church" who have men qualified for the office (Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5). From that
point until now, men have begun to erode the honor from this office, and they have
replaced God's idea for an eldership with their own. The Bible has taught over and
over again to not tamper with its commandments (Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs
30:6, Revelation 22:18,19). Yet, men will do it again and again to satisfy their
wants and desires. When it comes to an elder and eldership, God has set rules and
limits to their authority. Paul penned 1 7 separate and mandatory qualifications a
man must meet to become an elder (I Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:6-9). Each man must
meet these qualifications, not the men as a whole. As to the eldership itself, Peter
wrote down some limits to its scope and authority in I Peter 5:1-3. Twice in these
three verses, Peter used the word "among." More specifically in verse 2, it says
"Feed the flock which is among you, taking the oversight thereof..." It is this verse
and commandment that we want to focus on.
The idea of a "sponsoring church" or "sponsoring eldership" has been brought up
time and time again. The question is this: Does an eldership have any right at all to
exercise authority over another church, or to collect funds from other churches to
feed out in any way they desire? The answer is absolutely NOT! There is no Biblical
authority for this in any form. If anyone could show me in the New Testament
where this type of practice could be authorized, I would be one of the first in line to
practice it. But the fact of the matter is, the Word of God gives no credence to this
belief in any way, shape or form. There are problems and flaws with those who
defend this idea. Consider these:
1) FEED THE FLOCK WHICH IS AMONG YOU. As has been stated already, Peter
commanded and urged the elders to "Feed the flock which is among you" (I Peter
5:2). If somebody told you to feed supper to the family who is among you, would
you go across town and feed another family? Surely not. If somebody told you to
entertain those who are among you, would you go to another state to find another
crowd to entertain? No. When Peter said to "Feed the flock which is among you,"
why would we go across town, across state or across the country or even the world
to feed another flock or church? It just does not make any sense to read this and do
the exact opposite, does it? This word 'among' carries the same tone as the word
'community.' A community lives and observes its own rules, obeys its own sheriff
and form of government. When you travel from community to community, one set
of rules for one community does not necessarily mean the next community will hold
to those same set of rules. One community has no legal, moral or ethical right to
usurp authority from another community and rule its citizens. On the same train of
thought, not one eldership has any BIBLICAL right to exercise authority in anyway
over another congregation or congregations. May those who practice this type of
wrongdoing realize they are usurping God's authority as they usurp other's
authority.
2) ORDAIN ELDERS IN EVERY CHURCH. Again, in Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5, the
commandment was to ordain elders in "every Church. " If God had intended for a
set-up where one eldership would have oversight and authority over another church
or eldership, then what would be the purpose of ordaining elders in every church?
Would it not be a waste of time to have elders in every church where men are
qualified if in fact there is another eldership who will take oversight of their
eldership? It certainly would be!
3) THERE IS NO AUTHORITY IN THE SCRIPTURE FOR THIS TYPE OF
ARRANGEMENT. "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (Colossians 3:17). In I
Peter 4:11, Peter penned that "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of
God..." We receive authority to do things in three ways: 1) By direct command 2)
By apostolic example or 3) By necessary inference. Those who foster the kind of
arrangement that we are discussing have not ONE scripture anywhere in the Word
of God to support it. They have not ONE apostolic example to support this
arrangement, nor do they have ONE scripture or scriptures to make a necessary
inference to support this arrangement. Those who support this type of
arrangement use these three types of authority when they come to the conclusion
to not use instrumental music in worship. They use these three types of authority
to use unleavened bread and fruit of the vine as the elements in the Lord's Supper.
As Paul commanded, whatever a church does, it MUST, it MUST have Biblical
authority to do it. Else, it is in violation of either adding to or taking away from God's
Word (Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:4, Revelation 22:18,19). Notice what H.E.
Phillips wrote in Scriptural Elders and Deacons when he was asked "Can many
elderships pool their resources together in one big project?" He wrote "No. Such a
practice was unknown in New Testament times. This would form an organization
or work larger than the local church, which is a principle feature of
denominationalism. Each eldership should direct its own affairs and exercise its
own delegated authority in the congregation. Had the Lord intended the church to
have a giant organization of any kind, He would certainly have provided for it. This
practice has led to apostasy every time it was started" (pg. 288-289). Let us all
practice that which is authorized and disdain those things that are not.
In this world, we are getting further and further away from God's Word, so let
us get back to the Bible. Today, the cry is if what we do accomplished some good,
it has to be scriptural. So let's get back to teaching, believing and living the Word
of God. These are the definitive facts about elders in the Bible:
They are to be ordained in every church: The Bible has commanded that each
church should ordain elders (Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5). As long as a sound and faithful
congregation has no elders, it is scripturally unorganized. The church should strive
to teach and ordain elders in a Biblical manner.
There is to be a plurality of elders: In every instance the Bible speaks about
elders, it uses the word elder in a plural form. We can see God's wisdom to breathe
scripture this way. It would be very tempting for one man to become a dictator type
in this kind of atmosphere.
Each elder must meet the qualifications set forth: Paul Wrote 17 different
qualifications for each elder to meet, including the desire to become an elder. The
qualifications can be found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus l:6-9. Some say the group
of elders must meet these. That is wrong. Each man must meet them.
The elders have the oversight of the local church: The elders are commanded
to “Feed the flock” and to take the "oversight" of the local congregation “among”
them. In that word among, their scope of authority and oversight is limited to the
local congregation.
The elders are to be obeyed: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and
submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they must give account, that
they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you" (Hebrews
13:17). As stated here, it would do the members no profit if the elders were given
grief while leading. They are to be obeyed as long as they are doing things
scripturally!
These are the definitive facts about the eldership. Let those who are taking the
eldership too far in its scope of authority go back to what the Word of God had in
mind for them. Remember that the words found in the Bible are the WORDS of
GOD himself, so let us treat them that way.
(Editors Note: Larry works with the church that meets at Sunset Avenue in Wellsburg, WV. Larry
is originally from Plainfield, IN. He and his wife Melissa have been in the Ohio Valley for a little
over a year now. They are also the proud parents of Madison who is about 10 months old. We
appreciate his willingness to help us with this issue. bkp)
