A Relational Discussion Forum Dedicated to Apostles

Kingdom Eldership
by Lloyd C. Philips

It would be flawed thinking to suggest that to become more Kingdom oriented is to have less need for Kingdom Government. Even in heaven there are elders (Rev 19:4). It is therefore very important that we have a Kingdom mindset as we look at the necessary qualifications for eldership in the church. The subject of eldership qualifications is one of extreme importance to the Kingdom of God. To accomplish things pertaining to the Kingdom according to God’s order is a hallmark of the Word of God and is one of the things which eldership brings to the body. It is also, seemingly, one of those issues which is able to polarize well trained, loving biblical scholars. Unfortunately it is an issue which has been used to divide the body of leadership in the church of Jesus Christ. It is possible to respect different applications of requirements set by various streams in the body of Christ for eldership specific to their group. Yet the biblical qualifications for the various positions of leadership in the church should form the foundation for all leadership serving in the body of Christ.

Leaders who have an equal love for the scriptures and for applying the nature of God in all aspects of life come down on different sides of the specifics of this issue. Those who attempt to apply the nature of God, and a common sense application of the scriptures, run afoul of those who apply scripture in a seeming literal fashion. Yet it seems both branches of interpretation respect the Bible as divinely inspired; the primary source for faith and practice, and the sole source for Christian doctrine.

I have an analogy that I often use when talking of the importance in interpreting scripture. I point out that the Bible is printed in three colors for a reason (red letter editions of course). The Black represents everything the Father has said, the Red represents everything the Son has said, and the White represents everything the Holy Spirit has said. Please do not take this analogy as literal. The point I am making is that in order to understand what is written in black and red, we must learn to read the white! In other words we must read between the lines, to get what is written in scripture, but is not apparent. For this we need the help of the Holy Spirit as our teacher.

In looking into all serious biblical subjects, and especially in dealing with the subject of qualifications for eldership and leadership, I endeavor to do just that. One danger we must not fall into when seeking biblical direction is not to take one clear portion of scripture and neglect the less obvious complementary scriptures which add to the revelation in question.

One example of this might be found by looking at Paul’s requirements for deacons found in 1 Timothy 3. One requirement that Paul clearly made to Timothy was that a deacon must “be the husband of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.” These were not requirements for deacons put forth by the twelve apostles in Acts 6 where they asked for “men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.” In 1 Timothy Paul does not specifically require any of these. It is hard to believe that Paul was not aware of these earlier requirements. Perhaps he assumed that Timothy would choose from this category of the saints and add his requirements to the list. This would be my suggestion. However, I point it out because it is one of those less than obvious points which does make a difference in interpreting the scriptures for application.

One thing is clear in both records, and that is the choice of men as deacons. This has led to the practice in certain portions of the body of Christ of only appointing men to the role of deacon. Yet we know from scripture that this was not always the practice in the early church. For instance the apostle Paul recognized Phoebe as a female deacon in Rom 16:1. This understanding lead to the accepted practice of appointing deaconess’ in many churches.

This illustrates the point that what appears to be clearly listed in scripture may not always be clearly applied by those who wrote the scriptures. This does not make what is written any less the truth as inspired by the Holy Spirit. But the scriptures must be taken in total allowing the less clear scriptures to be added to the more clear scriptures in order to have a complete understanding.

It is very important to keep this in mind as we approach the subject of this article, kingdom eldership. When looking for the qualifications for eldership, the primary sources are 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5. Again, it is important to take what was written in these and other passages and apply them in light of all scriptures which are related to this subject.

I have found that it is helpful to clarify this subject by breaking the qualifications down into different categories. These divide easily into three categories which are: Moral Characteristics, Leadership Characteristics, and Domestic Characteristics.

Example: Honesty = Moral Characteristic

Not a novice / experienced = Leadership Characteristics

Man, husband, father = Domestic Characteristics

By categorizing the list of requirements for serving in positions of eldership we allow ourselves the possibility of simplifying the application of scriptures to real life situations. Applying the scriptures in such a way that we are following not only what is written but also what was actually applied by those who wrote the words in scripture is a more complete circle.

