Church Polity and Teaching from the Bible

Elders

What is an Elder?

What kind of work does the Bible say that elders do?

The apostle Peter’s answer to this question can be found in this passage:

1 Peter 5:1–4 ESV

1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

An elder is a shepherd (verse 2). But what kind of shepherd?

A shepherd who is part of a team of shepherds. Notice, Peter does not address the “elder” of the flock, but the “elders” (verse 1).

A shepherd who exercises oversight over the flock (verse 2).

A shepherd who does his job willingly and not just because he has to—he is eager to shepherd God’s people (verse 2).

A shepherd who rejects the thought of using his position for shameful gain of any kind—a leader who hates corruption (verse 2). His eagerness does not come from contemplating what he might get from the congregation, but from a desire to serve them and God.

A shepherd who does not domineer his flock. He will “exercise oversight” as a shepherd, but will not abuse his authority. He leads his flock with gentleness (verse 3).

A shepherd who leads by example. The major goal of shepherding is the shepherd the flock toward Christlikeness. Therefore, one of the most powerful ways of shepherding is to be an example to the flock in mature Christian living (verse 3).

A shepherd who is motivated by the promise that when the chief shepherd appears, all of his labors and sufferings will result in great glory in the presence of Christ forever (verse 4).

Paul also addressed a group of elders—the elders of the church in Ephesus. Part of what he said to them was this:

Acts 20:26–28 ESV

26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Here he says that the job of the elders, whom he calls overseers, is, “to care for the church of God” (verse 28). But the phrase “to care” is translated from the same word which Peter used: “poimainō”. This word simply means, “to shepherd.” So, Paul is giving us the same answer that Peter did: the job of elders is to be shepherds in the local church.

Note: we often talk about “pastors” (poimēn: translated as pastor or shepherd), “elders” (presbyteros: translated as elder or presbyter), and “overseers” (episkopos: translated as overseer or bishop) as different groups of people. But since “pastor” is just another word for “shepherd”, elders are pastors. In other words, elders, pastors, and overseers are the same people. There is only one office of spiritual leadership in the church.

What does “Shepherd” mean?

But what does the word “shepherd” actually mean? What does it look like in practice? Often, we think of shepherding as just another way to say, “caring for” someone spiritually. We think that to shepherd is just to care for the flock. However, all believers are commanded to care for each other in this way (1 Cor. 12:22-26; 1 Thess. 4:18, 5:11, 5:14; Heb. 10:25). So what makes an elder’s job any different?

The biblical idea of shepherding certainly includes caring for believers’ spiritual needs. However, the word “shepherd” (poimēn) also includes: (1) the idea of having authority over the flock, and (2) the idea of being responsible to God for the flock. We saw that in Peter’s words to elders (1 Pet. 5:1-4). Biblically, a congregation is lead by a team of shepherds (elders), who faithfully, gently, and humbly care for flock with loving authority.

[Note: the Greek word poimēn, when used of something other than a literal shepherd of sheep, meant watching out for and/or nurturing by means of leading, guiding, and/or ruling (BDAG). In the Old Testament world, it was often applied to kings and gods (Hebrew: r’h). The leaders of Israel were expected to be good shepherds who led the people in following God. They were often condemned for their failure to do this (e.g., Jer. 10:21). Therefore, the ideal shepherd is one faithfully cares and lovingly rules (NIDNTTE, 830).]

What are a shepherd’s main tools?

As we saw in 1 Peter 5:1-4, one of a shepherd’s main tools is his own example of Christlikeness.

Another vital tool is the ministry of the Word. This is why an elder must be able to teach (1 Tim. 3:3), and must hold to sound doctrine and be able to explain it. When Paul told Titus to appoint elders in every town in Crete, one qualification he gave was:

Titus 1:9 ESV

9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Elders must not only be firm in sound doctrine, but able to communicate it to the congregation and even to refute heresy and false teaching. Refuting false teaching is one of the ways that elders protect their flock. But, this ministry of the Word is also what equips the flock:

2 Timothy 3:16–4:2 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

Here Paul instructs Timothy that the Word is useful for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, preaching, reproof, rebuking, and exhortation. Thus, the elders are to minister the Word to the congregation in a variety of settings for a variety of purposes. A man does not need to be a great preacher to be an elder. But he does need to know how to apply the Word to the lives of the people in his flock.

A third tool is church discipline. When a member of the flock is living in sin and does not heed the warnings of his brothers and sisters, and spurns the rebuke of the elders, they are removed from the flock (Matt. 18:15-20). This is done: (1) in hope that such discipline will end with his repentance and return, and (2) to protect the rest of the flock.

Elders are...

From everything we have discussed, elders are a team of shepherds in authority over a congregation, who protect and care for that congregation by leading and guiding them. They do this through exercising leadership, ministering the Word, living godly lives as examples to the flock, and exercising church discipline when necessary.

The Qualifications for Elders

In view of what we’ve discussed, what qualifications must someone have in order to be an elder? The most comprehensive list in Scripture occurs in 1 Timothy:

1 Timothy 3:1–7 ESV

1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

The qualifications which Paul lists here fall into three general categories:

Moral qualifications

As we saw earlier, an elder must be Christlike so that he can be an example to the flock. In 1 Timothy 3:1-7, specifics of this godliness include:

Above reproach—someone of all-around good character

The husband of one wife—not a flirt or an adulterer

Sober-minded—someone who is not controlled by passions

Self-controlled—a man who is thoughtful and prudent, not controlled by impulsiveness

Respectable—a man who others can genuinely look up to

Hospitable—someone whose home is open to others

Not a drunkard—not someone who struggles with substance abuse

Not violent but gentle—a man who is gentle rather than intimidating or bullying when he has to rebuke or exhort

Not quarrelsome—a peaceable person

Not a lover of money—not someone who is greedy for financial gain

Well thought of by outsiders—if he has a bad reputation in the community, it is probably for a reason. He is probably not fit to lead the church.

