이 정석 교수의 신학 문답 Q&A

1. The Nature and Necessity of Church Organization

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(i) The concept of the Church as the Body of Christ implies the definite order within the church. Christ as the logoj contradicts and excludes chaos caoj. As Paul pointed out, "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace", in His church, "everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way."(1Cor 14.33, 40)

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(ii) The order of the church is not of the world: "those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mk 10.42-25) As Moltmann said, "Ecclesiology becomes hierarchology if we do not start from the fact that every believer, whether he be an office-bearer or not, is a member of the messianic people of God."(289-90)

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(iii) The organic nature of the church as one body and one organic building naturally and necessarily demands her organization, and it is effective for the unity, fellowship, and ministry. Also, the institutional nature of the church for worship, sacrament, and church discipline requires some form of organization for their orderly procession.

(iv) Even though there is no explicit command to form an organizational union, the biblical teaching of the church "would seem to call for such a union… for this inner unity should express itself in some visible manner."(Berkhof, 590) However, it does not mean the hierarchical and universal structure of organization. While the organization of the local congregation is necessary in the full and strict sense, inter-congregational fellowship koinwnia in the regional, national, or international scale is simply encouraged as far as it is possible and necessary.

　

2. The Offices of the Church

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(i) In the Old Testament, there were three primary offices for Israel: priest, prophet, and king. However, because Christ had three-fold office and fulfilled all the requirements and needs of those three offices, it is not continued in the New Testament Church. One significant office of continuation is elder. Its first appearance in the Old Testament is found in Gen 50.7 "all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt", and "the elders of Israel" in Ex 3.16. Here, the elder means <!qez'>, i.e., old man or senior. In the Near East, elders already existed in every town, and they functioned as authority in the community decision making and dispute solving process, as well as advisors to the magistrate. In Israel, elders were selected among the old men of the community, and they were called "town elder"(Deut 19.12, 22.15) as "elders of the people"(Ex 19.7), but also there were some national elders like 70 elders, who represented the people for Moses(Ex 24.9). In addition to the town elders who served primarily for the civil matter, there existed the "elders of the assembly"(Lev 4.15, Judg 21.16), who served for the religious matter. Even though some descriptions like "elders of priests"(1King 19.2) or "elders of tribe"(Deut 31.28) appear in the OT, it seems to mean simply the old men group. Elders possessed leadership and were respected in Israel, but as they had been gradually corrupted that they oppressed the people and exploited the poor, as seen in Is 3, they lost respect of the people(Lam 5.12). When Jesus came, elders occupied the political power together with the priests and reigned over the people. They made "the tradition of the elders, paradosij twn presbuterwn" the supreme standard, so that they practically ignored even the Word of God and led to resist the Messiah. Synagogue was operated by the elders, and their representative took the position of synagogue ruler. Sanhedrin that was consisted of 70 elders and the chief priest as their head, controlled all the religious matters of Israel.

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(ii) In the New Testament, the first occurrence of the church elder presbuteroj is found in Ac 11.30. There were elders in the Jerusalem church(Ac 15.2). Especially Paul practiced a policy to appoint an elder in the newly planted church before his departure. Therefore, it is assumed that elders operated worship and sacrament in the absence of the apostle. Also, to appoint an elder in a community was a mission strategy to build a congregation by the leadership and management of the elder(cf. 1Tim 3.5). He should be not only old but also mature in faith and discernment. When Acts 14.23 describes that "Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust", the verb keirotonew is often misunderstood that the elders were elected by the vote of raising hand. But, to be different from the deacon case in Acts 6, they were simply selected by Paul and Barnabas and appointed by them. BAGD explains that "the presbyters in Lycaonia and Pisidia were not chosen by the congregations"(881), and TDNT clarifies that "the reference is not to election by the congregation. The presbyters are nominated by Paul and Barnabas and then with prayer and fasting they were instituted into their office."(IX:437).

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(iii) The description "the council of elders presbuterion" implies that elders are organized, and it is also used for the Sanhedrin, the organization of Jewish elders(Lk 22.66, Ac 22.5). But, it is not clear whether the local church was governed by the head elder, or the group of elders, or the council of elders from several congregations(Ladd, 534). This council appointed and ordained officers(1Tim 4.14), made church regulations together with apostles(Ac 16.4), ruled the church(1Tim 5.17), and prayed for the sick(Jam 5.14). Elders were divided into two kinds of "ruling elder" and "teaching elder"(1Tim 5.17). Accusation against elder was handled with more seriousness(1Tim 5.19), and "submission" to the elder was commanded to the church members(1Pet 5.5). Apostles such as Peter and John called themselves as elders, and it implies that elder was the general name for church leader.

