A General Category of Mature Men

Elders serve in various ways such as preaching, teaching, and overseeing—that is, supervision. We know that they have various functions because different passages of Scripture call these same men by different names.

Notice, for example, how elders are called overseers in the same passage. Elder is used interchangeably with overseer in the following passage. The two terms describe the same person. Why? Because the same person has different functions.

… [Paul said to Titus that he should] set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man is above reproach… for the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward… (Titus 1:5-7).

Also, in the following passage it says that there are some elders whose work is preaching and teaching, meaning that there were elder-teachers (in contrast with the elder-overseers in the previous passage).

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching (1 Timothy 5:17).

So, are elders pastor-teachers? Yes, some are. But not necessarily all elders are pastor-teachers. The fact that some elders served in preaching and teaching clearly indicates that not all of them had that job. In other words, if there were elders ‘whose work is preaching and teaching,’ then it stands to reason that there were other elders whose work was not preaching and teaching.

Any honest Bible student will conclude that the term elders does not only refer to pastor-teachers or overseers. Other elders can very well be missionaries, prophets, or evangelists.

Therefore, the term elders is a general category of mature men who lead in a church. It doesn’t matter what particular ministry an elder has. What matters is that an elder be experienced. In some translations, the elders are collectively called the council of elders, the eldership, or the presbytery.

Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was granted to you through words of prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders (1 Timothy 4:14; NASB)

An Older Elder

The word elder comes from the word older, of course--and age implies experience. The Jews of Jesus’ day were offended by Jesus because of his youth. They judged Jesus, a man just over 30, to be arrogant to compare himself with Abraham. Why? Because of Abraham's age. He lived to be 175 according to Genesis 25:7.

‘You are not yet fifty years old,’ they said to him, ‘and you have seen Abraham?’ (John 8:57)

Jesus, of course, did not merely put himself on the same level as Abraham--he declared that he was much greater than Abraham. That infuriated the Pharisees even more. In Jesus’ society, to be an elder and to be esteemed as a religious leader, a man must have reached at least the age of 50.

Does your culture respect older men? Or does your culture look down upon them?

Is age a virtue or a weakness in your culture?

At what age is a man considered to be “mature” in your culture?

Levels of maturity vary from place to place, ethnicity to ethnicity, and generation to generation. In many societies today, retirement is obligatory at age 65 because people are not as productive in work after age 65. But that's not the way the Bible views old age. It says that getting old is a glorious accomplishment--something to be proud of.

Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness (Proverbs 16:31).

Not One Single...

In the New Testament, the word elder appears in the plural (elders) 64 times, but it only appears 5 times in the singular (elder). Proportionally, that’s almost 13 times more usages of the plural than the singular for the word elder in the New Testament.

What does this mean? It means that, if you want to be more Biblical and to speak the way God speaks, you should almost always speak of a group—a council of elders—to align with the truth that a plurality of men must lead in God’s Church.

It also means that no congregation should be led by just one man.

There should always be a group of men leading in a Christian church—and they should be mature. Nowadays you’ll be hard pressed to find a congregation where a group of mature men are leading.

In some churches men lead; but very few have mature men of good testimony capable of teaching sound doctrine. That’s what the Church had when it started. It’s certainly not going to be what the Church has when it ends.

When the Church is in its twilight, and as it drifts into apostasy, false brethren will be busy heaping up teachers who cater to their fleshly desires. The teachers in churches will be busy preaching another gospel, not a message which agrees with sound doctrine.

To slow the arrival of those days, Paul commanded Timothy to preach the Scriptures. That's God's remedy. There are no shortcuts.

Preach the Word… For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires (2 Timothy 4:3; NASB).

Old and New Testament Elders

In the Old Testament, the term elder is used in no less than 138 verses. Here’s one example:

... Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God (Exodus 18:12).

Now, 138 verses is a lot—it’s double the number of times the term elders appears in the New Testament! You can see that male leadership has always been a well-established tradition among people who fear God, both Jews and Gentiles. The Jews have maintained patriarchal customs throughout their 4,500-year history.

The apostles used the term the elders to describe the leaders of the Jews. For example, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling body in the time of Jesus, a group consisting of priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees was referred to as the elders in the New Testament.

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the High Priest, who was named Caiaphas, and plotted in order that they could arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him (Matthew 26:3; LEB).

