IBL14: Church Law

Office of Elder in the Church

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Religious studies

Lesson: 2-10

Genre: Lecture

Track: 138

Dictation Name: RR130BX138

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

Our Scripture is from 1st Timothy 5:17-18, the office of the elder in the church. 1st Timothy 5:17-18, the office of the elder in the church.

“17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

18 For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.”

Last week we discussed the significance of the elder in general, and we saw that the office of the elder was taken over from the Old Testament, that the elder was someone who represented God and His word in the home, in the state, in education, in law, in life in general. That he was a man who under God, was the basic carrier of the work of God into the various vocations of life. That he was basically concerned with the law, that the office of elder for example in the synagogue was one who taught the law and enforced it, who applied it. The church took over the office of elder because it meant to carry on the same function, and second to perpetuate itself as the true covenant people of God, the true Israel of God.

This week we shall consider the significance of the office of elder, within the church specifically. At this point we run into a problem in that today the churches are divided into three basic groups as far as church government is concerned. On the one hand you have the Episcopal form, which says that church government is essentially by Bishops and Presbyters under them. You have a second group, the Presbyterian or Reformed, which says that the basic division is not between Bishops and Presbyters, but between Pastors or Presbyters and Elders; teaching and ruling elders ostensibly is the distinction. And that these are associated in a collective body that governs. The third group is the congregational, which includes all the various Baptist and independent groups, which say that basically the local church is self governing, and there is a pastor and members, Presbyter and members.

Now the interesting thing is that all three groups can find passages in scripture to affirm their position to a degree. But all three groups have trouble finding very much in scripture to confirm their position. That in itself should tell us something.

If the Bible is concerned more with the details of management, to put it in modern terms, the form of government or the function, the answer is very clearly function. And these three groups have been debating for generations as to whose form of government is right; and when we examine scripture, it is the purpose, not the form that is important. The purpose that is central: The proclamation of the word of God. The governing of the people of God so that they might grow in grace, grow in obedience to the law word of God, grow in their ability to apply the word of God.

The churches thus have been concerned with the church, not with God and His word. Not with the ministry of Christ. And so it is that this long standing and largely sterile debate has been with us; but when you look back through the centuries you find that God has blessed many, many men who were thoroughly episcopal, thoroughly Presbyterian, and thoroughly congregational or Baptist in their commitment. Not because of their commitment to the form of government, because, however of their commitment to Christ and His word. Obviously our Lord has never concerned the form so important that He said: “Now look, you are episcopal, you know, I don’t approve of that.” Or, “You’re congregational.” Or “you’re Presbyterian, and don’t you know I don’t approve of that? So sorry, you don’t get much from me.” That is nonsense.

God has richly blessed and prospered all three, or representatives of all three; because it has not been the form but the function that has been important. And how valid are some of these distinctions? Our scripture says: “Let the elders that rule well be counted of double honor.”

Now this sounds like the historic Presbyterian distinction between a ruling elder and a teaching elder, but, then we read the rest of the sentence: “Especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.” So quite obviously some ruling elders were laboring primarily in teaching, and apparently all were to be counted worthy of double honor, that is to be well-paid, for the scripture saith: “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward.”

Well this puts a little different light on it, doesn’t it? What then are we to think about the office of elder. Elder, as we have seen, can mean or be translated, as Bishop, Presbyter, or Elder. Even the Catholic church has recognized that in the New Testament, very clearly, the three offices are identical. The same word can be used for all three, with equal ease. Their argument is that there has been an evolution, a growth, and tradition is important. So that, they very casually will admit the identity of these three words.

What then is the office of elder, or Bishop, or Presbyter? The office has long been in decline, especially that which in Presbyterian circles has been known as the ruling elder. The layman which has been elected by the people to govern the church. It has mostly become a kind of honorary office. Its main function has become one largely of sitting as a judge over a pastor in a monthly review. The large part of the other functions is in dealing with matters regarding the building and the premise, and the various groups of the church, the woman’s group, the youth group, and so on.

But when we look at the New Testament and the early church we find that it had no church buildings so the Elder didn’t have anything to do with management of a building. They didn’t have any youth groups or any women’s meetings. So the elder had nothing to do with that sort of thing. They had no choirs, they had no Sunday school. What then was its office and function? How are we to understand the office of elder?

