Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Paul ’s Instruction to Timothy

officially set aside to share as a helper in Paul’s commission in the gospel. The laying on of hands did not make Timothy the minister or bishop of a church or body of churches. Most likely, Timothy was unmarried and totally devoted to spreading and guarding the gospel as Paul’s special assistant (Acts 19:22). He was an evangelist (2 Tim. 425), a co-worker, and partner with Paul in the work of the gospel. Third, and closely associated with the prophecies and the laying on of Paul’s hands, was “the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” The significance of the elders’ action differed from that of Paul’s action. Paul and the prophetic word were the channels “through” (Greek, dia) which God conferred the “spiritual gift.” The laying on of the elders’ hands, Scripture shows, was done in association with (Greek, meta) Paul’s laying on of hands and the prophecies. Precisely what the lay ing on of the elders’ hands signified, however, is not explained. If we assume the act was similar in significance to that recorded in Acts 13:1-3, then the laying on of the elders’ hands was a public commis sioning by which the church entrusted Timothy to God’s care and to the work to which God had called him. By doing this, the elders iden tified themselves as partners with him and expressed full agreement with his special task. In accordance with the “prophetic utterance,” the elders, as public witnesses to that word and representatives of the church(es), placed their hands upon him. Timothy was to remember this act and not allow men to despise his labor or his youth. The word “presbytery” is a transliteration of the Greek word presbyterion, the collective noun for elders (presbyteroi). It would have been better if the New American Standard Bible had translated presbyterion as “eldership,” “council of elders,” or “body of elders,” since it renders the other two occurrences of presbyterion as council ofelders (Luke 22:66; Acts 2225). By using the collective noun elder ship, Paul stresses the elders’ official role and the significance of their act: the official body of church elders laid hands upon Timothy, pub licly affirming his special commission in the gospel, a fact he was never to forget. The elders referred to in this account were the elders Paul and Barnabas appointed on their first missionary journey. Again, not one elder, but the entire body of elders laid hands on Timothy. As commu nity leaders, their function was to represent the church in the commu nication of its approval and fellowship. Whether these elders were from one local church or several, the text doesn’t indicate.

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