‘Power corrupts.’ This phrase is better known by the phrase that follows: ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ It is important to recognize that this only makes sense if we assume the first phrase: there is something about power that changes people. Power has a way of distorting what it comes in contact with. It is not a poison, a bad that comes in and pollutes what was good; instead power is a highlighter, it magnifies the sin and selfishness that already exists in the human heart.
For this reason, power itself is neither good or bad. Like most things in this life, it is something that God created good that human beings have found a way to abuse and use for destruction. The way for us to be able to keep power from corrupting, then, is to learn to view and use power as God intended it. In this series, we hope to build a case for a Biblical view of power that builds up rather than breaks down. [Continued in Study Guide]