Let’s think a bit about elders and positional authority.
God as giver of authority
I quote frequent commenter Price, who said it better than I could —
Was there ever a time in the history of mankind that God didn’t put some person or group of people in charge ? Patriarchs, Judges, Kings, Prophets/Priests, Apostles… Elders were a spiritual gift to the church…their leadership as mentioned along with Apostles seems quite evident to me… And, there seems to quite a bit more scriptural support for there being leaders with some oversight responsibilities which common sense suggests some authority (solving disputes such as Jerusalem council), being appointed as Apostolic representatives in various churches, etc…. than there is scriptural support for no leadership whatsoever… I don’t remember anywhere scripture suggests that everybody just does what they feel is appropriate.
Assuming all elders with authority abuse their authority
We can’t have a serious discussion about the scriptures on this topic and assume that if an elder has positional authority, he will necessarily abuse it. Obviously, plenty of elders have done just that, and so we can’t ignore the possibility, but neither may we begin with the assumption that all elders with positional authority abuse their authority.
There are good reasons for this. First, I know too many elders who don’t abuse their authority. There are lots of them, and it’s terribly unfair to them to stereotype all elders as abusive.
Second, when we reflexively blame the elders for the members’ rebellion, we excuse a great sin. Rebellion against the legitimate decisions of elders violates the scriptures. After all, according to the scriptures, elders who’ve been rightfully selected and ordained are chosen by God’s Holy Spirit. Which brings us to —
Third, it’s surprising how rarely we speak in terms of the Spirit when speaking of elders, even elders who are exactly the sort of men who ought to be elders. The scriptures plainly credit the Spirit with selecting elders —
(Act 20:28 ESV) 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.
— not to mention Eph 4:11 ff, Rom 12:6-8 ; and 1 Cor 12:28. Now, if the Spirit gifts certain men to be elders, leaders, pilots (helmsmen), and shepherds, it is surely a very serious sin to rebel against such persons if they are not abusing their calling from God.
Positional authority does not mean only positional authority
I have not suggested that elders should lead their churches based solely on their positional authority. I’ve agreed that they should be authentically following Jesus. I’ve agreed that they must honor the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 20.
And yet some readers wish to speak as though I’ve argued that elders should rule as despots. It’s a false dichotomy — that is, a false choice. Another possibility, of course, is that an elder leads his congregation based primarily on the authority that comes from a life well lived and personal relationships he has with the members, but nonetheless he has real positional authority. It’s entirely possible for these things to coexist — and I know plenty of elders who do this and do it quite well.
Again, we can’t seek a biblical doctrine regarding elders by assuming all elders are unqualified and abusive. Nor can we constantly raise the requirements for an elder to be respected so that all rebellion is excused because no elder is as holy and humble as Jesus himself.
Matthew 20 and Jesus
Jesus’ teaching regarding authority in Matthew 20 is, frankly, difficult for all interpreters, regardless of the result you wish to find there. The key to sound interpretation is to consider the larger scriptural context —
(Mat 20:25-28 ESV) 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Part of the challenge is Jesus’ love for hyperbole. This is the same Jesus who tells us to “hate” our parents and to “let the dead bury the dead.” This sort of speech was typical of rabbis of his time — and typical of his culture — but it leads some to assume that elders must have no authority at all. But Jesus is actually speaking most directly to the apostles, not to elders. Hence, to argue from this passage that elders have no authority, you have to argue that the apostles had no authority.
But consider such passages as —
(2Co 10:8-9 ESV) 8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters.
(2Co 13:10 ESV) 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
(Tit 2:15 ESV) 15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. [Paul speaking to Titus, to whom he’d delegated authority.]
(3Jo 1:9 ESV) 9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.
Quite obviously, Paul, John, and Titus had authority — positional authority — despite Jesus’ words. How can that be? Well, for the same reason that Jesus could, in Matthew 20, urge his apostles to follow his example of authority in servanthood. After all, Jesus also has authority —
(Mat 11:27 ESV) 27 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
(Mat 28:18 ESV) 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
(John 3:35 ESV) 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
There is no contradiction between having positional authority and strict obedience to Matthew 20. The key is to follow the example of Jesus.
And yet sermons and Bible class lessons on the nature and person of Jesus are nearly unheard of in the Churches of Christ. We study his commands and parables, but we don’t study him. And the key to Matthew 20 is to exegete in light of who Jesus is.
Consider, for example, the times Jesus led his apostles through Samaria — at very real risk for their lives. Samaritans were known to assassinate Jews who traveled through their land. Did Jesus have authority to command them to make the trip? Well, they could have said no, but they surely could not have said no and remained apostles — or even disciples. Disciples follow their rabbi. They are required to submit to and obey their rabbi to be disciples.
How much authority did Jesus have? Well, enough to command the apostles to follow him. Enough to require them to travel as missionaries with no food or money. Enough to ask them to risk their lives over and over.
Did Jesus ever issue a command for his own benefit? No. He only did what his Father asked him to do (John 8:28). But did he ever issue a command expecting it to be obeyed due to his authority? Well, of course. But he also expected us to be drawn to him by his love, his submission, and his sacrifice.
