Acts 14:23 and the New Testament Elder

The following is an excerpt from a study Jacob has been working on over the last 2 years about the New Testament Elder.

In Acts 14:23 (narrative, descriptive) we read that it was the Apostle Paul's pattern to appoint Christian elders within churches early on in the lifecycle of a church (1):

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

Here we can also observe the tremendous gift of God in providing for his people through eldership in a wide variety of geographic regions. Elders were not established to provide a ritual hierarchy in one locale only. Elders were given to the church for the benefit of the people of God across regional borders. Godly elders, as established in the pattern of the New Testament, are a blessing of high value across cultural boundaries. John Calvin puts the blessing of elders (he uses the word pastor) this way commenting on Acts 14:23:

Photo credit: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

“By this it appeareth sufficiently, that it is not enough if men have been once taught the doctrine of godliness, and to have [hold] the sum of faith, unless they go forward continually; therefore, Christ did not only send his apostles to preach the gospel, but he commanded also that there should be pastors appointed, that the preaching of the gospel might be perpetual and in daily use. Paul and Barnabas do mark that this order was set down by Christ, when they assigned pastors to every church, lest, after their departure, doctrine should cease and be whisht, (silent.) Furthermore, this place teacheth, that the Church cannot want an ordinary ministry, neither can any be counted Christians before God but those who, during their whole life, are willing to learn.” (2)

Calvin’s observation here is poignant regarding the intended benefit of elders for people of Christ. Much of the Christian life is learning. Learning to move further into the glorious realities of God's grace, mercy and love given through Christ. 

Ongoing learning necessitates teachers to assist and serve in the midst of the learning process. Calvin saw elders (pastors) as integral to the growth of the individual Christian. This point of importance, Calvin argues, is not from a philosophical origin, but from a patterned historical precedent. Paul and Barnabas and their practice as summarized in Acts 14:23 serves as the prime example for the Christian church. The responsibility of instructing God’s people was not the role of the Apostles in unending perpetuity. From the earliest years of the church, the plan for ongoing instruction, furthering of the gospel message, and care for the church was to propagate elders to teach, and guide. As Albert Barnes puts it, “watch over the spiritual interests of the brethren” (3). Part of the duties of elders in providing spiritual oversight was to teach Godly doctrine and to settle disputes and debates. 

As teachers and overseers, elders would have to be of utmost trustworthiness. In the absence of any other representative authority, it would be the elders who would guide, teach, and direct the life of the church. The last clause used in 14:23 denotes the trust that was put into these elders. Unless an interpreter attributes gross oversight or serious negligence on the part of Paul and Barnabas, we must follow that the elders appointed were for the benefit of the church in accord with the gospel spreading efforts. Any challenge to the practice of establishing elders within the church must be able to offer credible reasoning as to why this practice was so early on practiced via Apostolic commission and yet is now no longer applicable today. The text itself demonstrates that in the absence of the missionary team which helped to found the churches the people of the community of faith were to look to the locally appointed elders as their immediate source of oversight. A local church government was put in order, not as “Jerusalem’s puppet”, but instead as formational servants to encourage Christ-likeness among believers.

We can say summarily of the first two instances of the New Testament Elder being mentioned that this was a role of responsibility, and a role of benefit. The responsibility of the elders was towards the Lord Jesus and the people of his church, and the benefit of elders was for the building up of the community of faith. Any community that is without Godly elders is therefore missing out on a blessing that was early on practiced and proliferated among New Testament churches.

We see elders performing this role in the next several occurrences of the word elders in Acts 15. Five times in Acts 15 and 16 elders are mentioned explicitly, and their mentions are intertwined with mentions of the Jerusalem church and the Apostles in exercising oversight. While the elders are distinct enough from the apostles and the church to be worthy of their own grouping, they do not behave independently or in opposition to either the congregation or the apostles. The actions of the congregation, apostles, and elders are all communicated as a unified effort of the three named groups. Each of these five occurrences (15:2, 4, 6, 22, and 23) will be our focus for the next few pages (blog posts).

Footnotes:

(1) -  John Wesley commenting on this verse notes this as a pattern in the church for elders to be ordained early in their new life as Christians. He writes “Out of those who were themselves but newly converted. So soon can God enable even a babe in Christ to build up others in the common faith: they commended them to the Lord - An expression implying faith in Christ, as well as love to the brethren.” See John Wesley's Notes on the Whole Bible: New Testament by John Wesley under Acts 14:23.

(2) - See John Calvin’s commentary on Acts Vol 2 under Acts 14:23 notes.

(3) - See Albert Barnes New Testament notes on Acts 14:23.