Chapter 36

2. Officers of the Church.A. The number of offices in the church is two:—first, the office of bishop, presbyter, or pastor; and, secondly, the office of deacon.(a) That the appellations“bishop,”“presbyter,”and“pastor”designate the same office and order of persons, may be shown from Acts 20:28—ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν (cf. 17—πρεσβυτέρους); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2—πρεσβυτέρους ... παρακαλῶ ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος ... ποιμάνατε ποίμνιον ... ἐπισκοποῦντες. Conybeare and Howson:“The terms‘bishop’and‘elder’are used in the New Testament as equivalent,—the former denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter the rank, of the office.”See passages quoted in Gieseler, Church History, 1:90, note 1—as, for example, Jerome:“Apud veteres iidem episcopi et presbyteri, quia illud nomen dignitatis est, hoc ætatis. Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus.”Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”(b) The only plausible objection to the identity of the presbyter and the bishop is that first suggested by Calvin, on the ground of 1 Tim. 5:17. But this text only shows that the one office of presbyter or bishop involved two kinds of labor, and that certain presbyters or bishops were more successful in one kind than in the other. That gifts of teaching and ruling belonged to the same individual, is clear from Acts 20:28-31; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:7; 1 Tim. 3:2—ἐπίσκοπον διδακτικόν.1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.(c) In certain of the N. T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5). There is, however,[pg 916]no evidence that the number of elders was uniform, or that the plurality which frequently existed was due to any other cause than the size of the churches for which these elders cared. The N. T. example, while it permits the multiplication of assistant pastors according to need, does not require a plural eldership in every case; nor does it render this eldership, where it exists, of coördinate authority with the church. There are indications, moreover, that, at least in certain churches, the pastor was one, while the deacons were more than one, in number.Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.B. The duties belonging to these offices.(a) The pastor, bishop, or elder is:First,—a spiritual teacher, in public and private;Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”Secondly,—administrator of the ordinances;Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).Thirdly,—superintendent of the discipline, as well as presiding officer at the meetings, of the church.Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.(b) The deacon is helper to the pastor and the church, in both spiritual and temporal things.First,—relieving the pastor of external labors, informing him of the condition and wants of the church, and forming a bond of union between pastor and people.Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.Secondly,—helping the church, by relieving the poor and sick and ministering in an informal way to the church's spiritual needs, and by performing certain external duties connected with the service of the sanctuary.Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

2. Officers of the Church.A. The number of offices in the church is two:—first, the office of bishop, presbyter, or pastor; and, secondly, the office of deacon.(a) That the appellations“bishop,”“presbyter,”and“pastor”designate the same office and order of persons, may be shown from Acts 20:28—ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν (cf. 17—πρεσβυτέρους); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2—πρεσβυτέρους ... παρακαλῶ ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος ... ποιμάνατε ποίμνιον ... ἐπισκοποῦντες. Conybeare and Howson:“The terms‘bishop’and‘elder’are used in the New Testament as equivalent,—the former denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter the rank, of the office.”See passages quoted in Gieseler, Church History, 1:90, note 1—as, for example, Jerome:“Apud veteres iidem episcopi et presbyteri, quia illud nomen dignitatis est, hoc ætatis. Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus.”Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”(b) The only plausible objection to the identity of the presbyter and the bishop is that first suggested by Calvin, on the ground of 1 Tim. 5:17. But this text only shows that the one office of presbyter or bishop involved two kinds of labor, and that certain presbyters or bishops were more successful in one kind than in the other. That gifts of teaching and ruling belonged to the same individual, is clear from Acts 20:28-31; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:7; 1 Tim. 3:2—ἐπίσκοπον διδακτικόν.1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.(c) In certain of the N. T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5). There is, however,[pg 916]no evidence that the number of elders was uniform, or that the plurality which frequently existed was due to any other cause than the size of the churches for which these elders cared. The N. T. example, while it permits the multiplication of assistant pastors according to need, does not require a plural eldership in every case; nor does it render this eldership, where it exists, of coördinate authority with the church. There are indications, moreover, that, at least in certain churches, the pastor was one, while the deacons were more than one, in number.Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.B. The duties belonging to these offices.(a) The pastor, bishop, or elder is:First,—a spiritual teacher, in public and private;Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”Secondly,—administrator of the ordinances;Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).Thirdly,—superintendent of the discipline, as well as presiding officer at the meetings, of the church.Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.(b) The deacon is helper to the pastor and the church, in both spiritual and temporal things.First,—relieving the pastor of external labors, informing him of the condition and wants of the church, and forming a bond of union between pastor and people.Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.Secondly,—helping the church, by relieving the poor and sick and ministering in an informal way to the church's spiritual needs, and by performing certain external duties connected with the service of the sanctuary.Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

