Newspaper Page Text
y
g|M
vnH^IHK9
VOL. LXXXVII. R1CHN
The Scriptural
(/4 sermon Ay Stonewall J
Septem
Read Acts 15:2-0. 22-24, 30, 31; 16:4. 5; 20:
17-32.
Texts: Acts 21:18, ". . . and all the elders
were present." 1 Tim. 4:14, "(liven thee . . .
with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery."
Titus 1:5, "Set in order the things wanting (left
undone). . y . and ordain elders in every
church." 1 Peter 5:1, "The elders which are
among you I exhort, who am also an elder (a fellow
elder)." Acts 20:28, "Take heed unto yourselves
and to the Hock over which the Holy Ghost
has made you overseers (bishops)."
T shall not attempt to construct a form of
church government, hut rather to note at certain
points the development of the Church and follow
the definite teachings of the Scriptures on the subject
of church government, which teachings are
along certain lines of construction in the Bible.
The Church of God was organized in the house
hold of Adam. It is here we find all the essential
principles of the Church of God even in its latest
developments. In this original state the C hurch
did not need to have an elaborate form of government
expressed, for reasons that will readily l>e
suggested to every one who cares to think on the
subject. When the number of families began to
increase upon the earth, a system of government
was revealed, and that system is referred to with
sufficient clearness that we may with assurance say
tl.nl ..n "] i. 1 Xl -i- 1-- -e it *
iiiciw ?vc iiiiu^rsuuiii me principles 01 tins system 01
government, and even somewhat of the detailed
application of these principles.
These principles appear in the references to the
authority exercised under the recorded instruction
and guidance of God touching the heads of families.
The government of the Church in its first
centuries was theocratic, hut this government
must of necessity he applied through men as instruments
in God's hands. There are many inferences
in the word of God that cm firm this view.
Two of t::e latest references are to Terah and
"nuu'j, i u muse, us a prominent example aooat ine
time of Abraham, we may add Job The authority
evidently exercised by these heads of families, and
specially in the ease of Terali, shows the principles
of the government.
When we come to the family history of Jacob in
Egypt we find clearer references. Jacob had been
in Egypt seventeen years when he died. "Joseph
and his elders, and all the elders of the land of
Egypt, went up with the men of Israel to bury
JflPfVh in n TJ. ?:il l ?
?? ... I.IIC laiiu ui vallUUH. II Will liu I1UICU
hero that the term "elder" is used as a word that
needs no explanation. It was understood by all.
(Gen. 50:7.) *
The system of government seems clearer when
the next mention of elders is made, in Ex. 3:16;
1 :?0. Elders are mentioned here in a manner that
indicates a thorough understanding of the relation
and authority already recognized.
lOND, NEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA, A
Form of Churc
r. McMurru. bu the abtonintment of Dalian Pr
iber, 1911, and Pctrolia Church, September,
The elders as representatives of the whole congregation
are mentioned first in Ex. 12:3, 21;
and next in Fx. 17:5.
The limit on the number of elders is made first
in Ex. 24:9; and this number (70) appears as
the fixed number of these ofiieials in Numbers 11:
1(5, 24, 25; and about the same time the elders appear
as the representatives of the whole congregation
in connection with the sin-offering for the
whole congregation, as in T,evit. 4:13-15. The
system of church government had expanded to the
limit set by the Head of the Church, and lie indicates
that the Church must now recognize thi>
limitation until further indications should be
given.
The responsibility of the elders of Israel is
brought out in Dent. 21 :l-9, 18-21; and in 22:1821.
