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2. These qualifications are simply adescription of a man of God, a manwho has attained to the degree ofspiritual maturity that is the goal ofevery Christian. In that sense, these arequalifi cations or goals for every Christian, every man of God. A man can'tsay, W ~ l l l don't intenl;l to be an elder 1so I don't have to be a good ruler athome, sober, etc. Paul is saying simply that in order to be called and qualified, one must give evidence of alreadyhaving attained to those qualities thlitmark a man who has matured in t ~faith.

Moreover, it is possible to simplylook at these qualifications as a check;list, and evaluate men in general, without seeing the overall intent. The pointof all these qualifJCations is that the .man must be equipped for the job ortask to which called - that of ruling andpastoring the people of God. He mustbe mature and sound in the faith. It isfrom this perspective that we discussand define the particulars that Paul haslisted .

Nothing is more important for thelife and progress of the Church of JesusChrist than the calling and work of theElder. There is nothing more importantthat you will do as a Christian thanelecting men to serve Christ as an Elder. There is perhaps nothing moreharmful to the church than electing mento this offi e who are not called or

qualified by the Holy Spirit of God .For the sake of the glory of God, thegrowth of the chureh, the advancementof His kingdom, let us seek and electmen who are called and qualified by Godfor the spiritual oversight and shepherding of the flock of God . Q

This specialJanuary-February issue

brings us to the end of theeleventh year of

The Counselo Chalcedon.

Please pray for God'scontinued blessings on

this ministry as we beginour twelfth year with the

March issue .

The Meaning of Eldershipby R.I. Rushdoony

Fw offices have deteriorated

more radically than tha t of the eler. Its original purpose has been

obscured, its functions lost, and itspurpose altered.

To understand the meaning of the office of elder , it is necessary to remember that the office was not created bythe church but taken over from the practices of Israel. As Morris has written,

The first Christians were all Jews, andit is a reasonable inference that theytook over the office of elder from theJudaism with which they were familiar .I t will repay us accordingly to givesome attention to the Jewish elders.

Those men were officials responsiblefor the administration of Jewish communal life . They had responsibilities inboth what we would ca ll civil and ecclesiastical affairs. Probably they made nohard and fast distinction between thetwo, for their law was the law of Moseswhich deals impartially with both.

Moreover, their unit of organizationwas the synagogue congregation, andthe synagogue, in addition to being aplace for worship, was a place of instruction, a school. The Rabbis dealtwith all manner of subjects . They didnot confine themselves to what wewould call religious matters, but laiddown regulations for the conduct ofcivil affairs as well.

The elders were elected by the community and held office for life. They

were admitted to their functions by asolenm rite, which in New Testamenttimes was apparently an act of enthronement The laying on of handsdoes not appear to have been practisedat this time, and it probably did notmake its appearance until the war of BarKochba or later. . . . The function ofthe elder was apparently centred on thelaw. They were to study it, expound itand deal with people who had offended

against it.

There are obvious similarities betweenthis office and that of the first Christianelders. The importance of this similarity is heightened when we reflect thatthe Christian Church appears to havebeen regarded at first as a branch .ofJudaism. Her assemblies seem to havebeen modelled on the synagogue pattern. Any ter. male adult Jews couldform a synagogue. And it is probablethat the ftrst assemblies of Christians

were organized as synagogues. In factone is called by this very name inJames 2 :2 and there is evidence thatThe Christian congregations in Palestine long continued to be designated bythis name' (J.B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul sEpistle t the Philippians, p. 192) These would supervise the affairs of thenew society in the same way as Jewishelders looked after the synagogue. 1

In o r ~ rto understand the Hebrewbackground of the office, it is important

to recognize its origin in the family andtribal structure of Israel. The elder, first,was what the name indicated, an olderman in a position of authority. Theterm elder was comparative, so it couldmean a man ruling over his household .This head of the household, or of agroup of families, supervised the discipline and justice within his family,its education, worship, and economicsupport; he was also responsible for itsdefense against enemies . Thus , veryclearly , law and order were basic func

tions of the elder but in far more thanin a police sense, in that it was theduty of the elder to train his chargesinto a way of life. The concern of theelder was thus religious, civil, educational, and vocational. e also providedfor the welfare of his household.

Second, elders formed the basis of civi l government. Since men who governed in so extensive a way their ownhouseholds were best trained to govern,

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Ellisville Presbyterian Church,Ellisville, Mississippi

Moses tunted to the elders, at the command of God, to form a group o{ e v e n ~ty to rule Israel (Num. 11:16). Thesemen governed under Moses and aidedhim in instructing the people in t h ~implications of the law (Deut. 27:1).Loc;al govei'lllrient was in the hands ofelders (Deut. 19:12; 21 :2; 22 :15; 25:7;

Josh. 25:4; Judges 8:14; Ruth 4:2) .These elders are also referred to in theGospels (Matt 16:21; 26:47; Luke7:3). In the New Testament era, someelders ruled in the Sanhedrin and wereexperts in the law, and others ruled . inlocalities. 2

Third elders were rulers .of synagogues, as Morris has indicated . Withinthe synagogue, the elder wa8 the teacher, enforcer, and expert student of thelaw.i The fact that the elder ruled in

,church, state, and family in the Old1 Testament era did not make this office

one institution. The fact of unity rurenot from the absorption of one institution into another, but in their cmrimon subordination to the law and theircommon use of the law.