2. Officers of the Church.A. The number of offices in the church is two:—first, the office of bishop, presbyter, or pastor; and, secondly, the office of deacon.(a) That the appellations“bishop,”“presbyter,”and“pastor”designate the same office and order of persons, may be shown from Acts 20:28—ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν (cf. 17—πρεσβυτέρους); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2—πρεσβυτέρους ... παρακαλῶ ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος ... ποιμάνατε ποίμνιον ... ἐπισκοποῦντες. Conybeare and Howson:“The terms‘bishop’and‘elder’are used in the New Testament as equivalent,—the former denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter the rank, of the office.”See passages quoted in Gieseler, Church History, 1:90, note 1—as, for example, Jerome:“Apud veteres iidem episcopi et presbyteri, quia illud nomen dignitatis est, hoc ætatis. Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus.”Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”(b) The only plausible objection to the identity of the presbyter and the bishop is that first suggested by Calvin, on the ground of 1 Tim. 5:17. But this text only shows that the one office of presbyter or bishop involved two kinds of labor, and that certain presbyters or bishops were more successful in one kind than in the other. That gifts of teaching and ruling belonged to the same individual, is clear from Acts 20:28-31; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:7; 1 Tim. 3:2—ἐπίσκοπον διδακτικόν.1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.(c) In certain of the N. T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5). There is, however,[pg 916]no evidence that the number of elders was uniform, or that the plurality which frequently existed was due to any other cause than the size of the churches for which these elders cared. The N. T. example, while it permits the multiplication of assistant pastors according to need, does not require a plural eldership in every case; nor does it render this eldership, where it exists, of coördinate authority with the church. There are indications, moreover, that, at least in certain churches, the pastor was one, while the deacons were more than one, in number.Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.B. The duties belonging to these offices.(a) The pastor, bishop, or elder is:First,—a spiritual teacher, in public and private;Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”Secondly,—administrator of the ordinances;Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).Thirdly,—superintendent of the discipline, as well as presiding officer at the meetings, of the church.Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.(b) The deacon is helper to the pastor and the church, in both spiritual and temporal things.First,—relieving the pastor of external labors, informing him of the condition and wants of the church, and forming a bond of union between pastor and people.Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.Secondly,—helping the church, by relieving the poor and sick and ministering in an informal way to the church's spiritual needs, and by performing certain external duties connected with the service of the sanctuary.Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

2. Officers of the Church.A. The number of offices in the church is two:—first, the office of bishop, presbyter, or pastor; and, secondly, the office of deacon.(a) That the appellations“bishop,”“presbyter,”and“pastor”designate the same office and order of persons, may be shown from Acts 20:28—ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν (cf. 17—πρεσβυτέρους); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2—πρεσβυτέρους ... παρακαλῶ ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος ... ποιμάνατε ποίμνιον ... ἐπισκοποῦντες. Conybeare and Howson:“The terms‘bishop’and‘elder’are used in the New Testament as equivalent,—the former denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter the rank, of the office.”See passages quoted in Gieseler, Church History, 1:90, note 1—as, for example, Jerome:“Apud veteres iidem episcopi et presbyteri, quia illud nomen dignitatis est, hoc ætatis. Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus.”Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”(b) The only plausible objection to the identity of the presbyter and the bishop is that first suggested by Calvin, on the ground of 1 Tim. 5:17. But this text only shows that the one office of presbyter or bishop involved two kinds of labor, and that certain presbyters or bishops were more successful in one kind than in the other. That gifts of teaching and ruling belonged to the same individual, is clear from Acts 20:28-31; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:7; 1 Tim. 3:2—ἐπίσκοπον διδακτικόν.1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.(c) In certain of the N. T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5). There is, however,[pg 916]no evidence that the number of elders was uniform, or that the plurality which frequently existed was due to any other cause than the size of the churches for which these elders cared. The N. T. example, while it permits the multiplication of assistant pastors according to need, does not require a plural eldership in every case; nor does it render this eldership, where it exists, of coördinate authority with the church. There are indications, moreover, that, at least in certain churches, the pastor was one, while the deacons were more than one, in number.Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.B. The duties belonging to these offices.(a) The pastor, bishop, or elder is:First,—a spiritual teacher, in public and private;Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”Secondly,—administrator of the ordinances;Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).Thirdly,—superintendent of the discipline, as well as presiding officer at the meetings, of the church.Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.(b) The deacon is helper to the pastor and the church, in both spiritual and temporal things.First,—relieving the pastor of external labors, informing him of the condition and wants of the church, and forming a bond of union between pastor and people.Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.Secondly,—helping the church, by relieving the poor and sick and ministering in an informal way to the church's spiritual needs, and by performing certain external duties connected with the service of the sanctuary.Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

