Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

The Acts of the Apostles

word “all.” The elders are responsible to protect all the sheep—the whole flock, not just their favorite portion of the flock. None must be neglected, for all are precious. The word all points out the difference between the elder’s role and the role of others who also faithfully min ister in the local flock: the elder’s role entails the overall management of the entire flock, not just a part of it. Like every other member of the congregation, an elder will have personal interest in and involvement with a specific ministry such as a small group Bible study, music, youth, Sunday School, counseling, missions, or evangelistic outreach. These ministries have a limited number of people and responsibilities to attend to, and one does not need to be an elder to do them. But the role of the church elder in volves the individual and corporate responsibility to care for the whole flock with all its people, programs, and problems. So most elders carry a number of specific responsibilities, as well as the responsibility of the body of elders to assume the overall management of the entire flock. Not everyone qualifies for this responsibility (1 Tim. 3:1-13). It is a heavy load that few men care to accept. The Elders’ Divine Commission Having stated his main charge to “guard the flock,” Paul goes on to reinforce it in the rest of verse 28 and verses 29-31. In typical Pauline fashion, he explains the underlying doctrinal bases for his command to guard the flock: the Spirit’s sovereign will, the immense value of the Church, the Cross of Jesus Christ, and the inevitable onslaught of false teachers. Paul reminds the elders that it was God, the Holy Spirit, who made them overseers for the express purpose of pastoring the flock. The verb “made” comes from the Greek word tithémi, which generally means “put” or “placed.” In this case the translation “placed” or “set” seems to fit the context best: the local flock they are to guard is the very one the Holy Spirit placed them in as overseers. The verb’s middle voice expresses the wonderful truth that the Holy Spirit did this for His own wise purposes.29 Moreover, the verb is used in the New Testa ment to indicate a special theological sense of divine appointment or placement (Acts 13:47; 1 Tim. 1212; 2Tim. 127,1 1). This is clearly the intent in 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul writes, “But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired” (12: 18;

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