Sermon Tone Analysis

Elders and their Work

READING OTHER PEOPLES MAIL

Last week WHAT & HOW

This week: WHO & WHY

Understanding WHY helps us understand WHO.

Let’s begin with history of Elders.

Hebrew Scriptures: Zaqen

Zaqen/Presbyteros

Zaqen: Someone who is not young (), or someone with authority in a household ().

Served local councils, meet at the gate of their city to settle disputes (; ; )

They even served as judges/trying judicial cases (, , )

They even advised King Saul, King David, and King Solomon (, , )

Elders in the Synagogue

Elders played a crucial role in the synagogue.

A governing board of elders would oversee the congregations operations:

property

charity work

schooling

care of the sick

burials

gathering contributions for the Temple

They also conducted, or found people to conduct services.

The title was also used for distinguished members of the Sanhedrin.

“Elders, chief priests and scribes” ()

New Testament: Presbyteros/Episkopos

A person with experience and authority.

Episkopos

The term comes to be applied to church leaders.

Paul and Barnabas appoint elders with prayer and fasting.

().

The Elders were largely responsible for pastoral care/shepherding of the congregation.

Lexham Bible Dictionary entry on “Elders”:

“The earliest churches apparently did not follow a fixed pattern of leadership.

Paul and his churches looked for leadership qualities to emerge in a person and then urged the congregation to respect that person as a leader…The chief qualifications were a demonstrated readiness to serve others and a calling from the Holy Spirit.”

A clear example of elders being involved in pastoral ministry.

Concerning themselves with the sick, anointing and praying over them, and receiving confessions of sin, and praying for forgiveness of those sins.

Early Church

Clement’s First Letter to the Corinthians

Apostles appointed “approved men” (elders/shepherds) to continue their ministry “with consent of the whole church.”

This pattern repeated.

Note the congregation didn’t select, the congregation’s consent was considered.

Shepherd of Hermas:

Elders direct the congregation.

People bring questions to the elders to seek insight.

The elders and deacons worked together in the care of widows, orphans, and poor.

Parallels

Similarities

The Lists

These are not, and never were intended to be comprehensive checklists of qualifications for elders.

Where was the requirement to be a believer in Jesus Christ?

Where was the listing of the Fruits of the Spirit?

Where was any reference to loving others as Christ loved us?

IF YOU WANT TO STRICTLY FOLLOW THE LIST, YOU COULD FIND AN ATHEIST THAT WOULD MEET ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS, AND JESUS WOULD NOT.

Since these qualities are slightly different in each account (containing some similar, identical, and unique qualities between the two lists - 8 differences that I can count), it is safe to conclude that Paul composed the lists under inspiration for the distinct needs of the individual churches.

The church at Ephesus () and the church at Crete () did not require the same exact type of servant-leaders; therefore, the qualities given in are not identical to .

Similarly, East Side is different from the churches at Crete and Ephesus, therefore, we should seek out men who represent the types of qualities most necessary for our particular context.

David Lipscomb, editor of GA, did not believe it necessary for men to be married or have children to be an elder, but rather viewed these lists not as a qualification, but as a way of describing the type of character of a person fit for leadership.

Early 1900s that our tribe adopted the position of reading this as a strict list.

Why this list?

3 Rules for reading the Bible: Context, Context, and Context.

Some context is cultural (time and place), other context is explicit within the text.

We’re going to go through some of these and look at what Paul meant by them.

Above Reproach

Reproach - open to criticism, disgrace.

- This was a problem!

- 11 and 12 encourage Timothy to live out Fruit of Spirit type of characteristics.

Husband of One Wife

Most translate: faithful to his wife (lit. 1 woman man)

Roman world adultery was a way of life.

EXTREMELY COMMON.

This isn’t at all about polygamy, and not so much divorce.

It’s looking for a person who is faithful to their spouse, something extremely rare in the world Paul is writing to!

Children Submissive

Patristic System, “Father’s House” was an extended family system that all lived together and was under the authority of the oldest male relative, “father.”

Think of the story of the Prodigal Son, who was the father?

Is God unfit to lead the church?

No stipulation on being a follower of Christ is mentioned in Ephesus.

NIV uses word “kill”.