PASTORS ARE ELDERS

By William Chalfant, ThD.

There is no provision in the New Testament for a board of elders to rule over a pastor. The scripture teaches that pastors (shepherds or episkopoi, “overseers”) are the elders in the church). I say that the pastor is the elder, recognizing that the term for “elder”, presbuteros, also has a general connotation referring to age. When presbuteros is used as an office, however, it only refers to the pastor of an assembly or congregation.

Paul identifies “elders” as episkopoi (“overseers”, “bishops”, “pastors”) in Acts 20.17-28.

In verse 17 of Acts 20, Paul, being in Miletus, a coastal city 36 miles south of Ephesus, a large city (it had a stadium which could hold 30,000 people), called for “the elders of the church”. We need to remember that in a large city like Ephesus (and its environs) there were a number of house churches (congregations), but when we use the phrase “the church at Ephesus”, we are speaking collectively of all of these house churches or congregations. The “elders” of the church at Ephesus were the pastors of these house churches.

These “elders”, or pastors, each had the oversight of a flock. Paul tells them, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers (episcopoi). The word episkopoi means “bishop, overseer”. These men were pastors. Paul speaks collectively here of the flock, but one must remember that there were a number of smaller house churches, and each “elder” was a pastor over his own small flock. Collectively, of course, they were indeed “overseers” of the church of God. The term “church” can be used to identify the church at various levels: e.g., “a local congregaton”, “a district or group of churches”, or “the church universal” (the entire Body of Christ).

In Acts 14.23 the scripture speaks of Paul and Barnabas ordaining “elders (plural) in every church”. But this needs further explanation. Acts 14.21 explains that they visited Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. Thus, it is plain that the phrase “elders in every church” can also be interpreted to mean that a pastor was ordained at all of the house churches founded in these locations. Since a number of locations are listed in verse 21, it is only logical to conclude that this is the reason for the use of “elders” (plural). It does not necessarily mean that a board of elders was established in each church!

A church can have only one head under the Headship of the Chief Shepherd. A two-headed or three-headed church would be confusion, and God is not the author of confusion.

Accordingly, we can understand Philippians 1.1 in the same manner. Paul and Timothy saluted “all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”. The city of Philippi was a large city on the main road from Rome to Asia minor, 9 miles from the sea on a very fertile plain, also located near some gold mines. It obviously, as Ephesus, had a number of house churches (which collectively was called “the church at Philippi”). The bishops (episcopoi) were the pastors, while the word “deacon” (diakonos) means a “servant” or a “minister”. A “pastor” has the oversight of a church, while a “deacon” is simply a “minister”. There were obviously a number of pastors and just plain ministers associated with the house churches located in the large city of Philippi (with its environs).

The “elders” (episcopi) are the ones who “rule” the operaton of the church in cooperation with the saints and by the Holy Ghost (1 Timothy 5.17). They are not to be “lords over God’s heritage”, but are rather to be “examples” (1 Peter 5.3). Their job is to “feed the flock of God” (1 Peter 5.2). They are under the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and responsible also to other “elders” (as we see the home missions works began by the apostles and their helpers, such as Timothy and Titus). This implies to us that the congregational model has a degree of independence, but that the pastors also have some allegiance and responsibility to others (such as the “elders” in the church at Jerusalem, who sent letters to the Gentile churches). There seems to have been a quasi-congregational model with a loose hierarchical “flow-chart” in the early church.

When the apostles died, and the headquarters church (the congregations) at Jerusalem was scattered (most fled to Jordan), the churches throughout the world were basically left to fend for themselves. The apostle John operated out of Ephesus until his death c.101 AD, we are told. He continued to exercise authority and ordained pastors in churches. Apparently, the larger cities (with their house churches) coalesced into “districts” and elected “bishops” (the so-called “monarchical bishops”).

With the persecution of the apostolic church (being driven underground to a large degree by the triumphant Catholic bishops), the congregational church became a necessity, with probably some loose organization existing.

God no longer put all of His eggs in “one basket” (a large external organization as in the Jerusalem church with the twelve apostles). A strong hierarchical system never really existed, but loose cooperation prevailed among the individual churches, recognizing the authority of the apostles until the apostles died and the Jerusalem church was scattered.

Modern-day organizations came from the desire of local churches to regulate the ministry and receive recognition from the secular government, as well as to concentrate missionary efforts. Most organizations were formed with the assurance that congregational independence would be respected.

In the early apostolic churches home missions pastors were ordained by the apostles and their subordinates, but the principle of congregational approval is also seen. In Acts 6.2-6 we see that “deacons” (ministers who served under the apostles and helped with the administration of church work) were chosen from among the congregations of the house churches (“the multitude of the disciples”) with their consent.

In the conference decision to permit the Gentile Christians to forego circumcision and the keeping of the Law of Moses, the “whole church” (Acts 15.22) was involved in the final decision. So there is precedent for the election of pastors by the congregation.

It would be difficult to accept the proposition that the 24 elders in heaven (Revelation 4.4) would be some sort of a “board” that had veto power over the Chief Shepherd! Obviously, these “elders” serve some function.

Pastor are elders, the elder of the church that they oversee. Not all elders are pastors, since the term encompasses the senior saint.