We need men raised up and equipped by God at the helm.
The New Testament gives a constant and uniform testimony of the mind of God concerning the provision and work of those to whom is committed the care of local churches. The various passages relating to this subject are not merely the records of facts; what is written is the divine will for all churches, not only in apostolic times but throughout the present era. As in other matters, the Word of God not only is sufficient for all, it is binding upon all, and those who desire to be conformed to His will and to act in loyalty to Christ will adhere to the teaching in subjection to Him.
The instruction given does not admit to human additions. The devices of men, however plausible, fail to accomplish the designs of the Lord, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. The teaching, unvarying as it is throughout the canon of the New Testament and the apostolic ministry which it records, should have been heeded and followed throughout subsequent centuries, instead of being modified to suit human opinions and convenience.
If we hope to receive the approval of the Head of the Church hereafter, let us submit to the claims of the Word of God, and follow it at all costs, in devotedness to Him whom we recognize as Lord.
BISHOPS IN EVERY CHURCH
It requires no laborious scrutiny to observe from Acts 10 that elders are bishops (or overseers), that there are more than one exercising the care of a single church, and that they receive their function from the Holy Spirit. From Miletus the apostle Paul “sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church” (v. 17), obviously the elders of the church in that city (Rev. 1:2). In his address he says, “Take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops” (v. 28, rv). The word “overseer” is a literal translation of episkopos, from whence also the word “bishop” is derived. Not only, then, are the elders bishops, but they are figuratively regarded as shepherds, for the local church is spoken of as a flock, and their duty is to “tend it.” The word in the original denotes not simply “to feed,” but to do all that devolves upon a shepherd. They are therefore to exercise pastoral care, acting together as pastors over the local company.
The case of the church at Ephesus is illustrative and not exceptional. In the churches previously formed in Lycaonia “elders in every church” had been “appointed” (14:23, rv). The word cheirotoneo, rendered “appointed” (a.v. “ordained”), is the same used in 2 Corinthians 8:19 (the only other place where it is found in the New Testament). At Corinth, men were to be “chosen” to take a monetary gift to Judea.
Here in Acts 14:23, a formal ecclesiastical ordination is not in view. The apostles chose men who were already evidently fitted for the work. The churches did not choose their leaders. The context makes that clear. Sheep do not choose their shepherds.
Again, the Epistle to the Philippians is addressed to the saints there “with the bishops and deacons”—bishops acting in one church. Later, in the island of Crete, Titus is enjoined to “set in order things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city” (Titus 1:5)—never a single elder or bishop over one church, much less over a number.
This passage, again, shows that an elder is a bishop; for, in describing the character requisite for an elder, the Apostle immediately says, “for the bishop must be blameless” (v. 7). The definite article here obviously does not point to a particular individual, but represents a type (1 Cor. 12:12). The passage clearly provides no ground for the functioning of a single bishop. The postscript printed in the Authorized Version at the end of the Epistle, to the effect that it was “written to Titus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretians,” is false in two respects, to say nothing of the wrong implication that he was to be resident there. First, Titus was not a bishop, and, second, there was not “a church of the Cretians”; there were churches in Crete.
That a number of elders were exercising pastoral care of the church at Thessalonica is clear from the exhortation to that church, “But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work’s sake” (1 Thess. 5:12-13). This passage is very instructive. That the recognition of the elders is urged shows that the well-being of the church could not be maintained without them.
On the other hand, it is clear that their authority was based, not on human appointment, whether of an individual or by the election of the church, but upon the relation of all to the Lord. When the qualifications of overseers had been put on record, to guide the saints in the recognition of those who had been put over them in the Lord, apostolic appointment became unnecessary. That the elders “are over” them (lit. “stand before,” and so lead and care for “in the Lord”) limits the scope of their authority to matters spiritual. See also Hebrews 13:7, 17.