2. Officers of the Church.A. The number of offices in the church is two:—first, the office of bishop, presbyter, or pastor; and, secondly, the office of deacon.(a) That the appellations“bishop,”“presbyter,”and“pastor”designate the same office and order of persons, may be shown from Acts 20:28—ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν (cf. 17—πρεσβυτέρους); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2—πρεσβυτέρους ... παρακαλῶ ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος ... ποιμάνατε ποίμνιον ... ἐπισκοποῦντες. Conybeare and Howson:“The terms‘bishop’and‘elder’are used in the New Testament as equivalent,—the former denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter the rank, of the office.”See passages quoted in Gieseler, Church History, 1:90, note 1—as, for example, Jerome:“Apud veteres iidem episcopi et presbyteri, quia illud nomen dignitatis est, hoc ætatis. Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus.”Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”(b) The only plausible objection to the identity of the presbyter and the bishop is that first suggested by Calvin, on the ground of 1 Tim. 5:17. But this text only shows that the one office of presbyter or bishop involved two kinds of labor, and that certain presbyters or bishops were more successful in one kind than in the other. That gifts of teaching and ruling belonged to the same individual, is clear from Acts 20:28-31; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:7; 1 Tim. 3:2—ἐπίσκοπον διδακτικόν.1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.(c) In certain of the N. T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5). There is, however,[pg 916]no evidence that the number of elders was uniform, or that the plurality which frequently existed was due to any other cause than the size of the churches for which these elders cared. The N. T. example, while it permits the multiplication of assistant pastors according to need, does not require a plural eldership in every case; nor does it render this eldership, where it exists, of coördinate authority with the church. There are indications, moreover, that, at least in certain churches, the pastor was one, while the deacons were more than one, in number.Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.B. The duties belonging to these offices.(a) The pastor, bishop, or elder is:First,—a spiritual teacher, in public and private;Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”Secondly,—administrator of the ordinances;Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).Thirdly,—superintendent of the discipline, as well as presiding officer at the meetings, of the church.Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.(b) The deacon is helper to the pastor and the church, in both spiritual and temporal things.First,—relieving the pastor of external labors, informing him of the condition and wants of the church, and forming a bond of union between pastor and people.Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.Secondly,—helping the church, by relieving the poor and sick and ministering in an informal way to the church's spiritual needs, and by performing certain external duties connected with the service of the sanctuary.Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

2. Officers of the Church.A. The number of offices in the church is two:—first, the office of bishop, presbyter, or pastor; and, secondly, the office of deacon.(a) That the appellations“bishop,”“presbyter,”and“pastor”designate the same office and order of persons, may be shown from Acts 20:28—ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν (cf. 17—πρεσβυτέρους); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2—πρεσβυτέρους ... παρακαλῶ ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος ... ποιμάνατε ποίμνιον ... ἐπισκοποῦντες. Conybeare and Howson:“The terms‘bishop’and‘elder’are used in the New Testament as equivalent,—the former denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter the rank, of the office.”See passages quoted in Gieseler, Church History, 1:90, note 1—as, for example, Jerome:“Apud veteres iidem episcopi et presbyteri, quia illud nomen dignitatis est, hoc ætatis. Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus.”Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”(b) The only plausible objection to the identity of the presbyter and the bishop is that first suggested by Calvin, on the ground of 1 Tim. 5:17. But this text only shows that the one office of presbyter or bishop involved two kinds of labor, and that certain presbyters or bishops were more successful in one kind than in the other. That gifts of teaching and ruling belonged to the same individual, is clear from Acts 20:28-31; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:7; 1 Tim. 3:2—ἐπίσκοπον διδακτικόν.1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.(c) In certain of the N. T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5). There is, however,[pg 916]no evidence that the number of elders was uniform, or that the plurality which frequently existed was due to any other cause than the size of the churches for which these elders cared. The N. T. example, while it permits the multiplication of assistant pastors according to need, does not require a plural eldership in every case; nor does it render this eldership, where it exists, of coördinate authority with the church. There are indications, moreover, that, at least in certain churches, the pastor was one, while the deacons were more than one, in number.Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.B. The duties belonging to these offices.(a) The pastor, bishop, or elder is:First,—a spiritual teacher, in public and private;Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”Secondly,—administrator of the ordinances;Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).Thirdly,—superintendent of the discipline, as well as presiding officer at the meetings, of the church.Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.(b) The deacon is helper to the pastor and the church, in both spiritual and temporal things.First,—relieving the pastor of external labors, informing him of the condition and wants of the church, and forming a bond of union between pastor and people.Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.Secondly,—helping the church, by relieving the poor and sick and ministering in an informal way to the church's spiritual needs, and by performing certain external duties connected with the service of the sanctuary.Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

A. The number of offices in the church is two:—first, the office of bishop, presbyter, or pastor; and, secondly, the office of deacon.(a) That the appellations“bishop,”“presbyter,”and“pastor”designate the same office and order of persons, may be shown from Acts 20:28—ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν (cf. 17—πρεσβυτέρους); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2—πρεσβυτέρους ... παρακαλῶ ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος ... ποιμάνατε ποίμνιον ... ἐπισκοποῦντες. Conybeare and Howson:“The terms‘bishop’and‘elder’are used in the New Testament as equivalent,—the former denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter the rank, of the office.”See passages quoted in Gieseler, Church History, 1:90, note 1—as, for example, Jerome:“Apud veteres iidem episcopi et presbyteri, quia illud nomen dignitatis est, hoc ætatis. Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus.”Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”(b) The only plausible objection to the identity of the presbyter and the bishop is that first suggested by Calvin, on the ground of 1 Tim. 5:17. But this text only shows that the one office of presbyter or bishop involved two kinds of labor, and that certain presbyters or bishops were more successful in one kind than in the other. That gifts of teaching and ruling belonged to the same individual, is clear from Acts 20:28-31; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:7; 1 Tim. 3:2—ἐπίσκοπον διδακτικόν.1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.(c) In certain of the N. T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5). There is, however,[pg 916]no evidence that the number of elders was uniform, or that the plurality which frequently existed was due to any other cause than the size of the churches for which these elders cared. The N. T. example, while it permits the multiplication of assistant pastors according to need, does not require a plural eldership in every case; nor does it render this eldership, where it exists, of coördinate authority with the church. There are indications, moreover, that, at least in certain churches, the pastor was one, while the deacons were more than one, in number.Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.

(a) That the appellations“bishop,”“presbyter,”and“pastor”designate the same office and order of persons, may be shown from Acts 20:28—ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν (cf. 17—πρεσβυτέρους); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2—πρεσβυτέρους ... παρακαλῶ ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος ... ποιμάνατε ποίμνιον ... ἐπισκοποῦντες. Conybeare and Howson:“The terms‘bishop’and‘elder’are used in the New Testament as equivalent,—the former denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter the rank, of the office.”See passages quoted in Gieseler, Church History, 1:90, note 1—as, for example, Jerome:“Apud veteres iidem episcopi et presbyteri, quia illud nomen dignitatis est, hoc ætatis. Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus.”

Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”

Acts 20:28—“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops[marg.‘overseers’],to feed[lit.‘to shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”;cf.17—“the elders of the church”are those whom Paul addresses as bishops or overseers, and whom he exhorts to be good pastors.Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons”;1 Tim. 3:1, 8—“If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.... Deacons in like manner must be grave”;Tit. 1:5, 7—“appoint elders in every city.... For the bishop must be blameless”;1 Pet. 5:1, 2—“The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder.... Tend[lit.‘shepherd,’‘be pastors of’]the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight[acting as bishops],not of constraint, but[pg 915]willingly, according to the will of God.”In this last passage, Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf's 8th edition, follow א and B in omitting ἐπισκοποῦντες. Tregelles and our Revised Version follow A and אc in retaining it. Rightly, we think; since it is easy to see how, in a growing ecclesiasticism, it should have been omitted, from the feeling that too much was here ascribed to a mere presbyter.

