The Responsibility of the Local Church to the Elders

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IMPLIED Duties of the Flock to the Shepherds• They are to RULE and therefore we are to SUBMIT• They are to FEED and thus we are to EAT what is

provided• They are to LEAD and we are to FOLLOW• They are to TEACH and we are to LEARN• They are to PROTECT and we are to BE PROTECTED• They are to WATCH and we are to allow ourselves to be

WATCHED• They are to set an EXAMPLE and we are to IMITATE that

example.

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RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FLOCK TO THE SHEPHERDS•KNOW THE ELDERS (1 Thess. 5:12) • ESTEEM THE ELDERS HIGHLY (1 Thess.

5:13)• LIVE IN PEACE (1 Thess. 5:13) • IMITATE THE ELDERS (Heb. 13:7)

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Imitation of Leaders

• The Hebrew Christians were to compare their wavering in faith to their leaders who remained faithful even unto death. (Hebrews 13:7)

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Elders Are Examples

• Elders are to be an example in faith (Hebrews 13:7) • Elders are to be an example in ruling their homes. (1

Tim. 3:4-5) • Elders are to be an example of faithfulness in marriage (1

Tim. 3:2) • Elders are to be an example in defending the faith (Tit.

1:9) • Elders are examples as teachers, edifiers; etc. (Eph.

4:11-16) • Elders are to be examples in how they treat others. (1

Peter 5:2-3)

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RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FLOCK TO THE SHEPHERDS• KNOW THE ELDERS (1 Thess. 5:12) • ESTEEM THE ELDERS HIGHLY (1 Thess.

5:13)• LIVE IN PEACE (1 Thess. 5:13) • IMITATE THE ELDERS (Heb. 13:7) • OBEY THE ELDERS (Heb. 13:17)

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Obey (Hebrews 13:17)

• BAGD: “…a. convince w. acc. Pers…b. persuade, appeal to, also in a bad sense cajole, mislead…c. win over, strive to please… d. conciliate, pacify, set at ease or rest…Conciliate, satisfy….depend on, trust in, put one’s confidence in w. dat. Of the pers….be convinced, be sure, certain foll…• Vine: “ to persuade, to win over, in the Passive and

Middle Voices, to be persuaded, to listen to, to obey, is so used with this meaning, in the Middle Voice…The obedience suggested is not by submission to authority, but resulting from persuasion.”

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Obey (Hebrews 13:17)• Is not a military term• The expression carries with it the idea of trusting in

one; allowing oneself to be persuaded by a person means that he believes in that person and accepts his judgment.

• Is not a blind obedience• This passage should not be used as an excuse to

disobey the elders every time we disagree with their judgment in the realm of expediency (Ref. Acts 5:29; Rom. 14:5, 23)

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RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FLOCK TO THE SHEPHERDS• KNOW THE ELDERS (1 Thess. 5:12) • ESTEEM THE ELDERS HIGHLY (1 Thess. 5:13)• LIVE IN PEACE (1 Thess. 5:13) • IMITATE THE ELDERS (Heb. 13:7) • OBEY THE ELDERS (Heb. 13:17)• SUBMIT TO THE ELDERS (Heb. 13:17)

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Submit

• BAGD: Yield, fig. give way, submit to someone’s authority….” • Thayer: “…to resist no longer, but to give way,

yield, (prop. Of combatants); metaph. To yield to authority and admonition, to submit: Heb. Xiii. 17.” • Vine: “to retire, withdraw, (hupo, under, eiko, to

yield), hence, to yield, submit, is used metaphorically in Heb. 13:17, of submitting to spiritual guides in the churches.”

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Submission and the Christian

• All Christians are to submit to God (Jas. 4:7) • Citizens are to submit to civil government (1

Peter 2:13-16) • Wives are to submit to husbands (Eph. 5:22-24) • Younger Christians are to submit to older

Christians (1 Peter 5:5) • All Christians are to submit to one another (Eph.

5:21) • All Christians are to submit to elders (Heb. 13:17)

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Submit

• An inward attitude of desiring to yield to authority.• It is more than merely obeying.• We are to submit to the elders. • In the Old Testament God dealt severely with

those who opposed His authorized leaders. (Num. 12:1-15; 16:1-35)

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The Local Church’s Responsibility to the Elders• KNOW (1 Thess. 5:12) • ESTEEM (1 Thess. 5:13) • BE AT PEACE (1 Thess. 5:13) • IMITATE (Heb. 13:7) • OBEY (Heb. 13:17) • SUBMIT (Heb. 13:17) • REBUKE NOT AN ELDER (1 Tim. 5:1)

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Rebuke (epiplesso)

• BAGD: “strike at, rebuke, reprove…tini someone…1 Tim. 5:1…” • Thayer: “a prop. To strike upon, beat upon… b.

trop. To chastise with words, to chide, upbraid, rebuke: 1 Tim. 5:1…” • Vine: “to strike at (epi, upon or at, plesso, to

strike, smite), hence, to rebuke, is used in the injunction against rebuking an elder, 1 Tim. 5:1.”

