Elders – A Lot To Think About!

           
Jerome, the 4^th century theologian best remembered for his translation of most of the Bible into Latin (that later became known as the Vulgate), wrote to a young preacher named Neoptian in 394 A. D. According to Alexander Staunch in his book The New Testament Deacon: Minister of Mercy, Jerome rebuked churches of his day for hypocrisy in showing more heartfelt interest in the appearance of their church buildings than in the proper selection of church leaders. He wrote: "Many build churches nowadays; their walls and pillars of glowing marble, their ceilings of gold, their altars studded with jewels. Yet to the choice of Christ’s ministers, no heed is paid." About 330 years earlier, the apostle Paul sought to impress his younger preaching protoge Timothy with the importance of paying the utmost heed to the kind of men chosen to lead and serve the church! Paul’s words are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-13. In the space of those verses he sketches the necessary moral and spiritual character of men who should serve as elders and deacons in the church. A similar but not identical list of what we commonly call "requirements" for elders is found in Titus 1:5-9. Take time to read the two combined lists for "bishops" or "elders" (the two terms are synonymous – cf. Acts 20:17, 28 * 1 Timothy 3:1-7 * Titus 1:5-9) and you cannot but be impressed with God’s concern that men who would serve as elders in the church be men who can be considered unimpeachable examples of moral and spiritual excellence!

An old friend of mine, now deceased, once gave me this definition of an elder – "An elder is a man whose job is to keep me connected to God and get me to heaven." I understand, and I promise you my older Christian friend did, too, that in the ultimate sense nobody can get us to heaven but our Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5:4). But the Chief Shepherd has delegated the task of being "under- shepherds" over the flock of God (that is, the church) to the kind of men described in the foregoing Scripture passages cited above. In 1 Timothy 3 the first thing the apostle Paul says about a prospective elder, besides desiring the work, is that he must be "blameless" or as the English Standard Version says "above reproach." To visualize what this word means, imagine the man is put on trial. It is charged that he has not been consistent enough in moral character and conduct to have earned the respect and trust of people who know him. Witnesses are called – but no testimony is given that can prove the man is not "blameless / above reproach." Some testimony proves he is not "sinless" or "flawless" – but his moral track record has been exemplary and upright long enough that the people who know him best can testify there is no real handle on the accusations being made against him to take hold of. The Easy To Read Version gets at the sense of it – "An elder must be such a good man that no one can rightly criticize him." God is clearly concerned about the kind of men we choose as elders. A question in 1 Timothy 3:5 captures in a nutshell the responsibility of the elder / elders – as Paul declares the prospective elder must be an effective leader at home and have obedient children who respect him, he asks: "for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?" There’s a lot of food for thought about the character and role of elders in those few words. Let’s chew on it for awhile. 

– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN