Articles
Elders in Every Church: God's Plan
The Apostle Paul’s first preaching tour took him through several cities in southern Galatia. Some believed the gospel he preached, others took violent exception to it. At the end of the road, Paul turned around and revisited each of those cities where he had been recently persecuted. Was he insane? No, according to Acts 14:22-23 he had two vital objectives: 1) to strengthen the recent converts; 2) to appoint elders in every church.
Who are these elders? The word elder in its primary sense means older, but that is a relative term. Two things make it clear that not all older people are in view in this text. First, these people were made elders by appointment. Time, not some appointment, is what makes us older. The word elders in this place obviously designates a function; otherwise, the verse is incomplete because it does not identify what they were appointed to. Second, Paul’s instruction to Titus to appoint elders in every city itemizes a list of qualities a man must have to be so appointed (Titus 1:5-9). Not every older person meets the criteria.
In the New Testament church, elders are men who meet the character, ability, knowledge, and experience qualifications (1 Tim. 3:1-8; Titus 1:5-9), are chosen by the church (cf. Acts 6:3) and appointed to their task.
Three terms describe them in relation to their work. Elder suggests older, mature, experienced men. The same Greek word is occasionally rendered presbyter (e.g., 1 Timothy 4:14). Overseer (e.g., 1 Timothy 3:1; Acts 20:28) suggests their work of watching over the church. It is rendered bishop in the KJV. These men are also called shepherds (e.g., 1 Peter 5:1-3), again pointing to the nature of their task. Pastor in Ephesians 4:11 comes from the same word.
Every indication is that each church had a plurality of elders. The New Testament’s historical references to them are consistently in plural terms (e.g., Acts 20:17; 21:18; Philippians 1:1).
It is not God’s plan for the congregation to be led by a preacher. It is not God’s plan for the church to be led by committees. It is not God’s plan for the church to be led by majority rule. Voting may work in political affairs, but surely you see that in spiritual matters giving the same weight to the opinions of new converts and backsliders that we give to the judgment of the most seasoned, knowledgeable disciples among us makes little sense.
Churches that have no elders they are in a “lacking” state (Titus 1:5, NKJV). Next week we’ll explore why a church might not have them.
- 6.6.21_History_Repeats_Itself.mp3 (768.00 kB)
