elder vs. elders?

[thistle93]

Hi! As I look through Scripture it seems to always mentions elders and not elder? Is it Biblical to just have one elder in the church? I come from a baptist tradition which seems to accept the singular elder policy. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Matthew Wilson

For His Glory-
matthew

 

[southern]

thistle93 stated:

Hi! As I look through Scripture it seems to always mentions elders and not elder? Is it Biblical to just have one elder in the church? I come from a baptist tradition which seems to accept the singular elder policy. Would love to hear your thoughts.

I would not say that it is a sin to have one elder anymore than it is a sin for a church to be without a pastor. However, it is my understanding that both of these situations while not sin per se are abnormal to the ideal we see presented in scripture.

Here is an answer I give on another message board to someone arguing that the only reason the churches in the New Testament had a plurality is because of their size.
-------------
"This is a common argument used by some of my personal friends whom I love in the Lord. I am interested how you would go about proving that in the scriptures plurality was formed because of the size of the church.

Let me recap what I have already stated. A.)There is not one church listed in the entire NT that had a lone elder. B.)The churches that are listed display a plurality of elders. You seem to imply that this is only because of its size. I, on the other hand, explain that C.)this was a result of obeying the very command from the Apostles who commanded a plurality as one of the very means of 'setting in order' the church (Tit. 1:5;Acts 14:23). They were to appoint elders (plural) in every location (singular). Putting aside our difference of interpretation on Titus 1:5/Acts 14:23, this is exactly what we see as the fruit of the Apostles work in scripture (see B above). Which is why I stated that the natural understanding of Titus 1 and Acts 24 is a plurality in each church."

This cumulative evidence appears to me to be convincing compared to the view that A.)a lone elder is normative (which the scriptures give not one example of) and that B.)a plurality is added only as the need arises (again with not one scriptural example or command)."

--------------------

I would suggest reading Sam Waldron's contribution to the book "Who Runs The Church:Four Views On Church Government" (Counterpoints:Church Life).

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

I agree with Pastor Bobby Crenshaw.

 

[raekwon]

Check out Phil Newton's "Elders In Congregational Life." It's an excellent defense and exposition of the role of elders (with an 's') in Baptist congregations.

 

[jwithnell]

In addition to the plural references to elders you have the general principals of "wisdom in the counsel of many" and the fallen nature of all humans. With plural elders, you have restraint or to use a civics phrase, a system of checks and balances. We see a great sense of "submitting to one another" amongst the elders in our church.

 

[southern]

raekwon stated:

Check out Phil Newton's "Elders In Congregational Life." It's an excellent defense and exposition of the role of elders (with an 's') in Baptist congregations.

This is an excellent book brother. I have a friend that is a member of Pastor Newton's church and can say that he writes not from an ivory tower but from many years of attempting to practice the things he writes about.

I think the only issue that would differ from the book I recommended above is the issue of 'Parity of Elders'. If I recall correctly, "Elder's in Congregational Life" does not take a 'Parity' of the elders position to the same degree. However, all in all this book is great.

Pastor Newton also lists a number of contributive historical reasons for the decline of Elders in Baptist life in the late 1800's to 1900's. These are taken from a sermon by Paul Burleson (see pg. 151; footnote 24). One of which is the expansion of Baptist churches in the West with the single church planter/pastor often a circuit riding minister handling the bulk of duties with qualified male leadership scarce. I see this situation (ie One Pastor over many congregations) mentioned alot in historical records of the day.

I have heard others argue in a similiar fashion that many times people had to look to the deacons for leadership in times of not having a pastor and this tradition built out of necessity turned into practice without a scriptural basis. Now while I think there were many contributing factors, these are interesting to think about.

---------- Post added at 11:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 AM ----------

In addition to the plural references to elders you have the general principals of "wisdom in the counsel of many" and the fallen nature of all humans. With plural elders, you have restraint or to use a civics phrase, a system of checks and balances. We see a great sense of "submitting to one another" amongst the elders in our church.

Jwithnell,

If I knew how to 'thank' you for this I would. This is spot on.