QUALIFICATIONS OF ELDERS.
NO PERSON is naturally qualified to render acceptable service to God. Converting grace alone can renew our fallen natures so that we can yield that loving obedience which God justly requires. “The carnal mind [the fleshly or natural mind] is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. There is only one means whereby this enmity can be removed, and its opposite, love and peace, be made to take its place. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:1. But a complete willingness to serve God may be accompanied with a very limited ability to serve him. A man who is thoroughly converted may be perfectly willing to preach the gospel, and yet not have any of the qualifications necessary for an acceptable preacher. He has yet very many things to learn before he is competent to instruct others. He may have laid a good foundation for a Christian character by obtaining the “precious faith,” but to this he must add the Christian graces. 2 Peter 1:1, 5-7. The graces have to be cultivated; the work of overcoming is yet before him. A man may be truly converted who is yet quite ignorant of the general teachings of the Scriptures; ignorant in regard to duty, and to what constitutes true Christian character. To a certain degree this is the case with all young Christians. For this reason we are exhorted to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18. If this be true (and no one will dispute it), then it must be evident to all that any and every person needs instruction and experience to be fitted to exercise the duties of an officer in the church. And the Scriptures show this to be true, and prove themselves adapted to our wants in this respect, by pointing out the qualifications of church officers, and laying down rules whereby one may become fitted to discharge the duties of his office. And in this is also seen that it is a vain excuse for any one to plead exemption from the responsibilities of an office because he is not qualified to discharge its duties. If there be first the ability to acquire knowledge, and the power and disposition for self-culture, and faith to trust in the promises of God that we may receive grace to help in time of need, and a spirit of consecration to the cause and work of God, no pre-requisite is lacking for becoming an efficient officer in the church. We say these are the pre-requisites; the requisites are a knowledge of and conformity to the rules laid down in the Scriptures. But it is objected that the servant of God should not depend upon learning, or study; he should be fitted up by the Holy Ghost as the disciples were on the day of Pentecost. Well, if the objector has been three and a half years in the service, under the immediate personal instruction and direction of the Lord Jesus, and only needs the illuminating influence of the Holy Spirit to bring the words of the Lord to his remembrance (John 14:26), as was the case with the apostles, then we may allow that he has but little need of any further education. At first view it may be thought that the experience of Paul was not at all parallel to that of the other apostles, as he was converted by revelation of the Lord. But (1) Paul had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures before his conversion. He was an educated man. It needed only that he should be enlightened in regard to the application of the words of Moses and the prophets,—that he should become convinced that Jesus whom he persecuted was the Messiah,—and he could readily preach the gospel in a manner to confound the opposers. (2) Although he did boldly proclaim in Damascus that Jesus was the Messiah, he retired into Arabia and remained there three years before he fully entered upon the work of his ministry. This time he probably spent in study and in communion with his divine Master. Timothy knew the Scriptures from his childhood; yet Paul exhorted him to study to show himself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed; and in furtherance of this object, he said to him: “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.” While general education is not by any means to be depreciated, and some knowledge of books is absolutely necessary to doing efficient service in the cause of God, our chief study must be of the Holy Scriptures, which only are able to make us wise unto salvation; and our chief reliance upon the Spirit of God, not only to impress the word of truth forcibly upon our understandings, but to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts (Rom. 5:5), without which we ourselves shall be nothing, and in our profession and our labors will be sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. The apostle Paul, to whom “the care of all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28) seemed to be specially committed, gave to Timothy a complete list of the points which qualify an elder to fill his office. The term used in our version is “bishop” (1 Tim. 3:2); Dr. Schaff, Bible Dictionary, says: “The original Greek word means overseer. . . . In the N. T. the term is synonymous with presbyter or elder.” The shade of difference which is sometimes claimed is of no practical importance. Dr. Smith, Dictionary of the Bible, says the Greek word had been used as a title of office before the time of the New Testament. He also says that the term episkopos, bishop, is equivalent to presbuteros, elder. It is conceded that in 1 Tim. 3:1-7 are given the qualifications of the officer which by us is known as the elder of the church. The apostle says that he who desires the office of a bishop desires a good work. The word rendered good has also the signification of honorable; worthy, in James 2:7. Let the elders bear in mind that it is the work, not the honor, which they should desire. It is not said that the office is honorable, but the work; it is the work that gives honor to the office. The position or office can bring honor to no one if the work is neglected, or if it is not faithfully discharged. The rendering in Acts 20:28, overseer, compare 1 Pet 5:2, is correct and very suggestive. An overseer is one who takes charge of a work or of laborers; whose duty it is to see that the work is done in a proper manner, and that the laborers are faithful in the performance of their work. No less than this is required of an elder. It is evident, then, that an elder should be so related to the church that he can take the oversight of its work and its members. He must of necessity know how the work ought to be performed. He must understand the plan of the work, the ability of the workers, and be always ready to judge between that which is done well and that which is poorly done. A great responsibility rests upon him. And this leads to the notice of a question. Members of a certain church asked advice concerning the following, as the state of their church: The elder moved away, to such a distance that he could have no personal knowledge of the condition of the church or the walk of its members. He could not attend their regular meetings; perhaps could attend the quarterly meetings, but seldom at other times. But they had been unable to elect another, as he refused to resign his office, and had obtained that influence over certain members which prevented the church taking any action in the case. What was to be done? Our advice was, Appeal to your Conference for help. The person who does as is stated above is walking disorderly, and should be dealt with accordingly. He is not doing the work assigned to him; he is not feeding the flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet 5:2), and he stands in the way of others doing the work. He is not seeking the welfare of the church and the upbuilding of the cause, but is seeking self-exaltation at the expense of the work. Such a course is calculated to distract and divide, and is every way worthy of censure. We presume that this is an extreme case, and we hope that there are very few cases where the strength of our language will apply. But we have spoken decidedly and in strong terms that all may avoid the approach to such an evil. We have said, and we believe, that an elder ought to have as watchful oversight of his church as a teacher has of his school. If a teacher should habitually absent himself from his school, and neglect his scholars, steps should be taken to put a more faithful one in his place. If he cannot attend to the duties of his position, he should promptly give notice, that the want may be supplied. But if he cannot attend to his duties, and takes a course to prevent another from attending to them, we readily conclude that he is an enemy to the school, and takes no interest in the welfare of the scholars. To this all must agree; and the application to our subject is evident. Beside the important suggestion contained in the title overseer, we find no less than sixteen specifications in 1 Tim. 3:1-7 of the qualifications of an elder. And it is worthy of remark that in every case where we have called the attention of elders to this fact, surprise has been expressed that there are so many, which shows that the points in this enumeration have not been as generally and thoroughly studied as they should be. On the occasion of an election we almost always hear the officer elect express his sense of unfitness, of a lack of qualifications for the office and the work. But few could tell in just what that unfitness consists, and what are the requisites in a fitting up to the work. Why not, then, carefully study this enumeration, and learn wisdom from the word, and try to bring themselves into conformity to its requirements? We will next briefly consider the points in their order.