Lightfoot, Com. on Philippians, 95-99—“It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the N. T. the same officer in the church is called indifferently‘bishop’(ἐπίσκοπος) and‘elder’or‘presbyter’(πρεσβύτερος).... To these special officers the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as transferred or delegated. They are called stewards or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church, and the like, but the sacerdotal is never once conferred upon them. The only priests under the gospel, designated as such in the N. T., are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood.”OnTitus 1:5, 7—“appoint elders.... For the bishop must be blameless”—Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., 150, remarks:“Here the word‘for’is quite out of place unless bishops and elders are identical. All these officers, bishops as well as deacons, are confined to the local church in their jurisdiction. The charge of a bishop is not a diocese, but a church. The functions are mostly administrative, the teaching office being subordinate, and a distinction is made between teaching elders and others, implying that the teaching function is not common to them all.”

Dexter, Congregationalism, 114, shows that bishop, elder, pastor are names for the same office: (1) from the significance of the words; (2) from the fact that the same qualifications are demanded from all; (3) from the fact that the same duties are assigned to all; (4) from the fact that the texts held to prove higher rank of the bishop do not support that claim. Plumptre, in Pop. Com., Pauline Epistles, 555, 556—“There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two titles of Bishop and Presbyter were in the Apostolic Age interchangeable.”

(b) The only plausible objection to the identity of the presbyter and the bishop is that first suggested by Calvin, on the ground of 1 Tim. 5:17. But this text only shows that the one office of presbyter or bishop involved two kinds of labor, and that certain presbyters or bishops were more successful in one kind than in the other. That gifts of teaching and ruling belonged to the same individual, is clear from Acts 20:28-31; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:7; 1 Tim. 3:2—ἐπίσκοπον διδακτικόν.

1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.

1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”; Wilson, Primitive Government of Christian Churches, concedes that this last text“expresses a diversity in the exercise of the Presbyterial office, but not in the office itself”; and although he was a Presbyterian, he very consistently refused to have any ruling elders in his church.

Acts 20:28, 31—“bishops, to feed the church of the Lord ... wherefore watch ye”;Eph. 4:11—“and some, pastors and teachers”—here Meyer remarks that the single article binds the two words together, and prevents us from supposing that separate offices are intended. Jerome:“Nemo ... pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.”Heb. 13:7—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God”;1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop must be ... apt to teach.”The great temptation to ambition in the Christian ministry is provided against by having no gradation of ranks. The pastor is a priest, only as every Christian is. See Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 56; Olshausen, on 1 Tim. 5:17; Hackett onActs 14:23; Presb. Rev., 1886:89-126.

Dexter, Congregationalism, 52—“Calvin was a natural aristocrat, not a man of the people like Luther. Taken out of his own family to be educated in a family of the nobility, he received an early bent toward exclusiveness. He believed in authority and loved to exercise it. He could easily have been a despot. He assumed all citizens to be Christians until proof to the contrary. He resolved church discipline into police control. He confessed that the eldership was an expedient to which he was driven by circumstances, though after creating it he naturally enough endeavored to procure Scriptural proof in its favor.”On the question, The Christian Ministry, is it a Priesthood? see C. Anderson Scott, Evangelical Doctrine, 205-224.

(c) In certain of the N. T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5). There is, however,[pg 916]no evidence that the number of elders was uniform, or that the plurality which frequently existed was due to any other cause than the size of the churches for which these elders cared. The N. T. example, while it permits the multiplication of assistant pastors according to need, does not require a plural eldership in every case; nor does it render this eldership, where it exists, of coördinate authority with the church. There are indications, moreover, that, at least in certain churches, the pastor was one, while the deacons were more than one, in number.

Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.

Acts 20:17—“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church”;Phil. 1:1—“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”;Tit. 1:5—“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”See, however,Acts 12:17—“Tell these things unto James, and to the brethren”;15:13—“And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken unto me”;21:18—“And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present”;Gal. 1:19—“But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother”;2:12—“certain came from James.”These passages seem to indicate that James was the pastor or president of the church at Jerusalem, an intimation which tradition corroborates.

