Fine-tuning some gray areas

Date:   8/7/2005 3:00:59 PM ( 19 y ago)

On the "offices" of overseer and deacon:

What offices? Although many English translations use the phrase "office of an elder" in 1 Timothy 3:1, the Greek literally says "... if anyone aspires to exercise oversight, he desires a good work", and in verse 8, "Likewise, deacons must...". If we want to know the full NT teaching on these servants of the church (deacon is from the Greek word for "bond servant"), we must consult many references, beginning with the Gospels. Jesus made it clear to his disciples that to lead is to serve, not dominate (Matthew 20:25-28, John 13:13-17).

In passages such as 1 Timothy 3 we read of the qualifications for overseers and deacons, including not only a high moral standard and good reputation within and without the church, but spiritual maturity and proper handling of the scriptures. One might conclude so far that these two groups are almost identical, yet we see them treated as separate in various passages such as Philippians 1:1, which actually lists three groups as composing the entire church: overseers, deacons, and saints. (Saints refers to all believers, with overseers, deacons, and the rest of the believers as subgroups).

Both overseers and deacons serve the church, but only overseers are charged with guarding it, while deacons are serving in other ways (technically, anything that is done for the church as a group could be considered "service", so that anyone so serving could be called a deacon if meeting the qualifications). Formerly I have always equated the commission of the Seven in Acts 6:1-6 with the formation of the "office of deacon", but increasingly I am moving to the position that this was no more the establishment of a church office than any other commissioning of specific believers for specific missions. Looking at the context here, it seems obvious that this was not a universal sanction but the solution of a local food distribution problem that the apostles could not be distracted with. At any rate, it is never referenced in any of the (surprisingly few) NT texts dealing specifically with church service.

We've already covered the male/female issue before so I won't repeat that here, but clearly our attitude toward gender issues in the church is heavily influenced by our perception of church structure. If we keep the NT model in view, many of these problematic areas become much less so. After all, it could be argued that throughout church history more women than men have been servants of the church, and we see glimpses of this even in the NT when the idea of the equal woman was unheard of in almost all societies.

But the point I want to make here is that the NT church knows nothing of hierarchy, domination, or centralized rule. The authority of the church is Jesus, whose words are recorded in the Gospels, and whose teachings were given to the church through hand-picked apostles (the NT epistles). Those who know the teachings and live them are called to lead and protect those who are new in the faith or have not yet grown to the point where they can stand alone. Those who do not know the Word are to learn from those who do (and therefore are expected to grow!). This is the ONLY kind of hierarchy the NT knows for the church.

 

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