 25:3
1 Pet. 2:18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
1 Pet. 2:19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
1 Pet. 2:20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
12 Gen. 38:11, 26; Acts 18:17
Gen. 38:11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.
Gen. 38:26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.
Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.
13 Eph. 6:4
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
14 Gen. 9:21; 1 Kings 1:6; 1 Kings 12:13–16; 1 Sam. 2:29–31
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom.
1 Kings 12:13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;
1 Kings 12:14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
1 Kings 12:15 Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
1 Kings 12:16 So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
1 Sam. 2:29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
1 Sam. 2:30 Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
1 Sam. 2:31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
This doctrine across the Standards
Where the Confession and the Westminster Shorter Catechism treat the same matter, so the question can be studied alongside its parallel statements.
In the Westminster Confession
XIX.1 God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all …
God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it.
→ XIX.1 · Of the Law of GodXIX.2 This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered …
This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered by God upon mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written in two tables; the first four commandments containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man.
→ XIX.2 · Of the Law of GodXIX.3 Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a …
Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a Church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers instructions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament.
→ XIX.3 · Of the Law of GodXIX.4 To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State …
To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State of that people, not obliging any other, now, further than the general equity thereof may require.
→ XIX.4 · Of the Law of GodXIX.5 The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and …
The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation.
→ XIX.5 · Of the Law of GodXIX.6 Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or …
Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned; yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives; so as, examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin; together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of his obedience. It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin; and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law. The promises of it, in like manner, show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof; although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works: so as a man's doing good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law, and not under grace.
→ XIX.6 · Of the Law of GodXIX.7 Neither are the forementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly …
Neither are the forementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it: the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God, revealed in the law, requireth to be done.
→ XIX.7 · Of the Law of GodXX.4 And because the power which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended …
And because the power which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another; they who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God. And for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity, whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation; or to the power of godliness; or such erroneous opinions or practices as, either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the Church; they may lawfully be called to account, and proceeded against by the censures of the Church, and by the power of the Civil Magistrate.
→ XX.4 · Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of ConscienceXXIII.1 God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, …
God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, for his own glory and the public good, and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil-doers.
→ XXIII.1 · Of the Civil MagistrateXXIII.2 It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate when called thereunto; in …
It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate when called thereunto; in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth, so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasion.
→ XXIII.2 · Of the Civil MagistrateXXIII.3 The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the Word and Sacraments, or the power …
The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the Word and Sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven: yet he hath authority, and it is his duty to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed. For the better effecting whereof he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God.
→ XXIII.3 · Of the Civil MagistrateXXIII.4 It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honor their persons, to pay them tribute …
It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honor their persons, to pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority, for conscience' sake. Infidelity or difference in religion doth not make void the magistrate's just and legal authority, nor free the people from their due obedience to him: from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted; much less hath the Pope any power or jurisdiction over them in their dominions, or over any of their people; and least of all to deprive them of their dominions or lives, if he shall judge them to be heretics, or upon any other pretense whatsoever.
→ XXIII.4 · Of the Civil Magistrate+1 more — see the full topical treatment below.
In the Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q.39 What is the duty which God requireth of man?
The duty which God requireth of man, is obedience to his revealed will.
→ Open Q.39Q.40 What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?
The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law.
→ Open Q.40Q.41 Wherein is the moral law summarily comprehended?
The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments.
→ Open Q.41Q.42 What is the sum of the ten commandments?
The sum of the ten commandments is, To love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbour as ourselves.
→ Open Q.42Q.43 What is the preface to the ten commandments?
The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
→ Open Q.43Q.44 What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, That because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.
→ Open Q.44Q.45 Which is the first commandment?
The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
→ Open Q.45Q.46 What is required in the first commandment?
The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly.
→ Open Q.46Q.47 What is forbidden in the first commandment?
The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God, and our God; and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone.
→ Open Q.47Q.48 What are we specially taught by these words, 'before me', in the first commandment?
These words, before me, in the first commandment teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other God.
→ Open Q.48Q.49 Which is the second commandment?
The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thy self to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
→ Open Q.49Q.50 What is required in the second commandment?
The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his Word.
→ Open Q.50+34 more — see the full topical treatment below.