Publisher's Synopsis
How a church and/or a denomination is organized has profound implications. It can mean the difference between a divided eldership that eventually splits and an eldership that receives concrete assistance to work through differences. It can mean the difference between a church straying into biblical liberalism and a church holding tightly to the gospel. It can mean the difference between church members feeling that they have a place for appeal against their leaders, and the feeling that they lack any ability to influence those elders. Thus, because of the impact it has we should think carefully about the Biblical form of government. The business world and the political realm have myriad structures and paradigms to give us in terms of how to govern. None of these are inspired or authoritative. Only the Bible comes to us as "breathed out by God" (2 Tim. 3:16). It must, therefore, be our chief source for crafting a Godly government for Christ's church. To say that the Bible offers no normative government is to state a partial truth. Certainly, it does not offer one in a single chapter or verse. Yet, enough is given by the Lord to establish one that is rooted in biblical principle and applicable for all generations and cultures-whether the anti-authoritarian West or the second- and third- worlds. The chief way that the Bible speaks to us about Godly government is by biblical precedent, a topic we will explore more fully later. When the Bible speaks to us in this way we are venturing out into treacherous waters. Precedent has been used to argue for any number of good and evil actions. Thus, the strength of the precedent is critical to assess. Is it an occasional and incidental precedent like Timothy drinking wine for his stomach ailment? (1 Tim. 5:23). Or is it a precedent that seems firmly established in Scripture as normative for the people of God? (E.g., church planting should be the primary means for the expansion of the church). In our opinion, an apostolic government is established solidly in the New Testament. It is not an occasional or incidental precedent, but one demonstrated in Acts and all of the epistles.