Perhaps one of the best ways to understand this is to go back to the early church writings. Those that come within a generation or half a generation of John and Paul, and others of the apostles. We do have some writings that go back to about the year 100, 107 and so on, of people who knew the apostles. For example, the epistle of Ignatius who died in 107 A.D.

Which means that his life overlapped with that of the apostles. An epistle written to the Trallians from Smyrna, reads and I quote in part: “It becomes every one of you, and especially the Presbyters, to refresh the Bishop, to the honor of the Father of Jesus Christ and of the apostles.” Now in this passage the Bishop and the Presbyters are distinguished. What is the significance of this? Very obviously this seems to point to an Episcopal type of pattern. And yet, it is freely admitted even by Catholic scholars that in the New Testament the words were identical, yet here Ignatius makes a distinction between Bishop and Presbyters; the words are the same, but there is a difference. There is one man here, the Presbyter, and then the presbyters. And yet Ignatius does not feel in writing that he is introducing anything that is a novelty.

Again, in another epistle to Polycarp, Ignatius about the same time somewhere 90-100 or maybe a year or two thereafter, wrote about the duties of the Bishop, and I quote: “Give ye heed to the Bishop, that God may also give heed to you. My soul be forbears that are submissive to the Bishop, to the Presbyters, and to the Deacons, and may my portion be along with them in God.”

Now here you have a distinction between the Presbyter, and the presbyters, and the Deacon. Bishop, Pastor, and Deacon.

Let’s look at another epistle of Ignatius, this time to the people of Smyrna, and I quote: “See that ye all follow the Bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father. And the Presbytery as ye would the apostles, and reverence the Deacon, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected to the church without the Bishop, let that be deemed a proper Eucharist which is administered either by the Bishop or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the Bishop shall appear, there let the multitude of the people also be, even as wherever Christ is, there is the Catholic church. It is not lawful without the Bishop either to Baptize or to celebrate a love feast, but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.”

Now, here again we have the distinction. They are not to baptize or to have communion in the church unless the Bishop conduct it or tells one of the Presbyters to conduct it. Is this the episcopal pattern? And yet at the same time we could go on at great length and cite other passages, and the offices seem to be the same, the same word is used for them. How are we to understand this?

We could spend an hour reading over the various passages that deal with the significance of Bishop or Presbyter or Pastor. But let us summarize some of these passages, I have cited a few to indicate that there is something of a difference as well as an identity. First of all,t he church was not an institution in the modern sense. Today when we say church we think of a building. It was a body of believers, they met in homes for 2-3 centuries, they were bound together in a hostile world by their common faith in Jesus Christ as their redeemer, their Lord and savior. These small churches were scattered across the entire Roman empire and beyond its frontiers. The church was not able to, nor did it attempt to, to provide pastors for each congregation. What did they do?

Now in 1st Timothy, Saint Paul tells us precisely what to do. Because Timothy is given an area to cover, and he is told, not to we saw last week, ordain any man, an elder Presbyter or Bishop, if he were a novice, that is, new in the faith. He gave certain qualifications. What precisely was done? The apostles went from place to place, they had to cover a great deal of territory. Saint Paul was perpetually on the move. And yet he writes epistles to these congregations as their pastor. With regard to the Corinthians he lays down the law, as pastor. What did they do? As they gathered together a congregation that met in a home, they ordained one of the men to be the elder, Presbyter, or Bishop, whatever word you want to use, of that congregation meeting in a home. As they met weekly in that home, they taught scripture to the people. Saint Paul then on his various missionary journeys would visit these churches in homes, as their pastor. Or he would write to them.

The pastors therefore, were, you might call, perambulating bishops or missionaries who governed by letters or visits, and occasional meetings with a group of these elders, their churches. These perambulating pastors, the apostles and their successors, appointed and ordained presbyters or elders in various local congregations, to carry on the worship of the Lord, the study of scripture and the discipline in that local group.

Moreover, they asserted that there was an apostolic succession. The phrase is from the early church. But, Apostolic succession as we meet with it in the early church has nothing to do with what is today called in Catholic circles and some Episcopal circles, Apostolic succession. It was a succession of the faith; not of man to man, but of faith. The Apostolic succession was those who carried out the true faith. Those who taught the word of God faithfully. And thought someone might have been ordained by Saint Paul as Demas was, he was not of the apostolic succession because he had forsaken the apostolic faith. The purpose of the supervision by the Bishop, missionary, or pastor, was and I quote: “That everything that is done may be secure and valid.” It was to protect the church from heresies and disorders.

