What is authority?  Authority is what keeps things together.  Authority is the use of a standard to determine the limits of some thing.  Example:  A ruler has authority.  It has authority because it is a standard.  If you want to know how long an inch is, you consult a ruler.  If I take a ruler and mark off an inch here in America, and a missionary marks off an inch in Russia, I can be assured that since we are both using a standard that my inch will be no longer, nor shorter, than his.  Another example:  A hockey rule book has authority.  It has authority because it is a standard.  If I were to put my hockey rule book in a time capsule, and my great-great-great-grandson were to open that capsule and find that rule book, he could understand exactly how hockey was played, how the equipment looked, and he could actually play the game as it is played to day.
    The Bible is also a standard.  Because it is a standard, and since it comes from God, then we can say that God is the authority.  If God has authority, and if He wrote the Bible, than we have an obligation to follow its instructions.  We are to live lives which are in harmony with its teaching.  We are also to respect the authority which is possessed by those who are over us.  Romans 13:1 teaches Christians to obey authority, for God is the author, or originator, of all power and authority.  "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God:  the powers that be are ordained of God."  Notice the next verses (verses 2,3) as well, "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God:  and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?  do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same."
    Who are our authorities?  The government?  Policemen?  Elders?  Parents?  Those who are older than ourselves?  Yes, all of these are to be respected, and as long as their wishes do not depart from what the Bible views as acceptable, we are obligated to follow them.  When we look to the Bible, we should understand that we are looking to God's Word.  When we look to the Bible, we should also understand that it is by that standard that we will one day be judged.  In that day, how will we stand?