Study of Denomintions 03/14/2010

A Study of Denominations
Cont. from last week

Positions of Authority


Statement of Belief
The Scriptures teach that elders were appointed in the churches,
And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed who were instructed to oversee their church (Acts 14:23 ),

"Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of God which he purchased with his own blood" ( Acts 20:28 ),


and that they should meet certain qualifications,

Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, soberminded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach; no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (but if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have good testimony from them that are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil ( 1 Timothy 3:1-7 ).


Deacons were also appointed in the churches and were expected to conform to certain qualifications,

Deacons in like manner must be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless...Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus, ( 1 Timothy 3:8-10 , 12-13 ).

Also we must understand silence is not the way to establish authority. Ex. “If does not say no that means yes”. That is wrong, but this is correct: Ex. We can use a hammer to build the ark but we can not use a mechanical instrument to worship God.

In Rom 4:15 (for law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. [NASU]), Paul uses a theoretical truth to get the Roman brethren to consider his point. The theoretical truth is that God has never left mankind without law by which he is to regulate his actions with other men or with God Himself. Therefore, this is not a declaration of such a condition ever existing but is instead, a truth that would exist only if such were the actual circumstance. Thus, since there has never been any occasion where man has been without law, such is not applicable where God reigns. He has always given man those statutes that He deems necessary.

How does this relate to men going beyond what God has stated? God's clear dominion dictates that He is the Lawgiver. This means that, even where some particular statute seems to be absent, such as a hammer, the number of or what emblems to be used for the Lord's Supper or the use of mechanical music in our singing, what God has ordained must be considered to be sufficient.

John addressed this principle in 2 John 1:9 (NASU): “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”

It is a matter of whether or not God has spoken to a particular matter, not whether He has specifically forbidden anything. Since God has already spoken to the matter of the Lord's Supper, we have no liberty to expand upon what God has already spoken. We can neither add to nor take from His Word (Deu 4:2; 12:32; Pro 30:6, Rev 22:18-19).

Therefore, our question must be, "Has God already addressed this category of our behavior?" If He has, then we'd best listen to Him. If He has not, then we are at liberty to use our best judgment. That's the difference between doctrine (i.e., law) and opinion. I can only use my opinion (“think so”, “as I see it”, “I see nothing wrong”, “it does good”, etc.) if God has not spoken of the category (ex. tools, worship, work, or organization).

Sections
● Who is the Pastor?
● A Hierarchy of Bishops
● Elders Determining Doctrine?
● Widowed or Childless Elders?
● The Deacon
● Deacons Without Elders
● Female Deacons [Deaconesses]
● Female Elders
● Female Evangelists
● Homosexual Evangelists
● Priests
● Ordination
● Synods, Councils, Conventions, and Other Meetings


Who is the Pastor?
Many denominations today have one pastor or a staff of pastors having various functions who function as church officers and as evangelists/ministers in some form. Do we see that ministers are equivalent to pastors in the New Testament?

We have seen above in 1 Timothy 3:1-8 , Acts 14:23 , and Acts 20:28 , along with many other places, that the New Testament establishes an office for one called either an "elder" or a "bishop" (also translated "overseer"). Acts 20:28 demonstrates that the "elders" have been made "overseers" of the flock by God; this indicates that "elder" and "bishop/overseer" represent the same office. In Greek, the terms involved are episcopos for "bishop" and presbuteros for "elder". The former term is used above in 1 Timothy 3:1 ; the latter term, most often used to refer to this position, is used in Titus 1:5 and 1 Peter 5:1 , among others.
The term "pastor" is derived from the Greek poimon, which is literally a "shepherd." We understand from Acts 20:28 that the elders are to be shepherds of the flock. Therefore, we can also see that this term refers to the elder or the overseer. This term is not used in the New Testament to refer to one who is an evangelist or minister.

We can thus see that the Scriptures teach that there are persons charged to shepherd God's flock, having met certain qualifications. These individuals are called elders, overseers, bishops, presbyters, shepherds, and pastors. We do not see in the New Testament anyone who is simply an evangelist referred to as one of these elders (or pastors). Now, an evangelist can be an elder if he is sufficiently qualified; Peter was one, as seen in 1 Peter 5:1 :
The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

An evangelist is not automatically a pastor/elder on account of his position; he must reach the same qualifications as any other elder. The only authority that an evangelist has is the ability to appoint elders, as seen in Titus 1:5 :
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.

