Elders: Specific Qualifications

We are reviewing the different roles in the church that carry specific responsibilities. We have begun by focusing on the role of the elders and said that they exercise the leadership of Christ in the local assembly. We have looked at some general characteristics concerning elders found throughout the New Testament:

• Elders accept only the Bible as God's word.
• They love the church.
• They know how to worship publically as well as privately.
• Elders work well with others.
• They understand decision-making.
• They are dependable.
• Elders are able to share their feelings with the congregation.

These were some of the general things about the kind of men who should be encouraged to serve as elders.

In this chapter I want to look at some of the more specific qualifications required for this leadership role.

Eternal and Cultural

When discussing the specifics of the eldership it is helpful to differentiate between what is cultural and what is eternal in the Bible. Some things that the Bible describes were done because of culture: the way they dressed and spoke, certain customs like the washing of a guest's feet and the wearing of veils.

The Bible comments on these, and we see people experiencing these things, but they were part of their cultural setting and not commandments that needed to be perpetuated beyond their cultural context.

For example, foot washing - hospitality: it was customary for a host to have a guest's feet washed upon arrival. This was necessary in that time since the roads were dusty and people wore sandals. So long as this custom was significant culturally it needed to be done as a sign of courtesy and mutual service. It is no longer relevant in our society; today we offer a beverage or take one's coat to hang as a welcome gesture. A sign of mutual service could be the offer to cook a meal for someone who is ill, etc.

Other things are eternal however, they may have been part of the Jewish culture or begun during that time but through teaching, command and example have become perpetual things in the Christian faith.

For example, baptism was something used by both Jews and pagans but Jesus took it and made it a necessary part of the Christian faith (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:38).

The different roles for men and women in the church are another example of things that have an eternal nature and are not subject to the changes in custom or culture. Many argue that male spiritual leadership in the church and in the home was a cultural thing unique to first century times. They say that in the modern era these biblical models of wives being submissive to their husbands and women not being allowed to serve in leadership roles in the church are outdated and culturally irrelevant. But the Bible teaches that this is an eternal model established in Genesis and reinforced throughout the New Testament (I Corinthians 11:2-77; Ephesians 5:22).

Some things were cultural and the Bible mentions them, and other things the Bible takes and makes permanent through teaching and example.

The reason I am saying all of this is because the argument to have women as preachers or pastors today is based on the idea that having only men as the leaders in the church was a cultural thing in Jewish society and should be abolished.

The answer to this, of course, is that in the New Testament every command, every teaching, every example and every reference to the leadership of the church refers to men.

• The word elder means older man.
• The person needs to be a husband, a father.
• All references where elders are the subject in the New Testament describes men.

The point here is that if this was only a cultural thing, the Bible would have left the door open for change, but it does not!

For example, it was the Jewish custom that women did not have the freedom to choose whom they wished to marry, but the New Testament, by not commenting on this, allowed the custom to die on its own and permitted women this freedom without religious interference. Paul comments on this custom in I Corinthians 7 but he does not command that the custom be perpetuated. With elders, however, it is different.

There are clear and specific instructions for men to form the leadership in the church, not women. We conclude from the specific nature of this teaching that this was one area that was eternal and not cultural.

Remember, the basic rule for accurate Bible interpretation is that we speak, teach and insist where the Bible does, and are silent when it does not. When it comes to elders it does speak and command and explain as follows.

Specific Qualifications

There are two places in the New Testament where Paul specifically talks about elders and their qualifications.

I Timothy 3:1-7

Paul is giving instructions to Timothy about the church in general and how people should conduct themselves as part of that church, and in chapter three he lists some specific qualifications of those who would be church leaders.