Church government
*Just a reminder that this study of Wayne
Grudem's book, Systematic Theology, is not by any means me teaching, but rather
a simple summary chapter by chapter of his book for my own enrichment.*
Grudem starts by pointing out that this is a
minor issue, which we can agree in a friendly way to disagree, and even serve
in a church that has a different Protestant system of church government than
our own preference.
Let’s start with church officers.
They
have been publically recognized as having the right and responsibility to
perform certain functions for the benefit of the whole church.
This includes elders,
deacons, pastors, treasurer, moderator… and they are at some point ordained
into the church.
Apostles were something that
were in the start of the church, with a job to speak and write words which are
the “words of God.” So we take it that
this is not a job in continuance today, as the Bible is canonized and
closed. No one can add words to the
Bible and have them be counted as scripture.
The word Apostle is
used three times in the broad sense as a messenger or pioneer missionary, but
mostly used to speak of the actual first apostles, who had been chosen by
Christ and known by him.
No major leader in the
history of the church (Calvin, Augustine, Luther, Wesley, Whitfield) have
called themselves an apostle.
Elders A plurality of elders is the most common view
in the New Testament. (also called
pastors, bishops, overseers in the NT).
They should be able to teach, and responsible for shepherding the flock.
An elder should manage
their household well, tend the flock not for shameful gain but eagerly, govern
the church, teaching, ….1 Tim 3 has much more to say on the topic, and
candidates should be viewed in light of these qualifications.
Deacons is a term that means “servant,” and is also
mentioned in 1 Timothy 3. Their role is
not clearly mentioned, perhaps administrative, practical helpers, etc. The deacons and the elders should work
together, to allow the elder to focus on preaching and teaching, and together
care for the church body.
These church officers,
should be chosen or at least recognized by the whole congregation, as this is
the New Testament example, from Acts 6, Acts 1, Acts 15, etc. If the congregation is involved, then the
leaders also have a sense of accountability to their flock, and a government
works best when its people are in agreement over the leadership.
There are three forms
of church government that Grudem takes up:
Episcopalian: priesthood and authority from above their local church.
Presbyterian: government by elders, some local and some
over the local churches
Congregational: local authority and self-rule. Can have a board that makes decisions based
on the congregation, or pure congregational rule.
Should women be church
officers?
Grudems book,
Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, deals with this topic in much more
depth, but he wanted to bring up this question briefly here.
Men and women have
equal value, and the evangelical church has historically neglected to recognize
women’s involvement and participation in the church. However, the Bible does not permit women to
function in the role of pastor or elder within a church.
1 Tim 2: “I permit no woman to teach or to have
authority over men,” Paul points back
to the creation order of Adam and Eve, which in itself is overarching and adds authority
to his words, not just for that situation but as a moral value call.
1 Corinthians 14: this
passage prohibits women speaking (teaching) in the church.
1 Tim 3 and Titus
1: These passages assume elders to be
men.
The Bible speaks about
family roles, how a man is a the head of his home, and this connects to their roles
of the church.
Jesus set the example
by choosing male apostles, and this is a pattern of male leadership in the
highest governing authority of the church.
Throughout the Old Testament we see an example of male leadership with
the exception of Deborah, Athaliah, Huldah, etc. The “teachers” of the Old Testament, who
were priests, were only men.
In response to the
remark that “ministry should be determined by gifts, not by gender,” we should remember
that all things that are true and good fall within the guidelines of scripture.
There are so many things a women could and should be involved in in the church,
such as counseling, women’s ministries, Christian education, children’s
ministries, music, worship, campus student ministries, evangelism, ministry to
the poor, admin, etc.
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