by Garrett Glende
Up next in our discussion of the church is the issue of church government. This chapter comes on the heels of the chapter discussing the power of the church, namely through church discipline. One of the questions someone may have after learning about this function of the church may be, “Who decides which people are placed under discipline and how is it carried out?” This chapter provides an answer to this question and informs us of a framework for which the church is to operate under. Grudem makes it clear at the beginning of his discussion that he believes there is not a command in the Bible for one specific way of setting up the government within the church. Thus, he offers various views and points out the strengths and weaknesses of them all. For our purposes, we will focus heavily on the model that is most like the one practiced here at LBC, while also mentioning other ideas as well.
The New Testament describes three different roles when it speaks of those who are involved in the leadership of the church: apostle, elder, and deacon.
Apostle
While there are no longer any apostles active in the life of the church today, we see from the accounts of the New Testament that this was a vital role in the establishment of the early church. Each of these men had the ability to dictate God’s word to the people because they had been grated this authority from Christ himself. Christ specifically commissioned certain men who had witnessed his resurrected body to be his witnesses throughout the world so that His Name would be made known. Paul defends his apostleship by submitting to the people that he had indeed seen the Lord, and that He was specifically commissioned by Christ (1 Cor. 9:1, Acts 9:5-6, 26:15-18). Grudem argues that “no apostles were appointed after Paul, and certainly, since no one today can meet the qualification of having seen the risen Christ with his own eyes, there are no apostles today.”
Elder
The elder is presented as the primary leader within the church in the New Testament. They are also called bishops, overseers, and pastors, but the most common term used is elder. We see that the churches in the book of Acts often appoint elders shortly after the church begins. Elsewhere, Paul instructs Titus to “appoint elders in every town” so that the church might be in order (Titus 1:5). Peter called for the “elders among you [to]…shepherd the flock” (1 Peter 5:1-2). James also says that the one who is sick should “call for the elders of the church” to pray (James 5:14). So we see that both James and Peter fully expected that all churches would have elders in place for these duties to be carried out.
The qualifications for such a role are found in passages such as 1 Timothy 3:2-7 and Titus 1:6-9. The overwhelming majority of the qualifications pertain to the character of such a man. He must be:
“above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” (1 Timothy 3:1-7)
It is the responsibility of the elder to lead the church that God has placed him in. Just as he is to “manage his own household well,” so he is to govern the church as a whole. It is clear that there is an authority given to these men, as Peter calls us to be “subject to the elders” (1 Peter 5:5). The author of Hebrews also says to “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Hebrews 13:17). There is also a responsibility of teaching the word of God to the church that is included in the role of an elder. However, this may not be the primary role of all the elders in a given church, as Paul writes, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” (1 Tim. 5:17). Grudem argues that this verse implies that there are certain men who are specifically devoted to the preaching and teaching of God’s word and are perhaps even paid for their “labor.”
Deacon
We get the term “deacon” from the Greek word diakonos, which simply means “servant.” It is often translated to “servant” outside of passages that deal with the specific roles of people inside the church. Paul gives specific qualifications that are similar to those of elders in 1 Timothy 3:8-13, also heavily focused on character traits. There is some ambiguity as to whether or not this needs to be a distinct role in the church. That is, do we really need to call certain people “deacons”? If they are just meant to be servants, shouldn’t anyone who serves in the church be called a deacon? There is a bit of difficulty surrounding this issue it is handled differently from church to church. However, it is clear from Acts 6, where the verb form of the word is used, that deacons are simply there so that the elders of the church can be freed up in order to perform their responsibilities.
Now that we’ve discussed various roles within the leadership of the church, we are able to look at how they are structured within the body. Across the many denominations within Christianity, there are many ways in which churches choose to organize their leadership. Some have only one elder within the whole assembly, others have many elders, and some choose to have no elders at all (this method seems to contradict the New Testament teaching, but it exists nevertheless). For our purposes, we will examine the model of a plurality of elders. This view sees the elders of the church as the leaders, but each elder may have different practical responsibilities. For example, there is often a pastor-teacher who is the leader of the elder group. There may also be an elder in charge of finances or a specific ministry within the church. While the pastor does not work for the elders, he is often supported by the church for his work in the ministry. Together as a group, this team of elders is charged with shepherding the flock of God so that they might all grow up into maturity in Christ.
There is much more to say about the form and responsibility of the leadership within the church, but this article is already getting quite lengthy (I’d be surprised if anyone made it this far, in fact). So I believe it’s best to end it here and leave the application until next week. I believe there is much to be said about this and it has a profound impact on how we view everyone’s roles in the body. Until then, consider your pastors and elders this week and pray for them. They really do need our support and encouragement, so try and go out of your way to thank them for all that they’ve done in your life.
