I began yesterday looking at the leadership role God has chosen for His church and we began by examining the occasions where the NT uses the term “elder,” which carries the idea of a man who has wisdom gained from experience. Now, I wish to build on Peter’s words in 1 Peter 5:1-4, if you would take some time to look at that text.
Peter was an apostle and an elder, as was the apostle John. John calls himself an elder in 2 John 1 and 3 John 1. Here in 1 Peter 5, Peter says the elders’ responsibility is to “shepherd the flock.” Just as Jesus led, guided, corrected, and prayed for His disciples as their Shepherd, so elders are to lead us, guide us, correct us, pray for us as our shepherds.
Elders are to “exercise oversight” of the flock. That verb is only used twice in the NT and it is only used of elders here. But the noun of the same verb is what gives us the word “bishop” or “overseer.” So, let’s take a moment to look at that word.
The word translated “bishop” or “overseer” (NASV) comes from a Greek verb that means to “look out over.” It carries the idea of a “superintendent.” We are familiar with school superintendents. They are over all the schools in their district. They have the ultimate authority. In the same way, elders are overseers or “bishops” or “superintendents” of the church of Christ. Since elders are the same people as “bishops,” then every congregation is to have its own bishops; no bishop is over more than one congregation and every congregation is to have more than one bishop.
Take a look back at Acts 20:28. Paul was on his way back to Jerusalem in this text and he called for and met at Miletus with the elders of the church of Christ in Ephesus. Bishops are shepherds, overseeing, ruling over the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. In Philippians 1:1, Paul says the church at Philippi had bishops / overseers and deacons.
In 1 Timothy 3:2, when Paul describes the work of elders, he refers to them as “bishops / overseers.” He uses the same term in Titus 1:7, using “elders” as a synonym for “bishop.” Finally, in 1 Peter 2:25, Peter refers to Jesus both as the “Chief Shepherd,” and “Guardian” of our souls. That word “Guardian” is the word “bishop” or “overseer.” So, if Jesus is the “Chief Shepherd,” then He is also the “Chief Bishop” and our elders / bishops / guardians serve under Him.
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I have gone into the description of elders as “bishops” to emphasize the text here in 1 Peter 5:2 that elders are to “exercise oversight” of the church; that is, they are to be “bishops” over the church. They should not do so under compulsion but willingly and, please observe, “according to the will of God,” with “eagerness.” The will of God is still the standard. The elders are to keep us faithful to the word of God, on an individual basis and as a congregation. That is the primary work of the elders. They are not to “lord over us” but be examples to the flock.
I think the best way to understand the expression “lord over” us is to say that elders do not and should not make rules for the church in a way that has a negative impact on the church, that makes it hard to live the Christian life, rules that do not take us and our own lives into consideration. In that regard, they are to be examples to the flock, listening to our needs and trying to meet our needs in a way that helps us stay faithful to Jesus Christ.
This leads me to bring up the text in Hebrews 13:17, a text that I think Christians or many Christians have misunderstood over the years. These leaders are elders and we are to submit to them because they are bishops, ruling over this congregation. They keep watch over our souls as shepherds and they will give an account. Here is the point I think we have misunderstood. Elders will not give an account for our souls. In other words, if I leave the faith, my elders are not going to give an account for my soul. I will give an account for my soul. Elders are going to give an account for how they kept watch over my soul. That is, elders will answer to God for whether or not I was fed the word of God and if I fall into sin, did the elders come talk to me about it, did they pray with me, and plead with me to return to Jesus Christ? That’s the message of the Hebrew writer here in this text.
Tomorrow, we will bring this discussion full-circle, having began last week by looking at Jesus as the “Chief Shepherd.” Tomorrow, we’ll consider elders as “shepherds.”
Paul Holland
