Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Bible-Based Leadership Structure

0 Peter directly charges elders to pastor and oversee the local congregation (1 Peter 521,2).

0 Peter warns elders against being too authoritative (1 Peter 5:3).

0 Peter promises elders that when the Lord Jesus returns they will receive “the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4).

0 Peter exhorts elders to be clothed in humility (1 Peter 5:5).

0 Paul reminds the Ephesians elders that the Holy Spirit placed them in the church as overseers to pastor the church of God (Acts 20:28). 0 Paul exhorts elders to guard the church from false teachers (Acts 20:28) and to be alert to the constant threat of false doctrine (Acts 20:31).

0 Paul reminds elders to work hard, help the needy, and be generous like the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:35).

0 Paul exhorts elders to live at peace with the congregation (1 Thess. 52 1 3).

These instructions contradict scholars who try to define the role of the New Testament elder by the Old Testament, Jewish elder.8 Since, as these scholars see it, Old Testament elders were primarily rulers and judges, they conclude that Christian elders should be church rul ers rather than teachers and pastors. Of course there are legitimate and instructive parallels between Old and New Testament elders, but the apostolic elder is not the Old Testament elder in a new age. To try to define the New Testament elder (Pauline elder) by the Old Testament elder or the Jewish synagogue elder (of which we know very little) is to distort the New Testament’s teachings on eldership. The work and qualifications of the Christian elder are more clearly defined than those of the Old Testament elder. New Testament, Christianized elders are not mere representatives of the people; they are, as the passages above show, spiritually quali fied shepherds who protect, lead, and teach the people. They provide

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