Choosing elders for a local congregation often becomes one of the most difficult, controversial and sometimes divisive things a group of saints undertakes. When this is the case it usually is linked to misunderstandings about the qualifications set forth in scripture for congregational overseers.
Such misunderstanding can result from a failure to adequately investigate those qualifications and their relationship to the work of elders. Or, it can come when brethren seek to ignore some qualifications or add some not given in the Bible.
And, often, brethren interpret the qualifications in such a way that only the impossible standard of absolute perfection is the outcome. Naturally, with this view, the church will continue to function without elders.
Occasionally, the opposite reaction occurs. Desperate to have elders, a congregation may ignore one or more qualifications so that a man or men may be appointed.
All such failures represent disrespect for God and His word. Failure to study what God has said about elders is sinful. Interpreting the scriptural qualifications so as to exclude any human being is equally wrong. And it goes without saying that just ignoring what God has said will result in severe judgment.
So, What Is The Answer?
The Lord’s list of prerequisites for an elder are found in two passages—1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.
These criteria for leadership in the local church can be variously subdivided as “positive” and “negative.” In other words, the potential elder must have certain abilities and characteristics on the one hand, while not possessing other characteristics that would undermine his ability to do the job of leading the congregation.
Let me also suggest these qualifications are of two other types: (1) Those which are definite or absolute; and ( 2 ) those which are relative. Let me hasten to clarify. I am not suggesting that some qualifications must be met and others can be ignored. Rather, I am asserting that a small portion of the qualifications isn’t subject to any human judgment. A prospective elder either is a man or isn’t (1 Tim. 3:1; Titus 1:6). And, corollary to that, he is either a husband or not; a father or not (1 Tim. 3:2, 4-5; Titus 1:6).
Most of the qualifications, however, call for a relatively high degree of attainment or maturity in various aspects of Christian living. For example, an elder is to be “able to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9-10). Different men may have different degrees of this ability, yet all meet the qualification. One may be able to preach from the pulpit, teach on the radio and lead large, public Bible classes. Another may be unable to do any of these things, yet be able to teach individuals, small groups and refute false doctrine in less formal settings.
It also is notable that most of the criteria laid down for elders are also set forth for all who are Christians. Hospitality, sobriety, good behavior, proper child rearing, holiness and perseverance in the faithful word are duties of all Christians. Likewise, the avoidance of violent behavior, greed, dissipation, insubordination, self-will, covetousness and quick-tempered decision-making is required of all saints.
This is why I’ve labeled these qualifications the “relative” ones. While all Christians are under obligation as they mature to “put on” the positive traits and “take off” the negative ones (Eph. 4:22-24), not every Christian is yet mature. And so we see in the qualifications set forth that an elder is not be a “novice” or a not yet mature Christian (1 Tim. 3:6).
Maturity And Experience Are The Key Ingredients
A careful overview of the qualifications set forth by the Apostle Paul in the epistles to Timothy and Titus shows two essential things necessary in an elder. One is maturity. While every Christian is to be working toward achieving most of that to which the qualifications point, many will not yet have achieved this goal. Elders are to be “examples” to the flock among them (1 Peter 5:3). So, if elders possess the positive traits and have been successful in eliminating the negative traits, they serve as models for younger, less mature saints. They demonstrate that the goals set forth by God are achievable.
Further the qualifications of being a successful husband and father address the need for experience in those who will lead others. This, again, is why an elder can’t be a very young man or a novice.
The home, in many ways, is a microcosm of the church. If a man learns to exercise God-given authority in the home, in the manner that God intends it to be exercised, then he has the necessary experience to exercise similar authority in the larger context of the church. The apostle says it this way, “one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)” (1 Tim. 3:4-5).
This is crucial experience. God has given men the leadership over their wives and children in the home. Yet, a man can’t exercise that authority through brute force or merely demanding compliance with his orders. He must lovingly lead and guide his family, putting their needs before his own, teaching them that following his lead is God’s will, not merely his own.
The parallel, I hope, is obvious. The authority of elders isn’t like that of corporate chief executive officers or military generals. Everything a Christian man learns in leading in his home is of direct utility in leading brethren in the local church.
Maturity Vs. Absolute Perfection
The word “perfect” is often used in scripture as synonymous with maturity. But we tend to use the idea of perfection in reference to something or someone without any flaw or sin.
If the “relative” qualifications are taken to require a man to have always been absolutely perfect, the scriptural traits set forth can only forever exclude every potential candidate for the office of bishop. This approach at once ignores the fact already noted, that Christians, like physical children, go through a maturation process. It isn’t a sin to be a novice or to be a “babe in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1; Heb. 5:13; 1 Peter 2:2).
Thus, what we are looking for are men who have attained a relatively high degree of maturity in each qualification. This calls for some judgment on the part of the congregation examining such men.
As noted earlier, a man must be apt or able to teach. A judgment must be made, in light of the local congregation’s overall maturity and common sense reasoning, whether a particular man has sufficient ability to teach, deal with false teachers and help less learned members to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. To demand that he be a fluid-tongued orator or pulpiteer is to demand more than God’s word demands.
His success, or lack thereof, in teaching and guiding his family should be one place to look first in assessing this qualification.
Cautions
It has been stated already but deserves another reminder, that none of the qualifications laid down by inspiration of the Holy Spirit can be ignored or taken lightly. All the qualifications are “musts” as 1 Timothy 3:7 makes clear in listing those things an elder “must be.”
No one qualification should be deemed more important than another. That said, it often is the case that one elder may have achieved a higher degree of attainment in one area than another elder. And that other elder may have achieved a higher degree in some other qualification.
It also should be understood that these qualifications are to be achieved before a man is appointed an elder. A man shouldn’t be ordained or appointed with the expectation he will grow into the job. Souls are at stake. This job or work is one of the most critical in the world, so throwing an unprepared man into it harms not only him but untold others.
Most congregations find they have a number of men “nearly qualified.” But all too often the qualification lacking has to do with the experience of successfully guiding the home. Sadly, once a man’s children are grown, he can’t go back and do the job over again.
There is a great need in the Lord’s church to be emphasizing the character traits that make a spiritually mature Christian—whether man or woman—to very young people in the Lord’s church. These are also the traits that qualify a man to be an elder.
If thought isn’t given when a young man and woman marry to raising children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, there is little likelihood that the young man will be elder material when he is older. He may have all the moral and spiritual characteristics demanded—but he won’t have the experience needed to guide a local church.
Conclusion
When we look at the qualifications for elders as a whole, we see that they involve the totality of a man’s experience, reputation, domestic relations, character, habits, knowledge and capacity to teach others.
When a man possesses these traits to a high degree, you have before you a spiritually mature Christian man.
And this is the man God desires to lead his people.
Next: A look at gender, desire for the work and
blamelessness.
