INTRODUCTION
The New Testament provides a pattern that was followed by the early church. They followed what the Apostles gave them in their teaching and writings. The Jerusalem church gives us an example of this. We are told in Acts 2:42 that these Christians “continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine”. Any church that belongs to the Lord, being built by the Lord Himself, will do likewise. Since Jesus Himself said that the Apostles would be the ones who were led into all truth by the Holy Spirit, we need to look at what they say in their writings as to what the church should look like. As we talked about in our previous lesson, Peter was given the keys to the kingdom. He is the one who taught how access is granted into the Lord’s kingdom, of which we become part of when we obey the gospel of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13). The Apostles tell us what kingdom citizens, the universal church (or the bride of Christ, or the temple of God) looks like.
This is not only case regarding the universal church, but also in the local church. The Apostles also taught what local churches/congregations were to look like in every area. They taught the doctrines that Christ gave them in every church they visited (1 Cor. 4:17) or wrote to. The Epistles were shared among the early Christians so they could know how to please and serve God as they came together to form a local congregation of God’s people.
The pattern that we find for local churches includes such elements as...
• The organization of the church
• The worship of the church
• The work of the church
We will examine all three of these areas in later lessons to show exactly what a faithful local church looks like if Jesus is the builder of it. In this study, we will examine what pattern emerges from the New Testament regarding the organization of the Lord’s local congregations (with a few thoughts about the organization of the universal church).
This subject is important for many reasons. First, it is a subject talked about in God’s word. If it is important enough to the Spirit to reveal these things to us, it must be important for those who want to please God to follow what the Spirit says. Second, apostasy often begins with changes in the organization of local churches. These changes then spread to the point where they can easily become a cancer among the Lord’s people. Paul warned the Ephesian elders to be on guard for those who would arise out of their own leadership to get disciples to follow them instead of sticking to God’s pattern (Acts 20:29-30). This is what we end up seeing in the early church. Changes began to be made regarding the organization of the church which led it into full blown apostasy. We will talk more about this later…
CHURCH ORGANIZATION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
I would like to begin by giving some quick thoughts about the organization of the universal church. What we see in scripture is quite different than what we see in today's denominations. What we see in scripture is that there is not any organization beyond the local church. There was no board which oversaw the whole church. There were not any Popes or cardinals like we see in Roman Catholicism. What we see in the Bible was that each local congregation was autonomous. They were self governing. Each local group of Christians looked to Christ alone as their head and based their doctrines, organization, worship, and work on what the Apostles taught. There was no council they could point to for their doctrines. There was no denominational board. They looked only to the word of God.
With this said, within each local congregation, we see the following organization given to us by God in scripture:
1. ELDERS
A congregation, once fully developed, would have elders. Elders were appointed to oversee the local congregation. In Acts 14:23, we are told that as Paul and his companions visited the churches they planted, they “appointed elders in every church”. Paul also gave this command to Titus, one of his trusted coworkers:
“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you” (Titus 1:5).
There are a few different names given to these men in scripture: Other names given in scripture are:
• Elders (Grk., "presbuteros", presbyter) for they were older men
• Bishops (Grk. "episkopos", overseer) for their task was to oversee the congregation - cf. Acts 20:17, 28; 1 Peter 5:1-2
• Pastors (Grk. "poimen", shepherd) for their task was to shepherd and feed the flock of God - cf. Acts 20:17, 28; 1 Peter 5:1-2
These are not three distinct offices, but different ways to describe the one group of men and their work.
Elders were appointed only after meeting strict qualifications. The qualifications are listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. Note that we are told that they "must be..." (1 Timothy 3:2) There are no exceptions. They must meet the qualifications that the Spirit gives or they are not to be appointed as elders. A couple of the qualifications that were given were: Husband of one wife… With faithful children… Such qualifications prepared them for their role (1 Timothy 3:5).
In every congregation with elders, there was always a plurality, never just one
• There were "elders" in every church - Acts 14:23
• The church in Jerusalem had "elders" - Acts 15:2,4,6,22-23; 16:4; 21:18
• The church at Ephesus had "elders" - Acts 20:17; 1 Timothy 5:17
• There were to be "elders" in every city - Titus 1:5
• When one was sick and wanted prayer, they were to call for the "elders" - James 5:14
• Younger people were to submit to the "elders" – 1 Peter 5:5
We never read of just one elder or bishop over one church or group of churches.
The authority of the elders to oversee was also limited. They were to take heed to the flock of God "among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers" (Acts 20:28). They were to "shepherd the flock of God which is among you" (1 Peter 5:2). No elder (bishop, pastor) or group of elders had any authority beyond their local congregation.
2. DEACONS
These were servants (Grk., "diakonos", servant, minister) who assisted the elders in the work of the church. Their qualifications are found in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. The work they do is a very noble one (1 Timothy 3:13).
While not identified as deacons per se, the seven men appointed to serve tables may have been prototypes of the service rendered (Acts 6:1-6). Outside of the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and what we have said in Acts 6, we are not told much about exactly what deacons do. What is seen that they are special servants entrusted with duties that require a specific kind of character.
3. THE MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION...
Commonly called saints (Grk., "hagios", holy one) in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1). They are also called disciples, Christians, believers, etc. All of the members of the local congregations were to submit to the elders.
Among such members there may have been evangelists and teachers (Ephesians 4:11).
• Evangelists took the gospel to the lost and equip the saints for ministry (along with the other offices the Lord gave the church)
• Teachers instructed and edified the members
• Those commonly referred to as preachers may do the work of both evangelist and teacher (2 Timothy 4:5; 2:2)
Whether they serve as evangelist, teacher, or preacher, within the local church they likewise submit to the oversight of the elders as the other members do.
CHANGES IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH
In the New Testament, churches that had elders (bishops) never had just one. As we already talked about, there was always a plurality (Php 1:1; Ac 20:17). This certainly prevented a one-man rule over a church. But things soon changed after the time of the Apostles; as noted by the Holman Bible Dictionary:
During the second century A.D. churches came to have a single bishop, and then that bishop came to exercise oversight over nearby rural churches as well as the city church so that his ecclesiastical territory became known as a "diocese" or "see" ("eparchy" in the East). Bishops of churches that had been founded by apostles were said to be in succession to the apostles, and hence their teaching was held to be authentic and their authority collegial. By 400 A.D. in the West, the bishop of Rome began to assume extraordinary authority above other bishops.
According to A. T. Robinson's Word Pictures:
"Ignatius shows that in the early second century the office of bishop over the elders had developed, but Lightfoot has shown that it was not so in the first century."
Today, many denominations have simply adopted the later changes in church organization. Some go back to 400 AD, and emulate an organization similar to Roman Catholicism. Others go back to the second century AD, having a three tier system of bishop, elders, deacons within a congregation, or where a bishop or group of bishops (presbyters) oversee a number of churches.
It is also common today for there to be only one man in leadership in a congregation. He is normally called THE pastor of the church. The majority of time, this “pastor” does not meet the qualifications that are given by the Holy Spirit in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. They become a pastor merely because they were ordained by a certain denomination or received training at a seminary. These are man-made qualifications, not Biblical ones. These are examples of churches organized in a way that God does not show His approval of in the New Testament.
CONCLUSION
Whenever we want to find the church of the Bible, it is important for us to compare what we see in the Bible to all of the different churches and denominations that call themselves ‘Christian.’ Jesus and His Apostles give us the blueprint for what the church looks like, including how the church is organized. Those churches that are different from the Biblical pattern are not the church that we see in the Bible. They are counterfeits.