It must be clear that both Peter and the apostles in Acts 6, and Paul in the other verses sited were setting a standard of integrity and grace that could be a foundation for service to the body of Christ while allowing the Holy Spirit to lead through them. Scripture is clear that the moral characteristics and leadership characteristics were integral and necessary. I cannot see any exceptions in practice in scriptural accounts where someone with low moral character was purposely put in a position of leadership by the early church. Likewise, there is no clear example of a novice placed into a position of leadership, but rather there are numerous examples of those who are young in the Lord being mentored until they were able to serve in leadership positions.

There does seem to be some discrepancy between the requirements given in the domestic and gender categories with the actual application in Scripture. It is important that we take note of these or we may not be able to function with all the freedom and grace that the Lord intends for us in the church today.

As an example, I mentioned that in all the main qualification lists in the writings of the apostle Paul there is the requirement that the person be a husband who can rule his own household well. This of course would be a fitting requirement as the same characteristics for leading a house hold would also be attributes for leading the church of God. Therefore it is understandable why Paul required Timothy and Titus to choose the elders from among married men with children who had a household in order. He was expecting them to raise up leaders from among churches made up of people who had formerly been worshipers of idols, and he was looking for integrity in domestic areas which could be applied in the church. However, we know that Paul’s goal was not to lay down some New Testament law of religious requirements for leadership, but rather he was trying to be sure a firm foundation existed upon which to build.

If we would try to apply all of the domestic requirements today that the apostle gave to Timothy and Titus we would not only exclude all but men from serving in leadership, but also all unmarried men, as well as all men who were childless. It is interesting to me that there are many groups who use Paul’s writings to limit the eldership to men, but do not follow all of his writings by also excluding unmarried men and childless men. Perhaps because of our own stereotypes and cultural strong holds we sometimes miss what the scripture says, and even more often miss what the deeper truth it is endeavoring to communicate.

We know that the early church did not always require their elders to be married, have children, or to be men. In fact, when the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus to choose elders from among the married men with submitted children, they were both unmarried men without children. It is probable that the apostle himself was unmarried at the time that he wrote these requirements.

I have already made mention of the woman Phoebe, who served faithfully as a deacon. There is also Junia whom Paul said was a notable apostle (Romans 16:7). While we should recognize that apostleship is a gift, and eldership is a position, the requirements for notable apostleship would actually be expected to be higher than for eldership. Even in the Old Testament we can see Deborah serving in eldership as a Judge over Israel. It is often noted that Deborah is the only woman judge in the book of Judges, perhaps making her an exception to the rule. However, it is not often noted that among all the judges she is the only judge that exercised rule over Israel (Judges 4:5). All the judges exercised judgment over the enemies of God’s people, but she stands out as the exception as the only judge before Samuel to judge God’s people themselves.

These examples certainly would have stood out as exceptions to the rule in the eastern cultures of Bible times much more than they would today. It is a true statement that there may be an exception to a rule, but there is no exception to the truth. It is unfortunate that we sometimes confuse what is truth with what is practiced, and thereby limit God’s grace which He has in such abundance for us.

In summing up the qualifications for kingdom eldership viewed in light of actual application we can state clearly from scripture that the evaluation of moral and leadership characteristics are essential. However, it is just as clear that domestic characteristics are not required to be the same in every situation. The domestic characteristics may properly be adapted and conformed to particular situations just as they were throughout biblical and church history. We must beware of adding restrictions to the saints that are not applied in scripture. By allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our view into the Holy Scriptures we can actually release more of God’s intended grace by allowing liberty to lead those who are called to leadership. After all where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. In light of this, let us consider our understanding of eldership carefully so that the Kingdom of God can be firmly established.

Copyright 82006 FLInt Net

By Lloyd C. Phillips, Director

The Fellow Laborers’ International Network (FLInt Net)

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