The fact that the church took over theoffice of elder from Israel is an aspect ofits claim to be the new and true Israelof God. The church was now Goo's triJesynagogue, and itS people the new

, Israel. The purpose of the office was create a new society, the Kingdom of

Go d ; to institute the ilew creation bymeans of the discipline of its lliw:.word.The seal o God's approval on thechurch as the new Israel, and the eldersas the new office-bearers o f God's law,was the laying on o f hands and theimplied anointing of the Holy Ghost ITim. 4:14).

, The office o f elder has, among its; qualifications, the ability to teach, and' the ability to rule I Tim. 3:2.:5). Signi-

fic;mtly, the tie to the . rigjn of the of-fire ~ m m n s. . The eldei was originallyand always a' man 'who ruled ' a house ~ l l ihence, in Israel, a ruler (an(l alirulers were in a real sense elders) hact'tobe a married m n ~a man tested in au.:thority and government. St. Paul restates this qualification as an i n e S ~

capable fact, For if a man know itothow to rule his oW n house, how shallhe take care of the church of God? (lTim. 3:5) . The office of elder requires afamily-centered society. .

The government of the new Christiansociety was complicated by the fact ofpersecution. The offices of deacons andwidows, created to function under theelders, bad government as their function, the relief of the needy, ministeringto the younger, education, etc . The elderas a teacher thus functioned in the earlychurch in one sphere after another, irithe church; in the family; in the area ofwelfare by delegation and supervision,in education, and, by their avoidance ofcivU courts, as a civil goveniinent. Precisely because the Roman courtswere unjust I Cor. 6:1), the eldersserved as a court to judge cOntroversiesamong Christians (I Cor. 6:1-3). f achurch member refused to . heed acorrection (Matt . 18:15-17}, then hecould be treated as an heathen man anda publican and taken, i need be, t ~acivil court. Normally, the ungOdlycourt is to be avoided even at a sacrifice(Matt . 5:40). No restriction against theuse of courtS exists in the Old Testament, because the courts there wereeither in th e hands of the elders or re-flected their influence. American courts,despite their c

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tian home, school, and church to trainelders who will apply the law of God toall the world . The elder is not governedby the church as a subordinate officerwho is sent out as an imperial agent into the world . Rather, the elder governsin his sphere, even as the church in herarea, each as imperial agents of Christthe King. t points, the elder is underthe authority of the church, and at otherpoints independent of i t

The church calls and ordains her elders, but there is little reason to limitthe office to the chur ch. Christians ineducation, civil government, thesciences, law, and other professions canconstitute themselves as Christianbodies and examine and ordain men whowill further the law and ruJe of God intheir sphere. The eldership is a callingfrom God, and the church is one agencyin which the calling is fulfilled. Thiswas the form of the office in Israel, and

there is no evidence of any change inthe nature of the offi ce in the NewTestament. The fact that the very nameof the office, elder was retained emphasizes the continuity.

In Revelation, moreover, we meetwith four and twenty elders, symbolizing the fulness of the church ofboth the Old and New Testaments. TheJewish practice of enthronement ofelders is echoed also, in that these elderscast their crowns before the throne

(Rev. 4:10), indicating the supremekingship of God. Elders were enthroned,an echo of the original calling of damto be a priest, prophet, and king overcreation under God. The restoration ofthat kingly rule under Christ is thefunction of the elder, and it is a callingin every domain of life .

The concept of eldership or ministrywas strongly revived by Luther withrespect to the university and the professors. The professor's chair was theheir of the synagogue elder's chair , andthere was a comparable enthronement.To this day, many profes sors are inducted into an end owed chair withoutrealizing the meaning of that term.Ro senstoc k -Huessy pointed out that

The universities represented the life ofthe Holy Ghost in the GermanNation . 3 The work of the Holy Spiritthrough the office and ministry of theelder was seen as manifested throughthe professor .

However, not until ev ery legitimate

calling is seen as an area of potentialeldership and is brought under the ruleof God's law-word by presbyters or elders serving God will the meaning ofeldership be fully realized.

Endnotes1. Leon Morris, Ministers o God

(London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1964), p.70f .

2. W.E. Vine, Expository ictionary o

N .T. Words p. 20f; J .A. S elbie, Elder (inO.T.), in ames Hastings, Dictionary ofiheBible I 676f.

3. Eugen Ros enstock-Huessy, Out ofRevoluti on Autobiography o Western Man(New York: William Monow, 1938), p. 395 .

[Reprinted, by permission, from TheInstitutes o Biblical Law by RJ Rushdoony, chapter XIV, TilCHURCH , pp . 739-743, The CraigPress, 1973]. n

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