Therefore, using the term "pastor" to refer to any evangelist is not in harmony with God's concept of offices within the church.

A Hierarchy of Bishops

Some denominations teach that the church should be overseen by bishops, with one bishop presiding over a set of churches. Those bishops tend to be overseen by an archbishop, who himself oversees a large geographic area. In some instances, there are even higher authorities. Do we see such a hierarchy in the New Testament?

There is no example in the New Testament of any positions of authority existing over more than one church. Furthermore, as far as we are able to see from the Scriptures, each church had a plurality of elders, not just one over many, as seen in Philippians 1:1:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.

Beyond the elders in the local congregation, the only presently living authority is the head of the Body, Christ Jesus:
...and Christ also is the head of the church, being himself the savior of the body, (Ephesians 5:23 ).

We also should heed the authority of the Apostles of old (Matthew 18:18 , Ephesians 4:11) through their instruction in God's Word.

Furthermore, some of these denominations have bishops that do not even conform to the New Testament standards, for they are required by their denominations to be unmarried. Paul, however, speaks to the contrary when discussing the qualifications of elders in 1 Timothy 3:2 , 4-5:
...the husband of one wife...one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (but if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

It is clear that the bishop/overseer (elder/presbyter/pastor) must have a wife and a family so that his ability to effectively shepherd the church of Christ is made evident.

The hierarchical concept of authority was a digression from New Testament teaching, beginning with one "bishop" over "presbyters" over a congregation, then digressing to having a bishop over other bishops in a larger metropolitan area, which then developed into the various systems seen today. We have seen that such was not God's intention in the New Testament for the oversight of His church.

Elders Determining Doctrine?

There are some that teach today that elders have the responsibility to determine doctrine through their examination of the Scriptures. Do the Scriptures teach this?

When we read in the Scriptures concerning the duties of elders, we see nothing of them being told specifically to determine doctrine or to interpret Scripture as an authority for a congregation. We are told, in fact, that we are all to examine ourselves and our beliefs in 2 Corinthians 13:5 :
Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed ye be reprobate?

Paul further states in 2 Timothy 2:15 that we must be diligent to make sure we are handling God's Word properly:
Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.

The elders of a congregation are bound just as the members themselves are to examine themselves according to the Word of God and to make sure that their doctrines conform to the word of truth.

The only persons in the New Testament church vested with the ability to establish doctrine are the Apostles, and indeed whatever they established had been previously established by God in Heaven, as is made clear in a proper translation of Matthew 18:18 (seen here in the NASU):
"Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."


We have no indication that this authority was transferred to anyone else. We can see, then, that elders have no authority to establish doctrine. As shepherds of the flock they perhaps will be called upon to establish a practice of the local congregation in regards to a matter of liberty, and such is within their right; to establish any such thing as doctrine, however, has not been given to them.

Widowed or Childless Elders?

Some have argued that an elder who is widowed or who loses his children in some way or another can still serve as an elder, especially since the death of his wife and/or children is something beyond his control and does not speak against his character. Is this idea and reasoning acceptable in the Scriptures?

When we look at the qualifications of elders in 1 Timothy 3:1-8 and Titus 1:5-7 , the Greek is very specific about the nature of those qualifications. As Paul begins the listing of qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:2 , he begins by saying, quite literally, "it is necessary for the overseer to be...". The verb "to be" here is the Greek einai, which is a present active infinitive. The present tense, especially in an infinitive, carries with it a "progressive" or "repeated" aspect. An expanded, but no less accurate, translation would be "it is necessary for the overseer to be being," or "to continually be". Paul, therefore, specifically charges that elders continually be qualified. An elder, therefore, must continually be the husband of one wife, and must continually have faithful children.

While it is lamentable when good elders, by no fault of their own, are no longer qualified, we must remember one of the preeminent qualifications: an elder is to be above reproach. The existence and good standing of an elder's wife and children demonstrate that he is above reproach; without such, there are many aspects of the work of the elder that would be nearly impossible to do, and questions could be raised about his competence in shepherding. It is perhaps for this reason that Paul requires that elders continually meet the qualifications; regardless, the Scriptures are clear that any elder who is widowed or becomes childless or whose children fall away is no longer qualified for that position.