AUTHORITY OF ELDERS

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour received a letter from a man who identified himself
as a “Hebrew Christian Evangelist.” He apparently does not believe the Lord’s church
should have elders.
You preach a pretty good sermon, Sir, but you ruin it by saying it is being preached
under the oversight of the ELDERS of your church, instead of saying you are
preaching the sermon according to the Great Commission of Jesus.
You need to be out in the field, one on one, for best results. I imagine your
ELDERS (?) like the earthly kingdom, having people bow and scrape to curry favor
with them, using money in the collection plate to pay their individual taxes to IRS, or
for their kingdom TO PAY NO TAXES TO EITHER THE IRS, STATE OR TO
THE COUNTY OR TO THE CITY. AND of course, THE ELDERS probably say
there is a separation of church and state. YET JESUS NEVER said there was a
separation of church and state. (Capital letters in the correspondence, W. C.)

Signed,
A Hebrew Christian Evangelist, in the field (unpaid)
I wonder if the “Hebrew Christian Evangelist” has been keeping up with what has
occurred over the past twenty years with some of the televangelists, such as, Jimmy
Swaggart and Jim Bakker. If those ministries had been under some kind of supervision,
they might not have made so many inexcusable blunders. Most of the televangelists are
not accountable to anyone. O I know some of them claim to work under boards of
directors, but do the boards actually have any control over preachers like Paul Crouch,
Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Gloria Copeland? Does anyone really believe a
board could influence what Benny Hinn decides to do? If the board members disagreed
with his decisions, they would be gone in a New York minute.
THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY
I read in a bulletin that the New Testament never uses the word “authority”
(exousias) of elders of the Lord’s church. That is unquestionably true, but what does it

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prove? Does it prove that elders have no authority in the local church? The word
“authority” is never used of parents either. Do parents have no authority over their
children? As a child, I might have been happy with that arrangement, but that was not
the way it worked at our house. The New Testament never uses the word “authority” of
husbands, but no one should miss the import of Paul’s statement: “For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church” (Eph. 5:23).
AN ANALYSIS OF HEBREWS 13:17a
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for
your souls, as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with
grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Heb. 13:17). The word “obey” (peitho) is not the
usual word rendered “obey” (hupakouo). Peitho is present middle imperative and means
to keep on obeying as a result of persuasion. Some writers have attempted to make a
major distinction between these two words. They argue that obedience to church leaders
must come as a result of persuasion. Should not all obedience on the part of adults come
after persuasion? Those church leaders who run roughshod over members are not being
wise. They must teach, encourage, warn, exhort and persuade. Elders must not attempt
to be lords over God’s heritage. They are to be examples unto the flock (1 Pet. 5:3).
The word “submit” (hupeikete) is present active imperative and means to yield
under, to give up. It is used only this one time in the New Testament. Members of the
body of Christ must continuously yield to the judgment of the elders of the church. But
no eldership is wise that does not seek the advice and support of the members. They
should keep the members informed. I know a case where the elders fired a preacher.
When the members asked the elders why they had fired the preacher, the elders
responded: “That is none of your business.” The church lost about one-third of its
members because of the poor judgment on the part of the elders. (I shall have more to
say on the last part of Hebrews 13:17 in our lesson on “Accountability of Elders).
AUTHORITY IMPLIED IN TITLES APPLIED TO ELDERS

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 Although the New Testament never uses the word “authority” (exousias) of elders,
the words that New Testament writers apply to elders suggest necessarily that elders have
authority. The word “elder” (presbuteros) does necessarily imply authority. For
example, Peter quotes Amos as saying, “Your old men (presbuteroi) shall dream dreams”
(Acts 2:17). Not all old men in the church have authority. Only those older men whom
the church selects to be elders have authority.
Paul uses the words “elder” and “overseer” interchangeably (Acts 10:17, 28; Tit.
1:5, 7). The word “overseer” is a translation of the Greek episkopous. Every other time
the word appears in the King James Version of the New Testament it is transliterated
“bishop” (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:7; 1 Pet. 2:25). Must not an overseer have
authority to oversee? An overseer in an industrial plant or in government service must
have authority to oversee. Otherwise the title “overseer” has no meaning.
The King James Version refers to elders of the church as “pastors” (Eph. 4:11).
The Greek word translated “pastor” is poimen. The Greek New Testament uses the word
eighteen times and only in Ephesians 4:11 is the word rendered “pastors.” If a man owns
a flock of sheep and appoints a shepherd to look after his sheep, he has to give the
shepherd authority to carry out his task.
THE DUTIES OF ELDERS DEMAND AUTHORITY
It makes absolutely no sense for the Lord to arrange for the church to have elders,
to assign responsibilities to those elders and then not give them the authority to take care
of their tasks. Paul commanded the Ephesian elders: “Take heed therefore unto
yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to
feed the flock of God, which he has purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). There
is a sense in which all of Christians are to take heed to others. But there is a special duty
of elders to take heed to the flock. The word “feed” (poimaino) should probably be
rendered “shepherd,” since the duties of elders are broader than just feeding, as this verse
teaches. The apostle Peter uses the same word when he pled with his fellow elders:

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“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by
constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind” (1 Pet. 5:2). The term,
“taking the oversight,” is a translation of the Greek episkopountes—the verb form of the
noun transliterated “bishop.” It does not make sense to speak of men’s having oversight
if they do not have the authority to oversee.
Our text says that elders are to “watch for our souls, as they that must give an
account.” All of us are our brothers’ keepers. That was Paul’s reason for urging the
Roman Christians: “Let us follow after the things that make for peace, and things
wherewith one may edify another….It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor
anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak” (Rom. 14:19,
21). Paul explains the Christian’s duty to be concerned for others. “Wherefore if meat
make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, lest I make my
brother to offend” (1 Cor. 8:13). But do not elders have special obligations to watch for
our souls?
WHY SOME OBJECT TO ELDERS HAVING AUTHORITY
There is a crisis of authority in our culture. Many of our children and young
people have no respect for the authority of their parents, of their schoolteachers, of the
law and even of God. Their lack of respect has resulted from the teaching of their parents
(or lack of teaching), of the schools and of the churches. Children are not born into this
world knowing they should obey authorities. They have to be taught both by precept and
by example.
When the elders of a congregation have to fire a preacher, sometimes the preacher
decides the elders have no authority. Preachers have even been known to bring lawsuits
against the elders. If the elders to not have authority to fire a preacher, they had no
authority to hire him. Even if the elders use poor judgment in firing a preacher, the
preacher uses even poorer judgment in seeking to retain his position. Personally, I would
not want to stay one moment longer than the elders of the church want me to stay.

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