AP

Christ has given gifted people to his church (Eph.4.7-12). Included among these gifted people are those who occupy one or other of the two offices in the New Testament, namely ‘elder’ and ‘deacon’.

The category commonly referred to as ‘teaching elder’ (1 Tim5.17) seems to be a variation of elder, but is clearly part of the same office. Some elders ‘labour in the word and teaching’ (1 Tim 5.17).

In Acts 20, Paul uses a number of terms as synonyms. So, when Paul sends for the elders of Ephesus to come to him (Acts20:17), he also says that these elders are overseers (Acts 20:28), and then, in the same verse, calls them to pastor the church of God. See also 1 Peter 5:1-2 where Peter does a similar thing.

The ‘two-office view’ is a Presbyterian reading of the New Testament (in Greek, leadership by the ‘presbuteroi’ or elders). It is a different form of church government when compared to either Episcopalians (who see bishops as the next rung above presbyters) or Congregationalists (where the primary decision-making body is the congregation not the elders).

The two-office view sees no separate office of pastor, but that the word ‘pastor’ is synonymous with ‘elder’. Modern day ministers are functionally set apart as ‘teaching elders’. There is – and should be – a functional distinction between a minister and an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Australia. The General Assembly of Australia has ruled in this way.

The Bible leans toward a plurality of elders who lead God’s church. In Titus, Paul tells Titus to ‘appoint elders in every town’. This signifies a plurality of elders in each church (Titus 1.5). In Acts 14.23 Paul and Barnabas ‘appoint elders in every church’ in Galatia/Asia Minor’. These verses indicate that, when all is settled, teams of elders are to lead the churches. See also Philippians 1:1 where the letter of Philippians is written to ‘all the saints at Phillipi with the overseers and deacons’.

Deacons do the work of mercy and care, arising from the situation in the early Church where the Greek widows were being neglected. Acts 6 has traditionally been seen as a description (and prescription) that deacons should do the work of serving tables (the work of mercy), and elders/pastors should devote themselves to the work of praying, preaching and teaching (Acts 6:1-6).

The New Testament shows us two offices: elder and deacon. The Elders of modern-day churches (in a Presbyterian form of government) derive from the eldership teams described in the New Testament documents (1 Tim. 3.1-7; Titus 1:5-9).

We must all search the New Testament Scriptures to find our view of biblical church polity. Let’s pray for one another for the guidance of the Spirit through the Word as we do this.

– Jesse Huckel