TENDING THE KLEROS
Elders are to “tend the flock of God…exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according unto God, nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:2-3). The three characteristics of church leaders are again intimated here, namely, that the same persons are elders (men of experience), bishops (exercising the oversight), and shepherds (with a pastoral care of the flock). It is highly significant, too, that the word kleros, from whence the word “clergy” is chiefly derived, and which is here rendered “charge allotted,” stands not for the church leaders but for members who are cared for by them! How glaringly Christendom, owing to the force of unscriptural influences and the bias of human opinion and tradition, has reversed the situation! The mediaeval and modern ecclesiastical systems of clerisy in its various forms, so far from being founded upon the Word of God, are contraventions of it.
THE RISE OF CLERISY
The course of departure from apostolic teaching and precept is easily traceable. Human pride and rivalry, a struggle for ascendancy and power, early produced a class of ecclesiastical officials, who obtained their position in a manner very different from what is set forth in Scripture. The case of Diotrephes (3 John 9) provides an illustration.
The method was adopted, too, of electing church officials by vote. Hence the popular or the strong man obtained the coveted position. Dependence on the Spirit of God and the recognition of the evidences of His operation gave place to officialism and formality. The evil spread gradually but surely, and eventually became general.
False teachers represented that the Christian faith was simply a development of Judaism. Hence church leaders came to be regarded as priests in contradistinction to the laity, a flagrant contradiction of apostolic doctrine, which declares that all believers are priests they are “a holy priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:5), “a royal priesthood” (v. 9); Christ has made us “priests unto God and His Father” (Rev. 1:6).
We ran hardly be surprised that church ecclesiastics were to the fore in furthering carnal ambition and in supporting and promulgating clericalism. Writing to the church at Ephesus in 109 a. d. Ignatius says, “We ought to look upon the bishop even as we do upon the Lord Himself.” In his epistle to the church at Tralles (also in Asia), he says, “Ye are subject to your bishop as to Jesus Christ.” In his epistle to the Magnesians, he says, “I exhort you that ye study to do all things in a Divine concord your bishops presiding in the place of God; your presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles.” Again, to the church in Philadelphia, “Give diligence to be established in the doctrine of our Lord and the apostles, together with your most worthy bishop, and the well-woven spiritual crown of your presbytery.”
The marked departure from the principles of the New Testament and apostolic precept and practice has received candid admission by many. Dean Alford’s comment on the perversion of Acts 20:17-28 by Irenaeus (who states that Paul called together the “bishop; and elders (!) who were from Ephesus and from the rest of the adjoining states (!)” is as follows:
“So early did interested and disingenuous interpretation begin to cloud the light which Scripture might have thrown on ecclesiastical questions.” He points out, too, that verse 28 shows that elders and bishops were apostolically synonymous, and remarks that the av “overseers” instead of “bishops” conceals the identification.
Again, in Philippians 1:1, he says, “The simple juxtaposition of the officers with the members of the church, and their being placed after those members, shows the absence of hierarchical views such as those in the epistles of the apostolic Fathers.”
Jerome, who died in ad 420, commenting on the Epistle to Titus, and with reference to the times of the Apostles, says, “Elders were the same as bishops, but by degrees, that the plants of dissension might be rooted up, all responsibility was transferred to one person.”
THE CORRECTIVE POWER
The remedy for evils is not to be found in human devices. To substitute clericalism for the principles and instruction of the Word of God was a gross departure from the faith. Nor did the humanly devised system remove the evil of dissension. It existed, and still exists, even in the greatest religious systems, notwithstanding an outward semblance of unification.
The religious systems of Christendom are hastening to their appointed destruction. The anti-clerical forces are already fulfilling Scripture. If we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, let us follow its teachings. Let us beware of professing one thing and following another. Let us obey God rather than men.
Faithfulness to His truth may mean suffering here, but it means peace and joy withal, and an eternal reward hereafter. Let us recognize and honor the prerogatives of the Holy Spirit in the churches, and the principles inculcated by Him in the Holy Scriptures.
—from The Church & the Churches