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(iv) The list of church officers in Eph 4.11 mentions "pastor", together with apostle, prophet, evangelist, and teacher. George Ladd understood evangelist as "a function rather than an office" and "pastor-teacher" is "a single office embodying a twofold functions", and suggested that this office designates the leader of local congregation as an equivalent with elder or overseer(532-3). Louis Berkhof has the same opinion that pastor and teacher are not two offices but "one class having two related functions."(586) Therefore, Wayne Grudem insists that it should be translated as "pastor-teacher."(913) Pastor, poimhnmeans shepherd. This designation represents the ministry of caring and nurturing the saints, as seen in the commission of Christ to Peter: "Feed my sheep." Christ clearly stated that all the saints are his sheep and he is "the Good Shepherd o` poimhn o` kaloj", as the prophets described the Messiah. Accordingly, Christ is distinguished from temporarily and partially committed pastors like Peter, and called "the Great Shepherd o` megan poimhn"(Heb 13.20) or "the Chief Shepherd o` archpoimhn"(1Pet 5.4). Peter called Christ as "the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls"(1Pet 2.25).

　

(v) The pastoral letters list the detailed qualifications for deacon and overseer and thus suggest that these two offices were elected. Paul presupposed eldership in the distinction of elders and the council of elders, but it seems that elders were not elected but appointed. Though there are a few qualifications for elder(Tit 1.6), it is regarded as the standard of appointment when Titus appointed elders in every town, not the standard of election by the church members. On the other hand, the standards of election for deacon and overseer are described long and detailed. And, it should be noticed that bishop was not so high position to rule over many pastors as seen in the contemporary system of Episcopalian polity. In the New Testament, overseer is an office to serve a local congregation, not that to rule over many congregations. As far as the qualification is concerned, it is merely a little more qualified than deacon, and the caution not to choose overseer from recent converts (1Tim 3.6) is the proof that overseer did not need extraordinary qualification. The comparison of qualifications between deacon and overseer shows that overseer has the function of teaching, for he must be "able to teach" so that "he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it."(1Tim 3.2, Tit 1.9) Also, he manages and takes care of the church(1Tim 3.5). The word episkopoj is derived from the verb epi-skopew, which means oversee, take care, look at, or help. It is the ministry of caring fellow believers. Just as parent always watch their child, overseers see over fellow church members and help them by sound teaching. It does not mean dominion or ruling, and therefore it should not be translated to ‘bishop’, which inevitably implies authoritative dominion and supervision.

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(vi) The church in the New Testament called 12 disciples of the Lord and Paul as "apostle apostoloj" and respected them as the authentic leaders of the church to whom Christ committed his church. However, as the church has grown rapidly, they let the church choose those who will take care of offering and its distribution so that they could concentrate in the teaching and prayer, and called them "deacon diakonoj" because of their ministry of diakonia, i.e., ministry or service. The Lord was confessed to be the Deacon par excellence. Deacon seems to be elected, and its qualification is clearly listed in 1Tim 3.8-13. In the early church, some deacons functioned more than church finance and benevolence, but they were doubtlessly exceptional. The church in Philippi might be led by overseers and deacons. Here, overseer must be equivalent with elder, but in this church the name "overseer" seems popular. On the ground of Rom 12.8, Calvin distinguished two kinds of deacon: "one to serve the church in administering the affairs of the poor; the other, in caring the poor themselves." (Inst, IV.iii.9)

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(vii) Deaconess is found in Rom 16.1 and the end of 1Tim 3.8-12. In the 3-4 C, deaconess became very popular and its ministerial function was expanded to every women-related ministry, and the priests worried about its abuse and abrogated it in the 6th C.

