The Church:
Elders—Who They Are and What They Do
1.
Plurality of Elders
a.
Acts 11.30; 15.2—elders in the Jerusalem church
b.
Acts 14.23—“in every church”
c.
Acts 20.17—“sent to Ephesus and called to him
the elders of the church”
d.
1 Timothy 4.14—“by the presbytery”
e.
Titus 1.5—“appoint elders in every city as I
directed you”
f.
James 5.14—the sick “must call for the elders of
the church”
“This is a significant statement
because the epistle of James is a general letter written to many churches, all
the believers scattered abroad, whom James characterizes as ‘the twelve tribes
in the Dispersion’ (James 1:1). It
indicates that James expected that there would be elders in every New Testament
church to which his general epistle went—that is, in all the churches in
existence at that time.”[1]
g.
1 Peter 5.1-2—also written to scattered churches
throughout the Roman provinces in Asia Minor (cf. 1 Peter 1.1)
h.
Hebrews 13.17—the word “elder” is not used but
leaders are mentioned
2.
Names and titles in the New Testament
a.
“Pastor”
“The English word pastor is
derived from a Latin term that means ‘one who cares for sheep,’ and the English
word pastor earlier meant ‘shepherd’
in the literal sense of one who took care of sheep (see Oxford English
Dictionary, Vol. P, p. 542).”[2]
i. Ephesians
4.11
1.
“pastors and teachers” (NASB; NIV;NRSV)
2.
“shepherds and teachers” (ESV)
3.
“shepherd-teachers” (ESV footnote)
4.
“the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,
and the pastors and teachers” (NLT)
ii. Interpretation
issue: one group (pastor-teachers) or two (pastors and teachers)
1.
The article (“the”) precedes the first noun and
is connected to the second noun with an “and” (kai) but the second noun does not have the article.
2.
One group view
“’Pastor’ is coupled with
‘teacher’ here, and together they denote one order of ministry. In other words, the Greek construction
favors interpreting this phrase as one office: the pastor/teacher. There is not one office of pastor and a
separate office of teacher.”[3]
3.
Two group view—both words are connected; there
is some relationship between the two groups since both are joined by the one
article.
a.
Pastors are a subset of teachers
“This text seems to affirm, both grammatically and exegetically, that all
pastors were to be teachers, though not all teachers were to be pastors.”[4]
b.
Teachers are a subset of pastors
“If ‘teachers’ are a separate group, they can be understood as a special
branch of shepherds (overseers, elders) responsible for instruction in God’s
Word (cf. 1 Tim. 5:17).”[5]
iii. “Although
this term is commonly used in our modern church context, the noun ‘pastor’ (or
‘shepherd’) is used only one time in the New Testament in reference to a church
leader (although the verb ‘to shepherd’ and the noun ‘flock’ are occasionally
found.”[6]
iv. Acts
20.28; 1 Peter 5.1-2—all elders are to “shepherd” the church of God
b.
Elders and Overseers—arguments that these terms
refer to the same group
i. NOTE
on language:
·
Elder = presbuteros
·
Overseer = episkopos (sometimes translated “bishop”)
ii. Used
interchangeably in same context
1.
Acts 20.17 “elders” (presbuteros ); Acts 20.28 “overseers” (episkopos)
2.
Titus 1.5 “elders” (presbuteros ); Titus 1.7 “overseers” (episkopos)
iii. 1
Timothy 3.1-2—“overseers” used 2 x’s episkopos
“We must remember that Paul is
writing to Timothy when Timothy is at Ephesus (see 1 Tim. 1:3, ‘remain at
Ephesus’) and we already know from Acts 20 that there are elders at Ephesus (Acts 20:17-38). Furthermore, in 1 Timothy 5:17, we see that the elders were
ruling the church at Ephesus when Timothy was there, because it says, ‘Let the elders who rule well be considered
worthy of double honor.’ Now the
‘bishops’ in 1 Timothy 3:1-2 also are
to rule over the church at Ephesus because one qualification is that ‘He must
manage his own household well… for if a man does not know how to manage his own
household, how can he care for God’s church?’ (1 Tim. 3:4-5). So here it also seems that ‘bishop’ or
‘overseer’ is simply another term for ‘elder,’ since these ‘bishops’ fulfill
the same function as elders quite clearly do elsewhere in this epistle and in
Acts 20.”[7]
iv. Philippians
1.1—“overseers (episkopos) and
deacons”
“Here it also seems appropriate to think that ‘bishops’ is another name
for ‘elders,’ because there certainly were elders at Philippi, since it was
Paul’s practice to establish elders in every church (see Acts 14:23). And if there were elders ruling at
Philippi, it is unthinkable that Paul would write to the church and single out
bishops and deacons—but not elders—if their offices were both different from
that of elders. Therefore, by
‘bishops and deacons’ Paul must have meant the same thing as ‘elders and
deacons.’ Although in some parts
of the church from the second century A.D. onward, the word bishop has been used to refer to a
single individual with authority over several churches, this was a later
development of the term and is not found in the New Testament itself.”[8]
v. Elders
and overseers are never listed as separate offices
vi. Elders
are never given separate qualifications
vii. Why
two terms?
“If the two terms represent the
same office, then why was it necessary to employ both terms? The reason could be explained by the
general use of the terms: elder is more a description of character, whereas
overseer is more a description of function. It appears that originally various congregations preferred
one term over the other. The Jewish congregations apparently favored the term presbuteros, while the Gentile
congregations favored the term episkopos. Over time, however, these two terms
came to be used in the same congregations and could be used interchangeably
since they referred to the leaders in the congregation. It is likely that both terms remained
due to the important connotations each term carried. The term presbuteros
conveyed the idea of a wise, mature leader who was honored and respected by
those of the community. The term episkopos spoke more to the work of the
individual whose duty it was to ‘oversee’ and protect those under his care.”[9]
3.
Function of Elders
a.
They govern and rule in the church
i. 1
Timothy 5.17
ii. 1
Timothy 3.4-5
iii. 1
Peter 5.2-5
iv. Hebrews
13.17 (cf. Acts 20.28)
v. 1
Thessalonians 5.12-14
b.
They teach the word of God
i. Ephesians
4.11
ii. 1
Timothy 3.2 à 1
Timothy 5.17
iii. Titus
1.9
4.
Installation and Ordination of Elders
a.
Laying on of hands—1 Timothy 5.22—context of 1
Timothy 5.17-22 is about elders
i. Other
mentions of this action of laying on of hands:
1.
1 Timothy 3.10 regarding deacons
2.
Acts 6.6; 13.3
3.
1 Timothy 4.14 (cf. 2 Timothy 1.6)
b.
Prayer and fasting—Acts 14.23 (cf. Acts 13.3)
5.
Summary
a.
There should be a plurality of elders
b.
All elders shepherd the flock of God
c.
Elders govern/rule and teach in the church
d.
Elders are especially prayed for and marked out
[6]
Merkle, 40 Questions About Elders and
Deacons, 55. Merkle adds the
following in a footnote: “The verb ‘to shepherd’ (poimaino) occurs in Matt. 2:6; John 21:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2;
Jude 12; Rev. 2:27; 7:17; 12:5; 19:15.
The noun ‘flock’ (poimen)
occurs in Matt. 26:31 and John 10:16.
In Luke 12:32; Acts 20:28-29; and 1 Peter 5:2-3, the diminutive form (poimnion) is used.”
