Blog on the Lillypad
Saturday, January 10, 2004
 | Well, there's elders and then there's elders
I received an annoyed e-mail from an IFB-KJVO preacher yesterday who has shown better sense in the past than his e-mail indicates. He demanded an explanation as to why other religions with a plurality of elders have also experienced gross and horrific sin. His two examples were the PC-USA (remarkable in the last decade for admitting worship of the Earth Mother into their churches and allowing homosexuals to hold church office) and the Roman Catholic Church. |
Okay, I realize that most readers recognize right off that the RC church has never used a plurality of elders to govern a congregation. They have a priesthood and an ecclesiastical hierarchy which so far has kept the men at the top completely untouched by questions of accountability and has actually protected the guys on the lower rungs, the priests, to an incredible extent. (Please note that if a school superintendent merely shifted around a teacher who committed pederasty, he would be jailed for life, but bishops and cardinals remain free, even though they committed just that crime.)
You will have to excuse the sender of the letter to me by recalling that IFB-KJVO preachers tend to know very, very little about anything outside their comfortable niche. And that niche is pretty small. I'm sure he does not know what an ecclesiastical hierarchy is; nor does he grasp the implications of "priesthood" as opposed to "pastorate". And he has not taken into account the obvious fact that the Roman Catholic church, from stem to stern, does not use the Bible as its sole rule of practice. It openly declares that it relies upon its own hierarchy as a second authority equal with scripture. Those of us who believe the inerrancy and authority of the Bible expect the Roman Catholic hierarchy to be full of scandal. It always has been. And the events of the last 15 years are nothing new at all. But these IFB-KJVO guys usually don't know this because they have no grasp whatsoever of history. (Remember Pastor Marty Braemer's incredible goof about that scenario in England during the period that the public display of Christianity was illegal?
| Also, we all recognize that eldership is not exclusive to Christianity. It's a common denominator of both society and religion the world over, just as marriage, patriarchy, rule of law, use of trial, etc. are. However, we Christians recognize (some of us) that Christian eldership is different than secular eldership; just as Christian marriage differs from secular marriage; Christian family order differs from secular patriarchy. In Rome, a father could have his children executed. In samurai culture, men under attack considered it a point of honor to kill all their children, then their wives, and then themselves. That doesn't make fatherhood bad; it just shows that the world's version of it is not the same as God's version of it. |  |
The point that the IFB-KJVO preacher failed to raise was What does the Bible say about plurality of eldership? When pressed to the wall by the tide of gross scandal that remains unaddressed in IFB-KJVO churches, he looked around to what he could see in this world, and he made excuses based on flimsy examples of worldly corruption: an apostate denomination that uses eldership and an apostate denomination that uses an ecclesiastical hierarchy. This is IFB-KJVO thinking in its most typical form, though I am surprised that this particular man stooped to it. But his point does concede that he expects no better from the IFB-KJVO movement than that which he sees in the world. And if that is true, he needs to step out of the pulpit and go learn of the power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In an IFB-KJVO church, you will hear certain types of women called Jezebels, authority glorified, liberals and democrats called idiots--all safe things to declare and vent upon. But you will not hear anything that makes that sole ruler called the preacher feel uncomfortable. He will not stand up and declare that what is going on in several IFB-KJVO churches is gross sin and God's sword is ready to judge gross sin. He will not warn against the sin and its causes. He will not speak on behalf of the dignity of the victims. He will not turn the focus of the people to the vast power of the salvation in Christ that will overcome the evil done to those victims and supply them with grace. IFB-KJVO preachers continue to preach on their culture and they find refuge in it. Their armor is a tradition that keeps the preacher safe and beyond accountability.
 | As for the question itself of elders: The Scripture abounds with references to a plurality of elders. The following verses indicate that elders acted as a group to rule each congregation. (I've high lighted the most obvious word choices.) |
Acts 11:30 This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
Acts 14:23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Acts 15:2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.
Acts 15:4 And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.
Acts 15:6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.
Acts 15:22 Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.
Acts 15:23 They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.
Acts 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.
Acts 20:17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.
Acts 21:18 On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.
1Ti 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
Tit 1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are , and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you-
Heb 13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.
Heb 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Heb 13:24 Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.
Jas 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
1Pe 5:1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
1Pe 5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ÂGod resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble. (NKJV; but don't worry IFB-KJVO'ers who read ths page, it's also always plural in the KJV.)
References to elders are far more numerous than reference to one elder. The singular form of the word appears only four times in the New testament,
1 Tim. 5:19 instruction to an elder about dealing with an accusation leveled against another elder.
1 Pet. 5:1 a reference to himself as an elder (a fellow elder, by the way, indicating a plurality).
2 John 1:1 a reference to himself as an elder
3 John 1:1 a reference to himself as an elder
The role of "overseer" is called out in the singular, when Paul is laying down the instructions for each person who holds the office of elder.
The only refrence to sole leadership within a congregation that I can find is the lamentable Diotrephes, who apparently had cornered the power market in the congregation that John wrote to, and John gives a full and open report of this:
I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth [them] out of the church.
John rightly assesses that Diotrephes, a man in sole control of a congregation, "loves to have the preemeninece". And look at the qualities of Diotrepehes: He prates with malicious words. (Sound familiar?) This is a man who uses his pulpit to harangue and call names. He minds the business of those in his congregation, determining who they can and cannot have fellowship with. And he labels those he chooses as being cast out. There is no church discipline where Diotrephes rules. There is no accountability among the people! His favorites are in, and those he dislikes are out.