1 Tim. 3:2—“The bishop therefore must be without reproach”;Tit. 1:7—“For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward”;cf.1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 12—“Deacons in like manner must be grave.... And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless.... Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well”—in all these passages the bishop is spoken of in the singular number, the deacons in the plural. So, too, inRev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14,“the angel of the church”is best interpreted as meaning the pastor of the church; and, if this be correct, it is clear that each church had, not many pastors, but one.

It would, moreover, seem antecedently improbable that every church of Christ, however small, should be required to have a plural eldership, particularly since churches exist that have only a single male member. A plural eldership is natural and advantageous, only where the church is very numerous and the pastor needs assistants in his work: and only in such cases can we say that New Testament example favors it. For advocacy of the theory of plural eldership, see Fish, Ecclesiology, 229-249; Ladd, Principles of Church Polity, 22-29. On the whole subject of offices in the church, see Dexter, Congregationalism, 77-98; Dagg, Church Order, 241-266; Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on Philippians, and published in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age.

B. The duties belonging to these offices.(a) The pastor, bishop, or elder is:First,—a spiritual teacher, in public and private;Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”Secondly,—administrator of the ordinances;Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).Thirdly,—superintendent of the discipline, as well as presiding officer at the meetings, of the church.Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.(b) The deacon is helper to the pastor and the church, in both spiritual and temporal things.First,—relieving the pastor of external labors, informing him of the condition and wants of the church, and forming a bond of union between pastor and people.Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.Secondly,—helping the church, by relieving the poor and sick and ministering in an informal way to the church's spiritual needs, and by performing certain external duties connected with the service of the sanctuary.Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

(a) The pastor, bishop, or elder is:

First,—a spiritual teacher, in public and private;

Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”

Acts 20:20, 21, 35—“how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”;1 Thess. 5:12—“But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you”;Heb. 13:7, 17—“Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.... Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account.”

Here we should remember that the pastor's private work of religious conversation and prayer is equally important with his public ministrations; in this respect he is to be an example to his flock, and they are to learn from him the art of winning the unconverted and of caring for those who are already saved. A Jewish Rabbi once said:“God could not be every where,—therefore he made mothers.”We may substitute, for the word 'mothers,' the word 'pastors.' Bishop Ken is said to have made a vow every morning, as he rose, that he would not be married that day. His own lines best express his mind:“A virgin priest the altar best attends; our Lord that state commands not, but commends.”

Secondly,—administrator of the ordinances;

Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).

Mat. 28:19, 20—“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded”;1 Cor. 1:16, 17—“And[pg 917]I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”Here it is evident that, although the pastor administers the ordinances, this is not his main work, nor is the church absolutely dependent upon him in the matter. He is not set, like an O. T. priest, to minister at the altar, but to preach the gospel. In an emergency any other member appointed by the church may administer them with equal propriety, the church always determining who are fit subjects of the ordinances, and constituting him their organ in administering them. Any other view is based on sacramental notions, and on ideas of apostolic succession. All Christians are“priests unto ... God”(Rev. 1:6).“This universal priesthood is a priesthood, not of expiation, but of worship, and is bound to no ritual, or order of times and places”(P. S. Moxom).

Thirdly,—superintendent of the discipline, as well as presiding officer at the meetings, of the church.

Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.

Superintendent of discipline:1 Tim. 5:17—“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching”;3:5—“if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”Presiding officer at meetings of the church:1 Cor. 12:28—“governments”—here κυβερνήσεις, or“governments,”indicating the duties of the pastor, are the counterpart of ἀντιλήψεις, or“helps,”which designate the duties of the deacons;1 Pet. 5:2, 3—“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”

In the old Congregational churches of New England, an authority was accorded to the pastor which exceeded the New Testament standard.“Dr. Bellamy could break in upon a festival which he deemed improper, and order the members of his parish to their homes.”The congregation rose as the minister entered the church, and stood uncovered as he passed out of the porch. We must not hope or desire to restore the New Englandrégime. The pastor is to take responsibility, to put himself forward when there is need, but he is toruleonly by moral suasion, and that only by guiding, teaching, and carrying into effect the rules imposed by Christ and the decisions of the church in accordance with those rules.

