Biblical Church Government: What is Right, What is Wrong
Posted: Saturday, January 07, 2012
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The church of the Bible is the kingdom of God. It is a spiritual kingdom. Even though God is the supreme ruler which fit’s the category as a Monarchy, he has placed the church (kingdom) in the hands of his son, Jesus until the end of time. The following passages explain this:
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For "He has put all things under His feet." But when He says "all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28 NKJV)
Now, on earth, Jesus has left instructions as to how the many congregations of his church shall be governed. Not with some great headquarters with numerous men of high authority but rather as follows. Each congregation is to be autonomous, not ruled by some other congregation, or group of men located outside the one congregation. The only authorized government in the bible is that consisting of elders (called elders, shepherds, presbyters, pastors) whose qualifications require them to be biblically sound and very knowledgeable of biblical instruction. They are not authorized to introduce any single thing into the work and worship of the congregation which is not specifically authorized in the holy writ. They are not given authority over the other individual members but are leaders, guiding the congregation in the true teaching of the word. They do have the God given authority to discipline unruly members of the group.
Other than the office of elders, there are two other authorized offices. That of the deacons, whose obligations are that of conducting the actual work and services of the congregation. And last, the position of preacher or speaker who are responsible for bringing the lessons and sermons to the people’s ears. The elders, deacons and preachers are supposed to be well versed in the scriptures and living an exemplary life before the people. The elders and the deacons are always mentioned as a plurality, and to have only one person in either of those positions is unauthorized.
Considering the limited authority given to these congregational leaders, it can hardly be considered an actual government. But they do have authority to enforce biblical instruction observation for the congregation so they might be considered an oligarchy (which means governed by a few). None of those who fill these congregational offices have the authority to introduce or enforce any doctrine or activity which is not in harmony with the dictates of the bible.
So in essence, the Lord’s church or kingdom, is governed by a single personage, that of Jesus Christ himself, and will be so, until all things be put under his feet, and at this time he will surrender the kingdom to the Father.
This Article has been viewed 215 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.