Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Peter ’s Instruction to the Asian Elders

are figuratively called “the flock [poimnion] of God among you.” What makes this flock special is that it is God’s flock. It is His precious possession—the sheep He owns, cares for, and loves. As Paul reminded the Ephesian elders, this flock is the one “He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). So elders must never forget that the flock is not their own, and they should never be indifferent toward a single one of His sheep. Cranfield draws out the implications of this truth when he writes, “A church that could be ours would be only a false church. So the sheep are not ours for us to use or misuse as we like. If we lose one, we lose another’s property, not our own; and He is not indifferent to what becomes of His flock.”4 The flock metaphor signifies the Church’s true ownership and rec ognizes its dependence and need for feeding, protection, and care. Other images that describe the Church, however, express the Church’s strength and splendor. So the image of the Church as a flock must not be iso lated from other biblical images such as pillar and support of the truth, holy priesthood, the temple of God, household of God, body of Christ, holy nation, etc. To isolate one image from the others is to misrepre sent the biblical message. Misuse of the shepherd-flock metaphor, for example, has resulted in tragic abuse of people. It has been used to justify the imperial pastor and to limit God’s people nearly to the sta tus of dumb sheep who are totally dependent on the pastor. This is not what Scripture intends. Each metaphor emphasizes a particular aspect of God’s Church and, of course, is limited in its ability to portray all dimensions of the Church. When these diverse images are placed to gether, however, they set forth a balanced and glorious picture of the Church’s multidimensional nature. Following the imperative command to shepherd God’s flock, Peter further describes the elders’ duty: “Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight.” He uses the participle episkopountes, which means “exercising oversight.” This participle comes from the Greek verb, episkopeo’, which corresponds to the noun episkopos, meaning “overseer.”5 The terms shepherding and overseeing are often closely associated because they are similar in concept.6 In this passage, overseeing is equivalent to shepherding. Shepherding is the figurative expression for governance, while overseeing is the literal term, which can be used to clarify the first. To shepherd the flock entails oversight—the overall supervision and watchful care of the flock. Of the two terms,

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