Dexter, Congregationalism, 115, 155, 157—“The Governor of New York suggests to the Legislature such and such enactments, and then executes such laws as they please to pass. He is chief ruler of the State, while the Legislature adopts or rejects what he proposes.”So the pastor's functions are not legislative, but executive. Christ is the only lawgiver. In fulfilling this office, the manner and spirit of the pastor's work are of as great importance as are correctness of judgment and faithfulness to Christ's law.“The young man who cannot distinguish the wolves from the dogs should not think of becoming a shepherd.”Gregory Nazianzen:“Either teach none, or let your life teach too.”See Harvey, The Pastor; Wayland, Apostolic Ministry; Jacob, Eccl. Polity of N. T., 99; Samson, in Madison Avenue Lectures, 261-288.

(b) The deacon is helper to the pastor and the church, in both spiritual and temporal things.

First,—relieving the pastor of external labors, informing him of the condition and wants of the church, and forming a bond of union between pastor and people.

Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.

Acts 6:1-6—“Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them”;cf.8-20—where Stephen shows power in disputation;Rom. 12:7—“or ministryδιακονίαν,let us give ourselves to our ministry”;1 Cor. 12:28—“helps”—here ἀντιλήψεις,“helps,”indicating the duties of deacons, are the counterpart of κυβερνήσεις,“governments,”which designate the duties of the pastor;Phil. 1:1—“bishops and deacons.”

Dr. E. G. Robinson did not regard the election of the seven, inActs 6:1-4, as marking the origin of the diaconate, though he thought the diaconate grew out of this election.[pg 918]The Autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon, 3:22, gives an account of the election of“elders”at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. These“elders”were to attend to the spiritual affairs of the church, as the deacons were to attend to the temporal affairs. These“elders”were chosen year by year, while the office of deacon was permanent.

Secondly,—helping the church, by relieving the poor and sick and ministering in an informal way to the church's spiritual needs, and by performing certain external duties connected with the service of the sanctuary.

Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

Since deacons are to be helpers, it is not necessary in all cases that they should be old or rich; in fact, it is better that among the number of deacons the various differences in station, age, wealth, and opinion in the church should be represented. The qualifications for the diaconate mentioned inActs 6:1-4and1 Tim. 3:8-13, are, in substance: wisdom, sympathy, and spirituality. There are advantages in electing deacons, not for life, but for a term of years. While there is no New Testament prescription in this matter, and each church may exercise its option, service for a term of years, with re-election where the office has been well discharged, would at least seem favored by1 Tim. 3:10—“Let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless”;13—“For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Expositor's Greek Testament, onActs 5:6, remarks that those who carried out and buried Ananias are called οἱ νεώτεροι—“the young men”—and in the case of Sapphira they were οἱ νεανίσκοι—meaning the same thing.“Upon the natural distinction between πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι—elders and young men—it may well have been that official duties in the church were afterward based.”Dr. Leonard Bacon thought that the apostles included the whole membership in the“we,”when they said:“It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”The deacons, on this interpretation, were chosen to help the whole church in temporal matters.

InRom. 16:1, 2, we have apparent mention of a deaconess—“I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, who is a servant[marg.:‘deaconess’]of the church that is at Cenchreæ ... for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.”See also1 Tim. 3:11—“Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things”—here Ellicott and Alford claim that the word“women”refers, not to deacons' wives, as our Auth. Vers. had it, but to deaconesses. Dexter, Congregationalism, 69, 132, maintains that the office of deaconess, though it once existed, has passed away, as belonging to a time when men could not, without suspicion, minister to women.

This view that there are temporary offices in the church does not, however, commend itself to us. It is more correct to say that there is yet doubt whether therewassuch an office as deaconess, even in the early church. Each church has a right in this matter to interpret Scripture for itself, and to act accordingly. An article in the Bap. Quar., 1869:40, denies the existence of any diaconal rank or office, for male or female. Fish, in his Ecclesiology, holds that Stephen was a deacon, but an elder also, and preached as elder, not as deacon,—Acts 6:1-4being called the institution, not of the diaconate, but of the Christian ministry. The use of the phrase διακονεῖν τραπέζαις, and the distinction between the diaconate and the pastorate subsequently made in the Epistles, seem to refute this interpretation. On the fitness of women for the ministry of religion, see F. P. Cobbe, Peak of Darien, 199-262; F. E. Willard, Women in the Pulpit; B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women. On the general subject, see Howell, The Deaconship; Williams, The Deaconship; Robinson, N. T. Lexicon, ἀντιλήψις. On the Claims of the Christian Ministry, and on Education for the Ministry, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 269-318, and Christ in Creation, 314-331.

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