Previously I discussed the list of requirements put in the Bible for Elders.
Now there are two lines of thoughts with this:
1. All are required to be met.
2. This is a best case list. If a person has 19 of the 20, should that disqualify them?
Now I have previously admitted that I fit more into number one than two, and here is why.
The people (in my type of church at least) that take number two as their position only do it for a few of them, then there are the required ones in the list. These same people who think that the requirement of having just one wife is up for debate about what that really means, would NEVER appoint a women Elder because of that same scripture. I tend to take a very ‘legalistic’ view on these requirements because, as my friend put it, the purer your Eldership the purer your church.
I want a church to be as close to being in line with the Bible as possible, and to me this is an easy part to get right.
The argument to this is that by taking a strict view of this, you will disqualify many great leaders. And I say, “Why?” Just because a man isn’t qualified to be an Elder, what is stopping them from being a great leader of people? Plus I think this puts it up to God to appoint Elders.
The ‘one wife’ scripture for example, there is a lot of this that is out of control of the man in the marriage. Someone could be the greatest husband and have their wife leave. Then you have the ‘believing children’ scripture… this one will get a post of its own, but a person can be the greatest dad in the world and have their child walk away from the faith. These are places that only God really has control over.
Now the other caveat to this is that some will say, just because the person meets all the requirements doesn’t mean they should be an Elder. I agree fully. This, to me, is the starting point of a look for Elders and not the end. You start here and you will get a very small list of qualified men. Then you look at how these things played out. Did his children believe because of his parenting, or just because they (on their own) became believers. Did the man influence them to become believers in a great way? Is his ‘one wife’ part of a functional and happy marriage? Do you see teamwork in the marriage? Or do you see two people that seem to have just stuck it out together? To paraphrase a famous saying, the list of qualifications is not the end, it isn’t even the beginning of the end. However it is the end of the beginning.
[See All Post in This Series]
[Initially Written: 5.30.2009]