Reference: Church Government
Hastings
1. The general development seems fairly clear, though its later stages fall beyond NT times. The Apostles were founders of churches, and therefore regulated and supervised the first arrangements; then were added sundry local and unlocal rulers; then the unlocal died out, and the local settled down into the three permanent classes of bishops, elders, and deacons. The chief disputed questions concern the origin of the local ministry, its relation to the other, and the time and manner in which it settled down under the government of (monarchical) bishops.
2. Twice over St. Paul gives something like a list of the chief persons of the Church. In 1Co 12:28 he counts up
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from the baptism of John down to the day when he was taken up from us ??of these men one must join us as a witness to his resurrection."
But Peter stood up along with the eleven, and raising his voice he addressed them thus: "Men of Judaea and residents in Jerusalem, let everyone of you understand this ??attend to what I say:
And the younger men rose, wrapped the body up and carried it away to be buried.
So the twelve summoned the main body of the disciples and said: "It is not desirable that we should drop preaching the word of God and attend to meals.
This they carried out, sending their contribution to the presbyters by Barnabas and Saul.
He beckoned to them to keep quiet and then described to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Report this to James," he said, "and to the brothers." And off he went to another place.
But the sorcerer Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) tried to divert the proconsul from the faith.
But when the apostles, Paul and Barnabas, heard this they rent their clothes and sprang out among the crowd,
They chose presbyters for them in every church, and with prayer and fasting entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
The God who reads the hearts of all attested this by giving them the holy Spirit just as he gave it to us;
Then the apostles and the presbyters, together with the whole church, decided to select some of their number and send them with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. The men selected were Judas (called Bar-Sabbas) and Silas, prominent members of the brotherhood.
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the presbyters of the church.
Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you guardians; shepherd the church of the Lord which he has purchased with his own blood.
and started next morning for Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist (he belonged to the Seven, and had four unmarried daughters who prophesied). We stayed with him.
the speaker his words of counsel; the contributor must be liberal, the superintendent must be in earnest, the sick visitor must be cheerful.
Let me introduce our sister Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchreae;
Salute Andronicus and Junias, fellow-countrymen and fellow-prisoners of mine; they are men of note among the apostles, and they have been in Christ longer than I have.
I say this to put you to shame. Has it come to this, that there is not a single wise man among you who could decide a dispute between members of the brotherhood,
Shun idolatry, then, my beloved.
while any woman who prays or prophesies without a veil on her head dishonours her head; she is no better than a shaven woman.
Surely nature herself teaches you that while long hair is disgraceful for a man,
That is to say, God has set people within the church to be first of all apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, and speakers in 'tongues' of various kinds.
That is to say, God has set people within the church to be first of all apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, and speakers in 'tongues' of various kinds.
PAUL an apostle ??not appointed by men nor commissioned by any man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, ??2 with all the brothers who are beside me, to the churches of Galatia;
I saw no other apostle, only James the brother of the Lord.
(for He who equipped Peter to be an apostle of the circumcised equipped me as well for the uncircumcised),
you are a building that rests on the apostles and prophets as its foundation, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone;
which was not disclosed to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his sacred apostles and prophets by the Spirit),
he granted some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to shepherd and teach,
he granted some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to shepherd and teach,
PAUL and Timotheus, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, as well as to the bishops and deacons:
Brothers, we beg you to respect those who are working among you, presiding over you in the Lord and maintaining discipline;
Their wives must be serious too; they must not be slanderers but temperate and absolutely trustworthy.
Never censure an older man harshly; appeal to him as a father. Treat younger men like brothers,
Presbyters who are efficient presidents are to be considered worthy of ample remuneration, particularly those who have the task of preaching and teaching:
Presbyters who are efficient presidents are to be considered worthy of ample remuneration, particularly those who have the task of preaching and teaching:
I left you behind in Crete in order to finish putting things right and to appoint presbyters in every town as I told you,
[For a bishop must be above reproach ??he is a steward of God's house ??he must not be presumptuous or hot-tempered or a drunkard or violent or addicted to pilfering;
Remember your leaders, the men who spoke the word of God to you; look back upon the close of their career, and copy their faith.
Obey your leaders, submit to them; for they are alive to the interests of your souls, as men who will have to account for their trust. Let their work be a joy to them and not a grief ??which would be a loss to yourselves.
Above all, my brothers, never swear an oath, either by heaven or by earth or by anything else; let your "yes" be a plain "yes," your "no" a plain "no," lest you incur judgment.
Is anyone ill? let him summon the presbyters of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
Now I make this appeal to your presbyters (for I am a presbyter myself, I was a witness of what Christ suffered and I am to share the glory that will be revealed),
Still I have this against you: you are tolerating that Jezebel of a woman who styles herself a prophetess and seduces my servants by teaching them to give way to sexual vice and to eat food which has been sacrificed to idols.
And the wall of the City has twelve foundation-stones, bearing the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.