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(viii) Among the offices in the New Testament church, deacon is most clear in its nature and task, but pastor, overseer, and elder have some overlapping functions. Overseers take care of the local congregation with teaching, and it is similar with elder. These two names represents different aspect or nature of the same function, and they were used interchangeably (Ac 20.17, 28, 1Tim 3.1, 4, 14, 5.17, 19, Tit 1.5, 7, 1Pet 5.1-2). Also, this office is called o` proistamenoj governor (Rom 12.8, 1Thess 5.12), kubernhseijadministrator (1Cor 12.28), toij h`goumenoj leader (Heb 13.7, 17, 24), or poimenaj pastor (Eph 4.11), for "these offices clearly had the oversight of the flock that was entrusted to their care."(Berkhof, 586). George Ladd reminds that Paul taught to respect "those who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you"(1Thess 5.12). Wayne Grudem also understands that elder is another name of pastor or overseer(913). Main function of elder in the NT is overseeing church members, as described by the word episkopountej in 1Per 5.2. Paul identified those two by calling elders of the Ephesian church as overseers in Acts 20, but Titus 1 implies their difference in spite of their similarity. The description of recipient "all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons" in Phil 1.1 shows that there were several overseers in the church at Philippi. When we consider that the same or similar function is called by three names of elder, overseer, or pastor but no individual is called as overseer or pastor, elder seems the most popular title of those three in the beginning. In fact, Acts clearly records the existence of elders(11.30, 14.23, 15.2, 4, 6, 22, 23, 16.4, 20.17-18), but no bishop or overseers except the functional description of elder(20.28).

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(ix) In the early church, the bishop-centered church office system was settled, and Cyprian provided the ecclesiology for the episcopal system that where is a bishop there is a church. Since Christianity was declared as the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Roman church insisted the supremacy of the Roman bishop and developed the hierarchical system of church office to be equivalent with the office system of the Roman Empire. In order to support the papacy, they created the office of archbishop over bishops as well as cardinal and Pope. Now, the biblical form of overseer or bishop who takes care of the local congregation was replaced by priest, and bishop rules over several congregations. Also, Lay office of elder and deacon was abrogated. Calvin cried for this "monstrous abuses"(Inst, IV.v.7). The Reformation restored the lay office of elder and deacon, and the title of pastor was preferred to priest.

　

(x) The monarchial bishop is first found in Ignatius. Clement of Rome used elder and bishop as equal and equivalent in the late 1st C, but Ignatius of Antioch mentioned that bishop had the right to preside the meeting of local congregation and conduct the Eucharist and thus implies that bishop was the representative of elders. The rule of bishop has no biblical ground, but it was historically developed because of the church’s need of central authority to prevent schism. Now, elder and bishop, which are used interchangeably in the Scripture, are clearly distinguished and the three office system, together with deacon, was widely accepted in the early church. So, in the middle 2nd C, most of the local congregations were reorganized around their bishop. It is suggested that this system might be initiated when an elder of excellent leadership became the president of the elders’ council. In the late 2nd C, Irenaeus insisted the succession of apostles by bishops and mentioned the appearance of monarchial bishop. Later, Jerome recognized that it was "by custom rather than by the Lord’s actual appointment" in order to avoid schism. Hippolytus prayed that God would bestow to bishop the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of intercession that was given to the apostles, and distinguished the appointment and installation of bishop from that of elder. While Ignatius of Antioch said that where is Christ there is the catholic church, Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage in 248-58, insisted in his treatise De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitatethat where is bishop there is church, in the situation of the Novatian schism. The church building where is the chair of bishop kaqedra was called cathedral, and all the congregations within the diocese regarded it as their matrix ecclesia.

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(xi) In the early patristic documents like Didache and the writings of Clement of Rome, the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament was already applied to pastoral leaders. Irenaeus generalized the priesthood by insisting that "all the disciples of the Lord are Levites and priests", and this is in harmony with the Reformer’s idea of the priesthood of all believers. The word ‘priest’ was derived from presbyter, but its Latin word sacerdos, which contains the OT concept of sacrifice, appeared in the 2nd C and became popularized especially by their service for the Eucharist and mass.