Those same elders crucified Jesus. Since our Lord challenged the system they controlled, and they didn’t want to lose their power, they attempted to destroy him. Their plan was thwarted by Jesus’ resurrection.

Presently, because of the Jewish elders who plotted to destroy our Lord Jesus, if you’re a Christian, the term elders tends to have a negative connotation. Here are the elders mentioned in the Gethsemane capture of Jesus:

… while he was still speaking, Judas—one of the Twelve—arrived, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders (Mark 14:43; LEB).

It’s evident that a group of mature men can be a blessing or a curse when they lead God's people. It all depends on their character. Consider the history of Israel. Their leaders had become irreversibly tainted by corruption by the time Jesus came along.

Nonetheless, the positive aspects of Jewish patriarchy dovetailed into the Christian Church—and that meant that mature men exercised leadership in the first churches. That tradition is being greatly challenged in churches around the World today.

Many churches insist that their pastors be women or that women take important roles in Church leadership. Those churches feel very tolerant, progressive, loving, and open-minded with their push for women’s leadership, but they do not understand the Biblical backdrop to the tradition of male leadership.

The Basis of the Tradition

Paul says that male leadership in the Church is based on the Law. The Law means the Old Testament. Paul says that male spiritual leadership is a tradition passed down from the Old Covenant to those of us in the New Covenant.

Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says (1 Corinthians 14:34-35).

Furthermore, male leadership can be traced further back. You can trace it all the way back to God’s design in Creation. So male leadership is not just a Jewish tradition. It is greater than tradition. It’s a principle grounded in the natural order. It’s based upon the order of Creation when God made Adam and Eve, the first humans.

Pay close attention to how Paul uses the word for here:

Let a woman learn in silence with all submission… For Adam was formed first, then Eve (1 Timothy 2:11-13; NKJV).

Explaining All This

So, what do we say to the feminists on this truth that men should lead--and that God intentionally made man before he made woman so that man would lead the woman? God wanted man to take the first steps and then woman to follow him.

Paul's words are too hard for most people in the modern world to assimilate. Should we try to explain the passage to them and the feminists? Should we try to explain it to a society committed to egalitarianism? No. We’ve already done that.

Should we plead with them and go on and on about how God loves them? No. Just tell them that if they ignore it, then they’ll be "ignored by the Lord."

Why debate with them? Let them debate with Jesus. That women should not teach in the congregation of God's Church is a command from the Lord Jesus. It's not an order from men. Paul said this:

If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored (1 Corinthians 14:37-38).

The Bible’s Transition to Christian Elders

From Acts 11:30 onward you’ll notice that the term elders is no longer used to refer to Jewish leaders, but to refer to the leading men of the Christian Church. It is used eight more times in Acts (after Acts 11:30), and 9 more times in other New Testament books, and every one of those times it is specifically about Christian leadership, not Jewish leadership.

Therefore the connotation of the word elders changes after Acts 11. It goes from a negative to a positive connotation. What follows is one of the passages that has the positive connotation. It's positive because it speaks of Christian elders, Church leaders.

… by it [faith] the elders obtained a good testimony (Hebrews 11:2; NKJV).

We hope that the word elders has a positive connotation in your mind today. If it doesn’t, then use another word for a Church leader--one that’s most suitable to your language and culture. The word doesn't matter. The meaning matters, and the definition of a Church leader in your mind should be a man with maturity and wisdom, faithfulness and authority.

Elder Honor

In Western society, people generally have a disdain for the elderly. We tend to value youth more than senior citizens. We tend to put more importance on teens than on the elderly. However, Christian elder Church leaders should be given a distinction of honor.

If you have any doubts as to the honor associated with being an elder, consider that they are mentioned no less than 12 times as the men—the only ones besides Jesus himself—who are in Heaven right now!

Moreover, God has given elders and no one else the honor of sitting in a circle around his Throne. Is there a greater honor than this in the Universe? Jesus is ‘standing at the center of the Throne’ but the 24 elders are sitting around it.

Surrounding the Throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders (Revelation 4:4).

I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the Throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders (Revelation 5:6).

And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God (Revelation 11:16).

The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the Throne. And they cried: ‘Amen, Hallelujah!’ (Revelation 19:4)

God's Throne is the primary place of power in the Universe. The four passages above speak about the closest a person can get to God's Throne, and who is there? Elders are there. What can we say about such a truth? If God honors elders in such a manner, so should we.

How fortunate is a congregation led by mature men!