Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

The Acts of the Apostles

in many cases the comparative force disappears and presbyteros simply means “old” or “old man.” The term presbyteros also carries a twofold sense as a designation for age and a title for office. In a few contexts it is hard to know which of these designations is intended, but in most cases the intended meaning is clear. Depending on the context, then, presbyteros can mean: (1) “older man” or “old man,” as in 1 Timothy 521: “Do not sharply rebuke an older man [presbyteros].” (2) a title for a community official, an “elder,” as in 1 Timothy 5217: “Let the elders [presbyteroi] who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.” Although the strict sense of advanced age is eliminated from the meaning of elder when referring to a community leader, certain connotations such as maturity, experience, dignity, authority, and honor are retained. Thus the term elder conveys positive concepts of maturity, respect, and wisdom. When presbyteros is used of a community leader, it is most commonly used in the plural form, presbyteroi. This is because the elder structure of leadership is leadership by a council of elders. Jerusalem was the first center and hub of Christianity. It was also home base for the twelve apostles. But by AD. 41, the gospel message had expanded to the great city of Antioch in Syria, the third largest city of the Roman empire (Acts 1 1219-22). Antioch lay 310 miles north of Jerusalem. Unlike the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch comprised both Jews and a large population of Gentiles. It was, as RF. Bruce says, “the citadel of Gentile Christianity.”3 Two of its leading teachers were Paul and Barnabas, the preeminent pioneers of the Gen tile gospel mission (Acts 1321-14227; Gal. 227-10). Trouble brewed between these two great centers of early Christian ity. In Jerusalem and Judea, legalistic, zealous Jews worried about Gentile salvation apart from the law and circumcision (Acts 15:5; 21 :20 26; Gal. 2: 1-12). Eventually some of these agitators made their way to Antioch. Their appearance prompted Luke’s second mention of the Jewish Christian elders: THEY JUDGE DOCTRINAL ISSUES

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