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(xii) The Roman Catholic Church understands that three offices of bishop, elder and deacon are unchangeably instituted by the law of God, and divided the power of order potestas ordinis to three orders of episcopatus, presbyteratus, and diaconatus. But, they exclude lay people from offices and appoint all of those three from clergy in the way of hierarchy. It was the fundamental corruption: "In this they very wickedly corrupt the ancient institution, because they create by their ordination not presbyters to lead and feed the people, but priests to perform sacrifices. Similarly, when they consecrate deacons, they do nothing about their true and proper office, but ordain them only for certain rites."(Calvin, Inst, IV.v.4) Bishop has the right to conduct all of seven sacraments, while five sacraments are permitted to presbyter and only two sacraments of baptism and Eucharist to deacon. In the power of jurisdiction potestas iurisdictionis, there are several ranks or orders: Pope, cardinal, patriarch, archbishop, and bishop.

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(xiii) The calling of offices includes both the internal calling and the external calling through the instrumentality of the church. After the examination and election or appointment of the church, they are ordained for authentication and authorization of ministry with laying on of hands. Office is a gift coupled with charisma, "the gift which are granted the Community and thus…the task with which it is confronted," as Otto Weber defined (II: 575-576), for all offices and gifts are granted for the building of the Church.

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(xiv) The church office is the system of commission, not voluntary participation, because the Church and its power belong to the Lord. It is authentic and valid only when Christ gives and commits some particular ministry. While Christ has all of three offices, humans are not allowed to occupy more than one office. The distribution and balance of offices is for the peaceful and humble service for the church. The violation of this rule results in the dis-appointment and dis-miss from the service.

　

3. Three Models of Church Government

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(i) The elder-centered system of the early church was transformed to the bishop-centered system for the unity of the church since the 2nd C, and it was expanded to the class hierarchy by the introduction of the papacy. This system strengthened clericalism, and all offices were robbed of laity to be the exclusive possession of clergy. Though the Reformation was a fundamental challenge to episcopalianism, the Church of England maintained this system, and the Methodist Church out of the Anglican Church followed it. Episcopalian polity, the rule of church by bishop, is similar with the system of monarchy, so that it is effective for the centralized unity but negative for the autonomy of the local congregation and the sovereignty of the laity. Moreover, the dominion style of the secularized bishop is certainly not biblical.

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(ii) Church polity by elder was the dominant form in the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament era, but it disappeared by the Roman Catholic Church. It restored by the Reformation, especially by John Knox of Scotland. However, its creation of the presbytery over the local congregations was more similar to the Jewish Sanhedrin than the elders in the early church. It introduced the political system of parliamentary representation in the Scottish opposition to the English monarchy. As a result, presbyterianism strengthened the democratic procedure of the church polity, but it weakened the equality of church members and the autonomy of the local congregation. The separation of elders from the local congregation is certainly not a biblical idea.

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(iii) The self-polity system by the local congregation was quite natural in the early church, which respected the equality and autonomy of the local congregations, but it disappeared by the hierarchical Roman Catholic Church. It restored by the Reformation and the ecclesiology of the Reformers generally preferred this polity system. It was strongly advocated by R. Browne in 1582 in opposition to the Anglican denial to reform the church polity, and it resulted in the foundation of congregational churches. Baptists also follow this system. Congregationalism strengthens the equality and autonomy of the local congregations under the sole headship of Christ, but there is a danger in congregational individualism and ignorance of church unity. Though Stanley Grenz defended this system that "autonomy of the local church never degenerated into congregational individualism,"(718) Louis Berkhof pointed out that it "has a disintegrating effect, and opens the door for all kinds of arbitrariness in church government."(580-1)

　

4. The Power of the Church and Church Discipline

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(i) As Christ revealed his plan to establish his own church, he promised to give the extraordinary power and authority necessary to his church: "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."(Mt 16.18-19)

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(ii) The power of the church is spiritual and ministerial by nature, and because it is essentially the power of Christ, it is a threefold power that corresponds the threefold office of Christ: teaching power(potestas docendi), governing power(potestas gubernans, including potestas ordinans and potestas iudicans), and helping power(potestas misericordiae).

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(iii) The judicial power of the church demands church discipline. In fact, it was commanded by Christ with a detailed procedure: "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."(Mt 18.14-17)

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(iv) The purpose of church discipline is threefold: (1) to restore the sinner to be reconciler with God and fellow Christians, (2) to keep the sin from spreading to others, and (3) to protect the purity of the church and the honor of Christ. (Grudem, 896)

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(v) Calvin emphasized the limit of church discipline due to the limit of our judgment (Inst, IV.xii.9). Therefore, no curse or exclusion from salvation is a right attitude in church discipline. Then, it becomes "butchery".