Perpetuity of the Eldership

Text: Ephesians 4:11-16

Series: Restoration Sermons

Date:

Speaker: Ed Rangel

Location: Waupaca Church of Christ

Bible Version: NASB 1995

Sermon Type: Expository

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. Show that the eldership was not a temporary, miraculous office.
2. Argue that since the elders' work continues, the eldership continues.
3. See that to discontinue elders is to change God's order for the church.

Thesis

The eldership did not pass away with the age of miraculous gifts; because elders were not inspired men but qualified men, because their work of feeding and ruling the flock is still needed, and because God ordained the office and never repealed it, the eldership continues for all time.

Burden

Some have treated the eldership as a relic of the church's "infancy" — a temporary scaffolding for the age of miracles, to be folded up once the New Testament was complete. This outline answers that this gets it exactly backwards. The miraculous gifts were the temporary thing; the eldership was being firmly established just as the gifts were fading, precisely so the church could be governed and fed in its mature, ordinary state. To do away with elders is not to graduate beyond them but to dismantle God's own order for His church. The burden of this lesson is to settle that the eldership is permanent — and so to press churches not to neglect or abolish what God meant to last.

Introduction

The church first existed in its infant state — the period of miraculous power, before the New Testament was complete. Then it passed into its mature state of ordinary powers, after the New Testament was finished, growing up "to a mature man" as the gifts gave way to the completed word (Eph. 4:11-16). The outline argues that the eldership belongs to that mature, permanent state, under five heads: the work of elders, that not all elders were inspired, God's form of government, elders as men of age and experience, and the warning not to change God's order.

I. The Work of Elders Continues (Ephesians 4:11-16)

1. Elders are to feed the flock.
2. They are to govern or rule it.
3. This work is needed today as much as ever — the flock still needs feeding and oversight; therefore men are still needed to do this kind of work. An office whose work remains cannot itself be obsolete.

II. Not All Elders Were Inspired (1 Timothy 3:1-7)

The key argument against treating the eldership as temporary:

1. All inspired persons have ceased — the age of inspiration is past.
2. But no one can prove that all elders were inspired.
3. Inspiration is not one of the qualifications of an elder (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9) — the outline lists name character, not miraculous gifts.
4. "Elder" is not named among the miraculous gifts (1 Cor. 12:28-30). It stands in a different category altogether.

So the eldership cannot have ceased with the miraculous gifts, because it was never one of them.

III. God's Form of Government (1 Peter 5:2-3)

1. The government of the early church was vested in the eldership under Christ.
2. So ask: if the elders ceased, did God's form of government cease? And if not, who is divinely appointed to administer it instead? No one — which means the eldership did not cease.
3. Tellingly, as the spiritual gifts were about to disappear, the eldership was being fully established — the permanent replacing the temporary, not the reverse.
4. Their qualifications were given to guide the selection of elders for all time (1 Tim. 3; Titus 1) — a standing standard implies a standing office.
5. The very existence of elders by the close of the New Testament shows they did not cease.

IV. Elders Were Men of Age and Experience (Acts 11:30)

1. Elders are not mentioned in the New Testament until the time for their development — the church needed time to season the men.
2. The church was established about A.D. 33; about a decade later a famine struck Judea.
3. Paul and Barnabas brought relief to the elders (Acts 11:30) —
4. and this is the first mention of elders, a dozen years in. The office appeared as soon as mature men were ready.
5. Elders still existed when the New Testament closed — the office outlasted the apostolic age, not the other way around.

V. A Man Must Not Change God's Order (Titus 1:5)

1. God required elders to be appointed in all the churches (Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23).
2. He never ordained that elders should be discontinued.
3. Therefore to discontinue them is to change the divine government of the church — a thing no man may do.
4. Their work must continue; hence the elders must continue. The conclusion is unavoidable.

Application

Do not imagine the church has "outgrown" elders. The temporary thing was the miraculous gift; the permanent thing is the shepherd. So two errors must be refused. The first is the notion that elders belonged only to the church's infancy and may now be dispensed with — Scripture says the opposite, establishing the eldership precisely as the gifts faded. The second is the practical neglect that lets the office quietly lapse, a church drifting on with no shepherds because it never bothered to develop and appoint them. God ordained elders for all time and never repealed the order; their work — feeding and ruling the flock — is needed as much today as in Ephesus. To keep God's order is to have, honor, and develop elders; to abolish them is to change what God set in place.

Conclusion

The eldership is permanent. It was no miraculous gift to fade with the apostolic age but the ordained government of the mature church, established as the gifts disappeared, defined by qualifications meant for all time. Its work continues, so it continues. Let no church change God's order by doing away with the shepherds He appointed.

Invitation

The Chief Shepherd appoints undershepherds because the flock is precious to Him — and you are precious to Him. Come into that flock today: believe on the Lord Jesus, repent of your sins, confess Him, and be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38), and be added to the church Christ purchased with His blood and watches over still. Come while we sing.

Word Study

Scripture Interlock Table

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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 56. Doctrinal audit: core-framework (the eldership is permanent, not a temporary miraculous office; elders were qualified, not necessarily inspired men; "elder" is not among the miraculous gifts; the office was established as the gifts faded and its qualifications were given for all time; to abolish elders is to change God's government); no correction. Sixth in the eldership group. Style audit: OCR cleanup; the famine date OCR'd "A.D. 41" corrected to A.D. 44 (the Judean famine under Claudius, the conventional date Boles intends; flagged). Source note: no primary-text line; Eph. 4:11-16 (cited in the intro) supplied as text and flagged. Supplied supporting references (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Cor. 12:28-30; 1 Pet. 5:2-3; Acts 20:28; 14:23) flagged; Boles' own citation (Acts 11:30) retained.