The Church Part 10

G. The authority which God gives to rulers of churches is not to be used to destroy the churches, but build them up. 2CO 10:8; 13:10. 1. Ministerial authority may be abused by forbidding scrutiny or challenge. JOH 9:34; ACT 4:17-18 ct/w ACT 17:11; NUM 16:5. 2. Ministerial authority may be abused by taking away the key of knowledge by dereliction of duty, faulty hermeneutic, substituting traditions of men for the word of God, or casting doubt on the word of God. LUK 11:52; HOS 4:6; MAT 15:5-6; 2CO 11:3. 3. Ministerial authority may be abused by imposing false or abrogated burdens upon the conscience of the saints. MAT 23:4; COL 2:20-21. 4. Ministerial authority may be abused by speaking above the peoples’ capacity of language or by sophistry (impressive but fallacious reasoning). ROM 16:17-18; 2PE 2:18 ct/w 1CO 2:4; 14:9; 2CO 3:12. 5. Ministerial authority may be abused by a super-emphasis on judgment without consideration of mercy. JAM 2:13. 6. Ministerial authority may be abused when it is not exercised in a season of danger. JOH 10:12-13 ct/w 1TI 1:3; TIT 1:10-13. 7. Ministerial authority may be abused by sowing discord among brethren through favoritism/partiality in judgment. 1TI 5:21; JUDE 1:16. 8. Ministerial authority may be abused by purposely catering to the carnality of the people, as Aaron. EXO 32:1-6. The Church 6-9-24 Page 20  9. Ministerial authority may be abused by exploiting the tendency of people to accept things as valid because they don’t want to rock the boat rather than prove all things. 1TH 5:21. 10. Ministerial authority may be abused by ambiguity rather than defined clarity. 2CO 1:17-18. a. Sometimes ambiguity is the product of a lack of knowledge or decisiveness. But not always. Sometimes it is an intentional tool of deception. b. “Corruption in doctrine works best when it is unfettered by any explicit statement of that doctrine. Error loves ambiguities. It does not desire to state its position clearly, either because it has no distinct position to state, or if stated, it would stand convicted of iniquities in the eyes of all honest and God fearing men.” (Martin L. Wagner, Freemasonry, An Interpretation, p. 539) H. Circumstances may demand that there be more than one ordained elder in a local church. ACT 11:30; 15:2; ACT 20:17; PHIL 1:1. 1. The sheer mass of responsibility is the primary factor. 2. Some N.T. churches, like Jerusalem, were quite large. ACT 21:20. 3. But even in churches with multiple elders, one elder was chief among them: James at Jerusalem (ACT 12:17; 21:18; GAL 2:12 c/w ACT 15:13-21); Timothy at Ephesus. 1TI 1:3-4; 5:17-21. 4. A distinction must be made between what is required and what is allowed. 5. A single steward can be given rule over his Lord's household and can perform the necessary duties required of an elder. LUK 12:42; TIT 1:5. I. Special consideration will be given to 1TI 5:17. Some have tried to use this verse to prove two classes of elders in N.T. churches: ruling elders and teaching elders. 1. “They” is a pronoun; its antecedent is “elders.” 2. “Especially” is an adverb, modifying “Let...be counted...” 3. Thus, there is only one office or class of elder: ruling elders, some of whom are particularly noted as ruling well. a. There may be some elders who rule better than others. GAL 2:11-12. b. An elder might be particularly noted as ruling his own house well (1TI 3:4) and, as such, has a family to feed. c. Such well-rulers should be counted worthy of double honour, especially the ones who labour in the word and doctrine: it is their bread and butter. (1) Their life’s work is study and teaching: they have the most on the line as opposed to an elder who has a secular job with contracted compensation. (2) They feed on the word of God to better feed spiritual things to God’s people in hope that God’s people will respect that and honor them accordingly. 1TI 5:18 c/w 1CO 9:9-11. d. NOTE: the O.T. system of a teaching priesthood which was maintained in part by the sin offerings of the people (and which was a potential source of corruption by indulgences, HOS 4:7-8) is not part of N.T. ministry. Yet, there remains the evil tendencies of fools to intentionally support errant ministers and of ministers who tickle their ears for filthy lucre’s sake. 2TI 4:3; TIT 1:10-11. J. The apostles were the prime ministers of King Jesus, the Head of the church. The royal authority to declare Christ, build and order His nation was first to them. MAT 28:19-20. 1. Of all the apostles, Paul is the preeminent model for ministry. He understood The Church 6-9-24 Page 21  himself as being an ambassador for Christ, not for a church or denominational system. 2CO 5:20. 2. Paul wrote the pastoral epistles to his ordained ministers, instructing them to follow and promote his teaching and example in their ministries. 1TI 3:14-15; 2TI 3:10-11; 1CO 4:16-17. 3. Paul sets forth the continuation of ministry from himself: qualified men should be vetted and ordained by a minister in succession of Paul. TIT 1:5-9; 2TI 2:1-2. a. This is the biblical order for ministerial perpetuation: an ordained minister of a local church vetting and ordaining a minister to continue Paul’s doctrine and example in a local church. Scripture knows nothing of a seminary to train a professional class of ministers. b. NOTE: In the seminary model, one corrupt leader-teacher may produce multiple corrupt ministers at one time who can infect many churches. In the biblical model, the potential spread of corruption is much more limited. The Church 6-9-24 Page 22