Now this gives us something of a picture of life in eh early church. There would be pastors or bishops, who went from home to home superintending the work in these churches, or these congregations that met in a home. Sometimes the territory they covered would be quite wide, sometimes it would be a city or two. Thus very clearly, there is some evidence for the episcopal tradition. But, the episcopal tradition has wrongly exalted one bishop over other bishops, one pastor above other pastors; whereas the Presbyterian tradition has degraded the elder to largely inactive, ineffectual board member, who handles matters with regard to the building, and meets once a month with the pastor, and his basic function is to sit there in a meeting and make judgments. He is not a worker in the vineyard of the Lord.

Thus, as we examine the scripture we see that the Bishop was what we would call a pastor. The elder was someone who carried on a missionary work in his home or in his place of work, and gathered together people to hear the word of God. So that he was an active proclaimer of the word.

Thus, both the pastor and the elder, or if you want to use the term Bishop or Presbyter, were ministers of the word whose function it was to bring people into the fold of Christ. Now how can we understand a little better the work of the early church, in terms of a modern illustration?

Well, I am going to cite an example which in a sense is controversial, without any pros and cons about the organization, but just in terms of its structure: The John Birch Society. Now how does this society function? Well it has an area coordinator, and then it has chapter leaders. And the area coordinator circulates to make sure that chapter leaders are doing their work, and the work of the chapter leaders is to teach and to lead their group.

Now in a sense this is what the apostles, and the elders, or the pastors and the elders were doing in the early church. The pastor might have a church, as Saint John did in his old age; but his elders at Ephesus were men who carried on the work, who went out to the communities round about. And there they established churches in various homes. Chapters as it were.

This was very successfully done some years ago, there were problems connected with it in the Seattle area by Mark Matthews, who had some of his men go out and establish about a dozen or so congregations.

Now this is the pattern as it appears in the early church and in the New Testament: An ordained man who was trained in the word, who then trained laymen to carry on the ministry of the word. And the emphasis was not on the form but on the function, carrying the word out to people. Proclaiming the gospel.

As a result we have a picture here of the church that is very different from that of our time. Not institutional, but Evangelical.

Thus the office of elder, Bishop, or Pastor, is pastoral in nature. It is ordained to carry the gospel, to extend it to other people. the office moreover is not a part of an Ecclesiastical democracy but a monarchy, it sets forth the kingship of Christ. These are men who go out under the command of Christ, and the basic thing that is emphasized in the scripture is not that men call these men out, but that God has called them, so that though men indeed call and ordain them, the prior calling is of the Lord.

Then while the elder and elders were a court of the church, this judicial function, meeting together to pass judgement on things was a very minor aspect in the early church an in the gospels, or rather the epistles, of the office of elder. The basic office was to minister in terms of the word. To further it. To push out, continually. And this is why the early church in the Roman Empire, by the death of Saint John, the last of the apostles, probably numbered from all that we can gather, half a million people. Because when a congregation was created, it was not created with officers to further that congregation and to build it up, and to say: “Now look, we have ordained 2-3 elders here, and your duty is to see to it that we can get more members in this congregation, and we can get a good building.” No. “Go out. Build up in your area. Do you have a home? Where do you work? Try to gain men, do you have friends? Begin to teach them. Further the work of Christ in your area.”

As a result the work of the church then was radically different from anything we recognize it to be today. I cited Ignatius and his letters, one of them was to Polycarp. Hear now what Polycarp in one of his epistles to the Philippians wrote, because they followed the pattern of Saint Paul and the other apostles of writing letters to these people continually, to guide them.

Polycarp said, speaking of the duties of Presbyters, and I quote: “and let the Presbyters be compassionate and merciful to all, bringing back those who wander, visiting all the sick, and not neglecting the widow, the orphan or the poor; but always providing for that which is becoming in the sight of God and men. Abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons and unjust judgment. Keeping afar off from all covetousness, not quickly crediting an evil report against anyone. Not severe in judgement, knowing that we are all under a debt of sin. If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive. For we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and we must all appear at the judgement seat of Christ, and must everyone give an account of himself. Let us then serve Him in fear and in all reverence, even as he himself has commanded us, and as the apostles who preach the gospel unto us, and the prophets who proclaimed before hand the coming of the Lord have alike taught us: let us be zealous in the pursuit of that which is good, keeping ourselves from causes of offense, from false brethren, and from those who in hypocrisy bear the name of the Lord, and draweth away vain men into error.”

