There were at least four kinds of officers in the New Testament church: apostles, evangelists, overseers/elders, and deacons. The apostle and evangelist offices were temporary in order to establish the foundation for the church. The offices that continue to today are overseers/elders and deacons. An apostle could perform the roles of evangelist, elder, and deacon. An evangelist could perform the roles of elder and deacon. And an elder could perform the role of a deacon. Elders and deacons operated within a particular church, whereas the apostles and evangelists were officers for the whole church.
How are they chosen?
Elders:
Acts 14:23 – “they appointed elders in every church” or
“And when they had chosen for them, by suffrage [election], elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed” (Thomas Witherow, The Apostolic Church – Which is It? — this post is a summary of the best in his argument).
The verb translated appointed in this verse is often noted to mean to vote by stretching out the hand – in other words, the elders were elected by the people. The only other place this word occurs is 2 Corinthians 8:19:
“And not only that, but he [Titus] has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace….”
Here the meaning is clearly that Titus was chosen by the churches to travel with Paul as an evangelist. In any case, the evidence is slim…it is unclear if Paul and Barnabas chose the elders for the churches or if they oversaw the election of elders. Nevertheless, after the apostles are gone it should not be surprising that the people would elect elders. Moreover, the point was to discover the will of God – who had God chosen to lead this particular church. Witherow notes that even election was used for choosing a new apostle to replace Judas Iscariot (there together with straws to decide between the two chosen by election).
Deacons:
Acts 6:2-3 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.” (ESV)
Here it is clear that deacons were chosen by election from among the members.
How many are in each church?
Acts 14:23 – “they appointed [see above] elders in every church”
Note that there are elders – there is more than one elder in each church.
How are elders and deacons set apart (ordained) to the office?
Ordination is an act of the church: The laying on of hands by elders. This is not so controversial, it is very clear from the texts.
Where do we see the first example of a gathering of elders above the local session of elders?
Acts 15: Paul and Barnabas tried to convince the local church that you did not need to be circumcised in order to be saved. The local church appointed Paul and Barnabas and some of the others
“to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.”
“The apostles and elders were gathered together to consider this matter.”
The apostles and elders had the church in Jerusalem
“to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.”
And they sent them with a letter. The church asking for a ruling on the matter received the letter with joy.
Acts 16:4 As they [Paul and Timothy] went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. (ESV)
Thus a local session of elders can appeal to an assembly of elders.
The Test
In what system of government are the officers elected by the members of the congregation, have a plurality of elders in each local church, ordain officers by a plurality of elders, can appeal to an assembly of elders who exercise government at a level above the session of elders in the local church, and the only head of the church is Jesus Christ?
The three options:
Monarchical (Hierarchical) Rule by a Sacred Leader (pastor, pope, etc.)
Congregational Rule by Congregation (pure democracy)
Presbyterian Rule by Elders (session of elders)
It is worth noting that some congregations are presbyterian at the level of the congregation but not organized into presbyteries. And other denominations may be presbyterian without the word presbyterian in their title.
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