The Church: Pastors, elders and bishops.

Having seen that those recognised to be pastors are not there to exercise authority over the people, it seems odd that when we talk about bishops, pastors and elders that we are automatically talking about a hierarchy of authority! The reason we think in those terms is because that is what has been handed down to us. However, if we look at scripture we will see that it didn't start out like that.

"1To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." 1 Peter 5:1-3

Notice that in the 1 Peter 5 passage that it is addressed to "the elders." Today it would be addressed to "the pastors." In that passage Peter tells the elders to be shepherds which is the same word as pastors and he tells them to be overseers which is the same word as bishops. There are only a few mentions of the word bishop in the New Testament and this is one of them. But each time these words are used they are used interchangeably.

The point here is not that these words are titles implying authority, they are descriptions of function. They tell us what elders are about. The term "elder" implies that the person has a maturity in the faith. The term pastor implies providing pasture, caring for and protecting the flock. The word "overseer" implies making sure that things are running as they should, no one being overlooked or mistreated; the freedoms that we have are for everyone.

Paul says the same thing in Acts 20,

"17From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church."

"28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God,"

Here we see exactly the same pattern as with Peter, The Elders are to be pastors (shepherds) and bishops (overseers!)

People love position, title and authority so much that they will more freely accept what has been handed down. Often people see that there are two lists of qualities one for elders in Titus and one for bishops in 1 Timothy 3:1, but they are interchangeable terms. If we look at the list in Titus we see both terms used again in the same context:

"6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it." Titus 1:6-9

Something else that is worth noticing is that elders are always referred to as plural. Obviously when talking about someone wanting to be "an elder" it is singular, however, whenever it is talking about the elders of a particular church it is always plural.

The idea is that within a small church there should not be one strong personality dominating the group. Having more than one elder gives security and stops elders being overloaded and having to do everything. The idea of one pastor over a church of a few hundred is a million miles away from the biblical picture of more than one elder sitting among a living room full of believers.

The idea of "area bishops" came about after the time of the New Testament and the apostles in a the time of a group of people known as "The Church Fathers." These are revered in the high churches, but their teachings are very questionable. They were the first people to have the idea of an overseer's-overseer. They gave themselves great authority for certain things and this is lived out today in the institutional churches. It is usually the council of bishops who make the big decisions. However, as we have seen, church decisions should be made by the church.

There is a lot of pragmatism in people's thinking today. Jesus said we can only serve one master, if we say we accept scripture as our final authority against which we test everything then how can we be pragmatists? That would be making "what works" our authority. The idea is that because we are used to having governing bodies over churches that they cannot see how it would work without them. But that is a clear mistrust of scripture!!