Church Government According to the Bible. Simon V. Goncharenko

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51. Potter, Church Government, 95, 101. Thus, inherent in the episcopal structure is the idea of different levels of ministry or different degrees of ordination (Erickson, Christian Theology, 1070).

52. Erickson, Christian Theology, 1070. Bishops are a quasi-independent body of teachers/overseers. There are differences among the denominations that practice some type of episcopal polity. In the Eastern Orthodox churches, the patriarch of Constantinople is primus inter pares (first among equals) and together with four other patriarchs, forms a pentarchy. Scandinavian Lutheranism has retained the title and office of “bishop,” but with less than clear claims to apostolic succession. In Methodism, the bishop is consecrated but not ordained, without apostolic succession, and functions with and through the annual conference. Garrett, Systematic Theology, 585.

53. A notion that can be traced back as far as the late second to early third centuries a.d. when Irenaeus of Lyons and Tertullian argued in their respective writings that apostolic succession was verifiable since there existed lists of bishops. See Irenaeus, “Irenaeus: Against Heresies,” 5.20.2; Tertullian, “Prescription against Heretics,” 32. However, not every denomination that follows an episcopal structure affirms apostolic succession. Some would prefer the term “historic episcopate,” believing this to be the primitive model, yet recognizing that they cannot actually historically trace such a succession to the first and second generations of church leadership. See Brand and Norman, Perspectives on Church Government, 298; Saucy, Church in God’s Program, 106. The Anglican Church’s understanding of early ecclesiastical structures is largely shaped by its own form of government, which was inherited from the Roman Catholic Church. As a result of its determination to find biblical support for its own structure, the Anglican Church can miss the unique nature of the early years of the church. So when the apostles are involved in ordaining ministers, matters of church discipline, or restoration of repentant church members, the Anglican position sees only the authority possessed by the apostles to command such actions, completely missing the vital role that the local church played in each situation and the care with which the apostles exhorted the church, rather than ruling over them. Unfortunately, this thinking runs counter to passages like Eph 2:19–22, which plainly state that Christ’s job, along with those of the apostles and prophets, was to erect a solid foundation for the new building—the church. Chapter 4 will discuss apostolic succession further.

54. Hooker, “Seventh Book,” 7.1.4.

55. Garrett, Systematic Theology, 585. By the laying on of hands in the ceremony of ordination, the authority of the apostles has been transmitted down through history to today’s bishops. See Erickson, Christian Theology, 1071.

56. Hooker, “Seventh Book,” 7.4.4.

57. Dana and Sipes, Manual of Ecclesiology, 145.

58. “The Church is in the bishop” (Cyprian, “Epistles of Cyprian,” 68.8).

59. Garrett, Systematic Theology, 585.

60. Potter, Church Government, 102. Thus the bishops are not chosen from below, but from above.

61. “Whether or not the positions of James and Timothy and Titus were actually taken by the early church as the link between apostolic superintendence and that of the later bishop,” Saucy points out, “this office does gradually appear around the turn of the first century, first in Asia Minor, and a generation later in the West. Appearing first as more or less a headship among equals, it develops into a position of independent supremacy during the second and third centuries. Instrumental in bringing this about were the needs of the church. The bishop provided a unifying factor amid churches of diversified character, many of which were suffering persecution. As an authoritative doctrinal voice, he was also a safeguard against heretical intrusions. And finally, there was the practical need for someone to represent the churches of one locality in communicating with others. According to Episcopalians, these needs were met through the guidance of the Spirit by the establishment of this form of government” (Saucy, Church in God’s Program, 108).

62. Potter, Church Government, 117. They also view the seven angels of the seven churches in Rev 2–3 to be seven bishops who presided in the seven principal cities of the proconsular Asia.

63. Potter, Church Government, 181–82.

64. Potter, Church Government, 8.

65. Ibid., 8–9.

66. Ibid., 184–85.

67. Ibid., 10.

68. According to O. C. Quick, “it is recognized that if an ordained minister is not available, a layman or woman should preform [sic] the rite [of baptism] in case of need” (Quick, “Doctrine of the Church of England,” 126).

69. Potter, Church Government, 225–26.

70. Ibid., 297.

71. Erickson, Christian Theology, 1074, emphasis mine.

72. Clowney, “Presbyterianism,” 530. For another exhaustive source on Presbyterianism, see Hodge, Discussions in Church Polity.

73. Clowney, “Presbyterianism,” 530.

74. For a detailed explanation of this office and its correlation with the offices of pastor and overseer, see chapter 3.

75. Luke 15:25; John 8:9; 1 Tim 5:1; Matt 16:21; 21:23; 26:3, 47; 27:1, 3, 12, 20, 41; 26:57; Acts 11:30; 14:23; 15:2, 4, 6, 22; 16:4; 1 Tim 5:17, 19; Titus 1:5; Jas 5:14, to list a few.

76. Reymond, “Presbytery-Led Church,” 92. They support this assertion with Paul’s intertwining usages of the words in Acts 20:17 and 20:28; 1 Tim 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9; Phil 1:1; 1 Pet 5:1–2, pointing out that although episkopountes is a variant reading, the very fact that many manuscripts include it gives evidence that many adult Christians in the early church believed that “elders” were also “overseers.”

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