Maybe you’ve noticed all the posts on authority lately.
As I’ve worked through these issues, I want to point out a key distiction. It is this distinction that is relevant to the question of resistance and to the question of nullification. The key distinction is Davidic Authority vs. magistral authority. Christ’s authority is Davidic and so it demands each and every man’s obeisance from birth. If Christ rightly punishes the rebellious one with death. Nobody has the right to nullify Christ’s authority.
In the Old Testament, however, one loses Davidic authority when the one who excercises such authority fails to obey God. Those who obey God may challenge it when those invested with it fail.
Magistral authority has a different weight. We can see this in Samuel’s warnings against the monopolizing authority of a king in 1 Samuel 8. This kingly authority, which will later become Davidic authority, gives the leader far more opportunity for abuse than the authority earlier judges had.
This distinction remains in-exact. However, I believe that it is key to working out how authority works in our contemporary situation.
Also note that this Davidic authority is private in the sense that Hans Herman Hoppe speaks of in “What must be done.”