In other words what Polycarp was talking about was the pastoral function of the elder. A man who is an under shepherd of Christ, to care for his own. What then is the office of an elder? He is one who is an arm of Christ in carrying the gospel into areas where he works, where he lives. It is his duty to establish new congregations in his home, to establish Christian schools, to assume major responsibilities in the furtherance of the gospel in one area after another; to be Aarons and Hurs, bearing it up as it were, the arms of their Moses, unto victory.

We see therefore that the office of elder in the church according to Scripture and according to the early church was not a form of church government, but a function for the evangelization of the world, to bring all things under the dominion of Christ.

Thus the emphasis today, whether it is Episcopal, Presbyterian, or Congregational Baptist, is on a form of government, not on the function of an office. And God has through the years blessed those in any and every communion, who have restored the true function to the office: to go forth, and to make disciples of all nations, teaching them all things that Christ has commanded. Let us pray.

Almighty God our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy word; and we thank Thee that Thou hast called us to further Thy saving power and word. To bring men, women, and children in to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We beseech Thee oh Lord to recall Thy church to its task. To make it again a faithful ministry of the word. A faith instrument of the conquest of all things for Thy namesake. Bless our Father in Thy service, that as faithful servants we may minister in Thy name, wherever we are called. In Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions, first of all with respect to our lesson? Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Very well put, and you cited the verse of Saint Paul that puts the finger on the problem, having the form of Godliness but not the power thereof. And it has been the form that the church has fought over as though this were everything. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] I couldn’t hear the last part?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, as I said, to function as a court was a part of the work of pastors and elders, of Bishops and Presbyters, whatever terms you want to use. But it was a minor function, you see. Now, about all they have become is a court, you see. They did meet, they did condemn them, they did excommunicate them. Btu today whatever kind of church government you have, the basic function of most of them is to sit back and pass judgement, you see. And there is far more heresy that develops in a stagnant situation like that. The early church had its heresies because it was dealing with a world that was far gone, and the men it converted very often came in with a very wretched kind of background, as did the Corinthians, and in that case Saint Paul simply told them what the word of God was, and he required the local pastor to apply it. So Discipline was exercised, but the basic function of the church, you see and the officers, was not discipline and management. Today the office of Pastor or Bishop or elder has become a management office. And increasingly in some seminaries, the emphasis is on management and public relations, as though the manager were an executive.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] No, Saint Paul was chief pastor over the congregations he had established. Then they met in a council, you see, the council of Jerusalem, where they decided these matters. You could call it a council of Bishops or a Presbytery. You see, they were not concerned with the form so much, but they called together a council of the various apostles, the elders, to decide in the Council of Jerusalem: “What shall we do about these Gentiles that are being brought in?” And this is the way it was for some time. As a matter of fact we do know from the early councils of the church that very often after governments became Christian, there were government men in the church council, because they felt that they should have a voice. In other words what they were concerned was, bringing together a body of men who were responsible leaders in the church, and responsible Christians, to decide a problem, to decide an issue.

Now Constantine sat in on the Council of Nicaea, he found it a very moving experience. Other monarchs did too. Of course then they began the right to call the council and to have an official part in it, and the church began to say: “No you can’t.” You see, they went after the form, but the whole purpose in the Council of Nicaea was not to say: “Only churchmen can sit in this council,” or “We will include as a matter of course the Emperor,” but it was to gather men together who could pass a decision on a pressing problem, Arianism. And because it concerned the Empire as well as the church, well, the Emperor was present. Because they wanted him to share in their thinking, to express his opinions, because they felt that the Empire should do something about the problem of Arianism too.

You see, it was not a hard and fast thing, it was flexible. And today it has become hard and fast, they have passed so many rules and regulations, that it has become difficult to function. A man who is now judge in the State of California, and formerly was Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and has practiced for years before the supreme Court, told me that the churches today have gotten so (hog bound?) with law that they really cannot function. There are too many laws they pass, to many canons, too many rules. So he said that it is impossible today if there is any challenge to any kind of action, for any kind of decision to be rendered. It’s like the picture that was in the morning paper of the statutes that have been passed governing welfare in the State of California, and it was so high, all the copies of the welfare statutes alone, and the statement was made that it is impossible for any welfare director to make a decision. There are too many rules that contradict one another, cut across the same lines, so that a decision is impossible.