This point in the development of the system
of government in the Church of God "is of very
great importance, for the principle of the responsibility
of the elders for the whole congregation
is one point from which God has never indicated
there should he ?nv deviation rPhia mnmnvar
a matter on which there needs to be a great awakening
on the part the whole Church. Especially
should there he an awakening among the elders
of the Church. Attention is needed to the chiss
of men who are inducted into the office of elder. I
do not here refer to any difference as to those distinctions
that are commonly made by the world,
but to the distinctions that Cod makes in the
Scriptures touching those who are to be inducted
infn airno in aKhvaIi T4- Ia 4-V?? ~f
iiivv ?'i i iii iiiv v/ll u i l! i< 1 i 1 i* 11ii." illl l \ u l l111"
whole Church to lav such great and continuous
stress on the character of the men for this oilice;
hut the men who are elected should realize what
it means lo be called inio the office whore th.ey are
"overseers'** over the flock of God. Men should
take themselves seriously to task with reference to
this matter, and see to it that they are indeed called
to this oflicc by the Tfohj Ghost. This is needed
more w;th reference to the ruling elders of the
Church than with reference to the teaching elders,
for the reason that there are soul-searching tests
provided for the teaching eider, beginning with
the usual very clo?o examination of the candidate
as he is taken under the care of the Presbytery and
examined as "to his motives for seeking the gospel
ministry." Then there follows the soul-trying
course of preparation required bv our Church, attended
by the numerous discouragements of the
seven years of college and seminary course, with
the required examinations, and then the necessary
examinations before the Presbytery precedent to
the ordination to the office of teaching elder. No
such repeated tests are required of the ruling
elders precedent to the indiif*tinr> irifn ttmir nflR
X - - - ---WW iUVi. U.UVV,
and therefor* it is necessary that there should be
in the minds of the members of the churches, ineluding
especially the men who may be elected to
this high office, a very high standard of devotion,
\
RAL PRESBYTER/AN <T
1THERN PRESBYTEJPJAH
UGUST 6, 1913. NO. 54- 3 A
1 ">!
:H laovernment
esbytery, at Wolf Ridge Church,
1913.)
piety, and recognition of responsibility, in the call
of the Holy Ghost to this office.
1 will not take the time here to call attention to
the exceedingly rich reward that God has, in the
very nature of the office, promised unto those who
are called into this office, but merely call attention
to what the Apostle Paul says in Heb. 13:17,
". . . Micy watch for souls, as they that must
give account, . . . they may do it with joy,
and not with grief." It is no light matter to thus
i>c charged with watching lor souls, with the added
assurance that God shall ask what degree of care
and faithfulness marked the work and the privilege.
From the point at which the responsibility of
the eiders is first indicated, the system or form
of church government is developed to that form
that was universal in the Church at the time of the
coming of the Lord Jesus.
Hundreds of texts in the Old Testament refer
to ''the elders of Israel," suggesting, outlining, anil
stating their authority in tlie theocratic (Godruling)
Church-State of the people of God
At the coming of the Lord Jesus some slight interference
is noted in the previous long standing
system of church government, an interference
more with the State ?ide than with the Church side
of that system.
In the New Testament the word prksbutebos,
presbyter, always translated "elder," is used
twenty-eight times in reference to the rulers of the
Jewish Church, and the same word is used in referring
to officers in Christian congregations
thirty-two times. No explanation of the duties of
the "elders*' is made, and this indicates that the
office among the .lews was well known and needed
no explanation.
Jesus and all the Apostles, sixteen in number,
were members of the Jewish Church and were
never, so far as the record indicates, excommunicated
from that Church. All the early evangelists
were also members of the same Church. All
these, including Jesus himself, not only recognized
the authority of the Jewish Church, as exercised
fhrmicrVi Jfa "nl/U , ? rir -T '
?ft" ? => ilit-* Ksiiurcn uj uoa, out as
far as the record states, either by word or inference,
they had no other thought than to approve of
its form of government as God-given. Nav, they
even insist on deference being paid to those who
were in authority, even though at the same time
reproving directly those same officers who were
guilty of misrule. The Scriptures do not even
hint at the idea thai either Jesus or His disciples
lmd even the slightest intention of setting up a
separate Church. The evidence is all to the effect
flint lmt fnr th? - "r
.... ijhhti |(iim-i'uihmis <>i me .lews,
c ontinued so long, there never would have been
any distinction drawn between the Jewish synagogues
of Christ and Gentiles churches of Christ.
The Jewish attitude toward the Greek Septuagint
version of the Old Testament, a Greek translation