Not a recent convert—if he is a recent convert, he has not been tested and sanctified over time, and so is not ready for the spiritual trials that come with the job.

An additional important qualification not listed here, but found in Titus 1:9, is that, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.” This means that he must be the sort of man who is not carried away by trendy, new doctrines. Instead, he must be well grounded in the deep and central truths of the faith, and able to bring those truths to bear on every-day life.

This can all be summed up by saying that an elder must be mature in his Christian walk, a godly man who is already an example to others.

Skill qualifications

Able to teach—as we saw above, he should be able to teach God’s word and apply it to people’s lives and situations. However, this does not mean that he must be able to preach a long and eloquent sermon. He must simply be able to open God’s word and apply it to the flock. This may mean preaching, but it also may mean one-on-one discipleship and pastoral counseling, or anything in between.

He must manage his own household well—in general, a man who cannot lead his own household well will not be able to lead the congregation well. He must first know how to love, serve, and lead his wife and children. Then he will be ready to care for and lead the congregation.

This can be summed up by saying that an elder must be able to teach and to lead.

Male

Paul limits the office of elder to men. He does not do this out of a low view of women, but because he recognizes the created differences between men and women. This can be seen a few verses before the elder qualification passage above, where Paul says:

1 Timothy 2:11–12 ESV

11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, does not permit a woman to teach a man. In context, this means that women should not teach from positions of authority over the congregation. Yet, eldership is a job that focuses on the authoritative teaching of God’s Word. This is why eldership is reserved for men in the Bible.

Deacons

What is a Deacon?

If elders are the shepherds and spiritual leaders of the church, then what are deacons? The office of deacon first began to develop in Acts 6:

Acts 6:1–6 ESV

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

In this passage, there was a dispute about the distribution, in which some were being neglected (verse 1). This kind of dispute in church life is inevitable. However, the spiritual leaders of the church (apostles at this point) did not wish to be pulled away from their primary responsibility: the ministry of the Word and prayer (verse 2). Thus, seven men were appointed to the task of managing the daily distribution and serving tables (verses 5-6). This allowed the apostles to remain devoted to the spiritual leadership of the church (verse 4).

Note: the word “distribution” and the word “serve” in this passage both come from the same root as diakonos, which we translate as “deacon”. Thus, while these seven men are not called deacons outright, they were appointed to the same job that later became defined as “deacon” by Paul in 1 Timothy. From this we may conclude that a deacon is a person who has been appointed to serve the material and temporal needs of the congregation.

What are the Qualifications of Deacons?

Scripture does not say as much about deacons as it says about elders. However, it does still give us the guidelines we need in order choose deacons wisely, both in the passage above and in 1 Timothy:

1 Timothy 3:8–13 ESV

8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Here we can see that four basic qualifications are given… [need to elaborate on deacon qualifications to finish this section]

Baptist and Presbyterian Church Polities

Points in Common

Both Baptists and Presbyterians have a long history of looking to the Word of God for church polity. Because of this, even while we differ in some areas, we agree about many things. Three main points of agreement are listed below:

Presbyterians and many Baptists agree that churches should be lead by a team of elders, and not by one single bishop or pastor. The biblical model for church government is a team of elders:

“We know of no church in the New Testament that had only a single elder. On the other hand, we know of many churches with a plurality of elders: Jerusalem (Acts 11:30), Antioch in Syria (13:1), Lystra, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch (14:23), Ephesus (20:17), the churches of Crete (Titus 1:5), the churches of the Jewish dispersion to whom James wrote (James 5:14)...” [Sam Brownback, Who Runs the Church, 212]

Presbyterians and many Baptists agree that elders have real authority in the church. “The New Testament teaches that the church has officers with real authority… There are seven descriptions of the ruling officers of the church. Each of these descriptive names for these officers manifests the real authority they possess.” [Sam Brownback, Who Runs the Church, 218-219] Brownback’s seven terms are: elder, overseer, shepherd, leader (Heb. 13:7), teacher (Eph. 4:11), steward (Titus 1:7), and parent (1 Tim. 3:4-5)

Baptists and Presbyterians both hold that the congregation has a role and a responsibility in its own government. Elders are not normally to be appointed over a congregation by an external leadership hierarchy, but are to be chosen by the congregation.

Points of Difference

The differences between Baptist and Presbyterian forms of church government center mainly around questions of: (1) how different local churches should relate to each other, (2) how the authority of the elders meshes with the congregation’s own role in its government, and (3) whether it is biblical to have different categories within the office of elder.

How should local churches relate to each other? The Presbyterian view is that they should be interdependent, whereas the Baptist view is that they should cooperate but remain independent.

Interdependence: [finish this]

Independence: [finish this]

How much involvement should the congregation have in church government? [finish this discussion]

Are there different kinds of elders? The typical Presbyterian view is that there are ruling elders and teaching elders, whereas the typical Baptist view is that all elders are responsible both to teach and to rule. [finish this discussion]

Bibliography

Arndt, William et al. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Silva, Moisés ed. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014.

Cowan, Steven B. ed. Who Runs the Church? 4 Views on Church Government. Counterpoints. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004.