New Testament Elders

08 May New Testament Elders

The idea of Elders is older than the New Testament and much more widespread.  Cities had elders who sat at the gates, and we see an example of that in the story of Ruth.  Boaz went to the gates and made a transaction for a property, and in accordance with the Levirite rules he also married Ruth.

It was clear that there were one set of Elders in Bethlehem when that happened.

And in the book of Acts when the Church was new there was also one set of Elders in Jerusalem.  We are not talking now about Elders of the City, but Elders of the Church in the City.  This was the case even though within Jerusalem were many believers, thousands of them.

Later in Acts 15 there is the Jerusalem Council, a landmark moment that decided the way forward in regards to how to treat Gentiles in light of the Old Testament law.  In that situation was a gathering of apostles and elders, but the elders in question were a key group of people, significant figures in the Jerusalem Church.

Later there is one set of elders in the Church of Ephesus.  Whenever the Lord referred to a church in Revelation it was also one church.  In fact all through the New Testament there is only one church in each place.

What does this mean?

It means that in the mind of God there is only one church in each place, and only one set of elders in each place.  But the way we see it now, is that each ‘congregation’ has a set of elders.  And in each place there may be twenty or thirty congregations, and in some cases they have nothing to do with each other.  In other words, our experience hasn’t been one church in one place with one set of elders, but many churches in one place with many sets of elders.

Thankfully the Lord is working via the Holy Spirit to bring greater love between his people.  We may yet again see the day when there is just one set of Elders in each place.  It may be that it is the senior leaders of the churches that take those roles.  We don’t as yet know how that will all play out, but this is an interesting space to watch and see what God does.