First Century AD: How Should the Church Be Structured?
- Congregational? (Baptists, Congregationalists)
- Presbytery? (Presbyterians)
- Church hierarchy with bishops? (Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, etc.)
Possible Church Offices Mentioned in Scripture:
Apostles, Deacons, Elders/Presbyters, Overseers/Bishops, Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists, Prophets, etc.
New Testament Evidence
Jesus in the Gospels: no specific commands on church structure beyond giving “authority” to the disciples and/or the whole church
Acts 1-5
- Disciples as leaders
- Peter as spokesman
- Peter consults with and includes the whole congregation in most examples of decision-making
Acts 6: Institution of “Deacons”
- Seems like a practical, in-the-moment decision to deal with a particular problem, not the creation of an office in response to a divine mandate on the subject of church structure
Acts 15: The Council of Jerusalem
- James has taken the place of Peter as head of Jerusalem church
- Though the whole congregation is consulted, James’ leadership style shows a shift towards a power structure: “It is my judgment…” (v.19)
- A group of “elders” led the church
- Paul lists other roles, such as “prophet,” “evangelist,” and so on, but these seem to be the natural exercise of spiritual gifts rather than structured “offices” in the church
Paul’s Later Churches (1&2 Timothy, Titus)
- A two- or three-tiered structure emerges:
1.) Overseers/bishops (1 Tim. 3:1-7)
2.) “Elders” – although these might be the same as overseers (1 Tim. 5:1-20)
3.) Deacons (1 Tim. 3:8-13)
- Note: the descriptions of these offices in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus are “descriptive” rather than “prescriptive”—that is, they don’t list specific commands or authority structures, but only character-qualifications for the offices already in use.
After the New Testament
- Continued shifts lead to a firm three-tiered structure:
1.) Bishops (overseers)
2.) Presbyters/Priests (derived from elders)
3.) Deacons
- This authority structure becomes very top-down and hierarchical by the 2nd century
Ignatius of Antioch’s description of church offices, c.100 AD
“Be eager to do everything in godly harmony, the bishop presiding in the place of God and the presbyters (elders) in the place of the council of the apostles, and the deacons, since they have been entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ.” – Epistle to the Magnesians, 6:1
“Let everyone respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, just as they should respect the bishop, who is a model of the Father, and the presbyters as God’s council and as the band of the apostles. Without these no group can be called a church.” – Epistle to the Trallians, 3:1
“The one who honors the bishop has been honored by God; the one who does anything without the bishop’s knowledge serves the devil.” – Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, 9:1
“Pay attention to the bishop, in order that God may pay attention to you.”- Epistle to Polycarp, 6:1
These quotes are a good example of the increasing power structure of the church government in Ignatius’ day, but it also needs to be remembered that Ignatius was emphasizing this particular issue so much because it wasn’t being practiced—that is to say, there were groups of Christians in Ignatius’ day who practiced forms of church government that didn’t emphasize the role of bishop to the same extent, and he was arguing against those forms of church structure. (Although Ignatius’ opinion is instructive and worth considering, it is not Scripture, and so we do not have to agree with his interpretation.)
Summary
- In the New Testament itself, there are very few direct commands about church structure
- Instead, what we see is a diversity of options in the different churches—from Peter’s model, to James’, to Paul’s early and late churches
- We also see changes being made over time, not because of God commanding a certain authority structure, but simply to meet the needs of the moment (i.e., a practical philosophy of church structure: exercise the appropriate spiritual gifts in the structure of offices that works best for your particular church)
- We Baptists hold a “congregational polity” for a theological reason—we believe that the Holy Spirit abides in all believers equally, and all are equally part of God’s “kingdom of priests,” and thus all should have an equal say in the life of the local church. So although we have some of the same offices as other denominations—pastors and deacons (and in some churches, elders)—our power structure is “bottom-up” rather than “top-down”.