Now, you see, this has become true in every area of state, and what you once had prevailing in this country in Civil Government, it was Common Law. What was Common Law? Well, it was the Bible plus the precedents that had been created. So, you had a jury of men decide in terms of Common Law.

Now in terms of Common Law the jury could say: “Well, we feel that this is what is right. No statute covering it, but this is just, this man has robbed someone, alright; this is the way we determine things.” Now when the church tended to have its own common law, you see, it had more flexibility. But when it had to be something in terms of the little black book or the big red book, or whatever the statute or Canon law book was, and they began to pile up Canons and resolutions and so on, it began to perish. The form was everything. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. Yes. First of all, with the second question, the difference between Justification and Salvation. Salvation refers to our redemption by Jesus Christ, it is the over-all term. Justification more specifically has reference to that aspect of salvation whereby Christ having made atonement for our sins, we are justified, we are just, righteous, in the sight of God. So Justification is a more specific term. Salvation is more or less equivalent to the same thing, but it includes a little more.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Oh, yes. Women in the church. Saint Paul specifically says that women are to keep silence in the church. However this is not a church… (Laughter) It is a service of worship. Now, this is important; there is a difference between worship and the church, and today the church often feels that it has a monopoly on worship. You worship God when you pray to Him and thank Him. You worship God when you serve Him faithfully and raise up your heart in thanksgiving for the opportunities and privileges He has given you. Worship is a very broad term.

Now, Women are prohibited from ruling within a church, and speaking within a church. This does not mean they are barred from other areas, or are to fold their hands neatly and sit back, because look at what Scripture gives us as a picture of the Godly woman in Proverbs 31; her husband is elected to sit in the gates which means he is on the town council, and she manages the business; and is a very capable manager. So the scripture gives us a picture of a woman who is very capable, a prime minister as it were to the king, who exercises authority as a good business head, is in every respect a capable manager. But in the area of the church, man is the one who is to rule.

So, you cannot take things, you see, that are said with respect to the church and take it across the boards.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Right, right. God in His sovereign purpose has said that the church is to be the area where the man is to rule, where the man is to teach. The women are to teach women; now, there was the office of widows and deaconesses in the New Testament, so they had a function, and a teaching ministry.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, women’s groups around the church, surely. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Right. Mercy today, or forgiveness is without grace and without restitution, and in the Biblical sense there can be no forgiveness without restitution. The two must go hand in hand.

Our time is just about up, but there are a couple of things I would like to pass on to you. First I picked up yesterday a very delightful book entitled: Bride and Bridegroom, a Series of Letters to a Young Married Couple by Julia C.R. Dorr. It is a book which was published 98 years ago, and it advises the young married couples, and it is a delight to read. A lot of it is good common sense, stating the obvious. And today sometimes it is the obvious that it seems a lot of young couples don’t know.

What this woman says to the bride first of all: “A man will often be thoughtless. Perhaps I may even venture to say that he will sometimes be decidedly cross.” That is a fact of life that seems to surprise a lot of women today about their husbands, and this for the husband I thought was very good: “Women like to have their own way.”

Then, did I share this with you last week, I had it with me and I think I forgot, the item in the Natural History about pollution and beer making in the 18th century, did I share this with you? No. Well, in this day when everybody is talking about pollution as though it were a new thing, the recent natural history had an article about pollution in the 1800’s and earlier in the 1700’s, when sometimes all the fish in many of the rivers in England and Germany and elsewhere were killed by the pollution of the day. So it is nothing new. But in the course of this article on the fearful pollution of those years, there was this little note that I thought was very interesting. Sullage, the word sullage means sewage, and that will help you to understand it. This is a quote they have from a book published in 1702 entitled: Hints to Brewers intended for London Brew masters. And I quote: “Thames water, (The river Thames) taken up about Greenwich at low water when it is free of all brackishness of the sea and has in it all the fat and sullage from the great city of London makes a very strong drink. It will of itself ferment wonderfully, and after its due purgation in three times sinking, it will be so strong that several sea commanders have told me that it has often fuddied their mariners.”

Well, with that, our time is up. Let us bow our heads for the benediction. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.