His authority — even his position as King or Messiah — is tied to his character as sacrificial lamb. These are not only not inconsistent, they depend on each other. He could only truly sacrifice himself if he had the authority not to give himself up (John 10:18). He could only be the ultimate servant if he had enough authority not to serve.
Nonetheless, as king of the Kingdom — even the universe — Jesus plainly has and had positional authority. And yet in Matthew 20, he tells his apostles to follow him in being a servant.
We see this paradox worked out in the lives of Paul and John, who fearlessly asserted their authority as apostles and yet gave up everything for the Kingdom.
You see, authority is a gift that the church desperately needs. Rebellion happens. Not everyone is willing to follow a good example. Sometimes even very good people fail to see the need to obey, in their weaker moments, and so they have to be reminded of the command to submit to those empowered by God to lead his church.
It’s like parents and children. Parents have real, legitimate, God-given authority over their children — and good parents are servants of their children. But children aren’t allowed to rebel just because they disagree or consider their parents less than optimal. They aren’t allowed to say, “If you were a good parent, I’d want to obey, and since I don’t want to obey, you’re a bad parent and I don’t have to obey.” And this is true even though there are parents so bad that they shouldn’t be obeyed. We don’t destroy the authority of good parents because there are many bad parents. (And, yes, I’ll be addressing what to do with bad elders.)
No human organization can operate without leadership. Therefore, God gave us a King, and therefore his King has sent his Spirit to equip certain men to lead and have the authority that leadership requires in an organization of imperfect, broken beings.
However, he also gave enough discernment to his children that they should be able to recognize and choose who is full of the Spirit and wisdom.
(Act 6:3 ESV) 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.”
Thus, the responsibility is given to the members (as a rule — more detail to come in future posts) to discern who among them has been gifted for leadership and to submit to them as leaders.
(Heb 13:17 ESV) 17 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.
You see, while sovereignty is in God, not the members, God has empowered the members to discern who is qualified to this task. The fact that our members often do this very poorly tells us that there’s a tremendous need for education about who is qualified to be an elder and how the church should discern those qualifications.
But we should not give up hope of finding Spirit-gifted men capable of doing the task. God is alive, well, and providing for the needs of the church.
“Was there ever a time in the history of mankind that God didn’t put some person or group of people in charge ? Patriarchs, Judges, Kings, Prophets/Priests, Apostles…”
Unless we are willing to accept that God has placed President Obama in leadership of the greatest country that has ever been seen on this earth, one which is mostly Christians, then how are we expected to accept that God personally selects men to lead congregations, a much lesser numerical responsibility. I believe that one of the great weaknesses of man is being willing to be led
by another’s conscience, whether it be secular, or spiritual. but as long as there are great gatherings of men there will be some willing to impose their will upon others, so let’s not blame God for making our mistakes . The fact is if we as a whole didn’t let unqualified men hold positions of authority over us they would not be there. church officials, just like government officials run for office claiming to be the servant, when they are elected, they turn into governors
Pray tell what authority did Prophets/Priests, Apostles, have over the people, except to speak the word of God?
I think your response to Patrick was biblically spot on. When in church history did Elders abdicate their servant leadership responsibility totally to a staff?
Jim, Paul is the first to jump to mind.
Jay wrote, “And yet sermons and Bible class lessons on the nature and person of Jesus are nearly unheard of in the Churches of Christ.”
This statement is quite true. I have never been given a reasonable explanation of why. I still think it was because other denominations did it.
Jay’s reference to Acts 20:28 is an important one. Paul insists that the Holy Spirit has selected these elders. In all my years in the CoC, I never heard included among the “qualifications of an elder” the idea that “he be selected by the Holy Spirit”. I have heard the idea rolled out ex post facto, where existing elders claim authority on this basis in order to validate their right to make decisions for the congregation, and to argue that their lack of accountability is actually biblical. But in a milieu where direct personal revelation from the Holy Spirit is dismissed, it is rather hard for us to take such a claim seriously. One can hardly claim he was selected by the Holy Spirit while insisting that the Holy Spirit no longer communicates with us outside the pages of scripture.
When discussing the authority of elders, one question which arises for me is, “Over what is this authority actually operating? Exactly WHAT do these men rule?” In our case, it is one independently-chartered 501c(3) corporation. Not “the church” in our community, but a separately-organized, discrete subset of the local church, complete with its own membership, property, by-laws and unwritten rules. In this specific situation, one not really appearing in the NT, how is it that we assume that the governance of such an entity is something that God appoints at all? If all I have to do to step out from under their authority is to start attending Sunday meetings in a different building, how authoritative are they, really?
I do believe that God ordains elders for the church in any community– spiritual shepherds and leaders. And I think some of these men do wind up serving on these lesser corporate boards we call “elderships”. But this does not suggest that these two occupations are one and the same. At times, I fear they are hardly even related.
When God tells Samuel how men with positional authority are going to treat Israel (1 Sam 8:11-18), does He do wrong to expect that everyone with such power will misuse it?
Jesus does have authority, of course, but does He ever say, “My position is Messiah, so you will do what I say?” Even when he rebukes Peter at Caesarea Philippi, he rebukes him out of Expert Authority, not Positional Authority.
I think authenticity generates authority – by walking on the way, you place yourself in a position to lead others… those who rebel against one with authentic spirituality will not suddenly submit because that same one has an Elder plate on his office door.