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Exhort (NKJV)/Appeal (NASB) • Thayer: “…1. To call to one’s side, call for, summon… II. To

address, speak to, (call to, call on), which may be done in the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc.; hence in a variety of senses…1. As in Grk. Auth., to admonish, exhort, … 2. To beg, entreat, beseech…to strive to appease by entreaty…3. To console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort…in pass. To receive consolation, be comforted…of the consolation (comfort) given not in words but by the experience of a happier lot or by happy issue, i.q. to refresh, cheer… 4. To encourage, strengthen, [i.e. in the language of A.V. comfort…] ….5. it combines the ideas of exhorting and comforting and encouraging in Rom. Xii.8; 1 Co. xiv. 31; 1 Th. Iii. . 6. To instruct, teach….”

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Comments: • 1 Timothy 5:1 is not a blanket prohibition against all

rebukes of older men. (Ref. 1 Tim. 5:20) • This is a prohibition of disrespectful rebukes. • NASB—“Do not sharply rebuke an bolder man, but

rather appeal to him as a father, to cthe younger men as brothers,”• NIV—“Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort

him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers,”• NEB—“Never be harsh with an elder; appeal to him as

if he were your father…”• Older men are to be treated in a way that shows respect

to their age and experience. (Ref. Lev. 19:32)

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• Chrysostom: “Rebuke is in its own nature offensive particularly when it is addressed to an old man; and when it proceeds from a young man too, there is a threefold show of forwardness. By the manner and mildness of it, therefore, he would soften it. For it is possible to reprove without offence, if one will only make a point of this; it requires great discretion, but it may be done.” (Quoted in William Barclay, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, And Philemon, pp. 102-103)

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The Local Church’s Responsibility to the Elders• KNOW (1 Thess. 5:12) • ESTEEM (1 Thess. 5:13) • BE AT PEACE (1 Thess. 5:13) • IMITATE (Heb. 13:7) • OBEY (Heb. 13:17) • SUBMIT (Heb. 13:17) • REBUKE NOT AN ELDER (1 Tim. 5:1) • HONOR (1 Tim. 5:17-18)

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Rule (proistemi)

• BAGD: “ 1. Be at the head (of) rule, direct…manage, conduct…”• Thayer: “1. In the trans. Tenses to set or place

before; to set over. 2….to be over, to superintend, preside over,…b. to be a protector or guardian; to give aid… c. to care for, give attention to: w. gen. of the thing…” • Vine: “lit., ‘to stand before,’ hence to lead,

attend to (indicating care and diligence), is translated to rule (Middle Voice), with reference to the local church…”

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Honor• BAGD: 1. Price, value…Also concrete the price received in selling

something…. 2. Honor, reverence—a. act., the showing of honor, reverence, or respect as an action…. B. pass. The respect one enjoys, honor as a possession…. C. as a state of being respectability… d. place of honor, (honorable) office…

• Thayer: 1. A valuing by which the price is fixed; hence the price itself: of the price paid or received for a person or thing bought or sold…honor which belongs or is shown to one: the honor of one who outranks others, pre-eminence….veneration…deference, reverence…1 Tim. 5:17….

• Vine: “primarily a valuing, hence, objectively, (a) a price paid or received …. (b) of the preciousness of Christ unto believers… (c) in the sense of value, of human ordinances, valueless against the indulgence of the flesh… (d) honor, esteem…”

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Double Honor

• Elders are worthy of “Double Honor” (1 Timothy 5:17) • V. 18 is an elaboration of v.17. • Paul quotes Deut. 25:4.• Paul uses the same passage in 1 Cor. 9:9-14 to

teach that a evangelist is eligible to receive material support from the church. • An elder who labors in preaching and teaching

can also receive material support from the church.

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The Local Church’s Responsibility to the Elders• KNOW (1 Thess. 5:12) • ESTEEM (1 Thess. 5:13) • BE AT PEACE (1 Thess. 5:13) • IMITATE (Heb. 13:7) • OBEY (Heb. 13:17) • SUBMIT (Heb. 13:17) • REBUKE NOT AN ELDER (1 Tim. 5:1) • HONOR (1 Tim. 5:17-18) • RECEIVE NOT UNSUBSTANTIATED ACCUSATIONS (1 Tim. 5:19-

20)

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Receive • BAGD: “… accept, receive 1. Accept, acknowledge as

correct… 2. Receive, accept…take back a wife who was dismissed for adultery… of a citizen who wishes to return to his home city after living in a strange land…Corresp. To …receive favorably = love (Proverbs 3:12) Heb. 12:6…”

• Thayer: “… 1. In class. Grk….to receive, take up, take upon one’s self. Hence 2. To admit i.e. not to reject, to accept, receive…

• Vine: to receive or admit with approval (para, beside), is used (a) of persons….(b) of things…”

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Accusation

• Vine: “…This and the verb kategoreo, to accuse, and the noun kategoros, an accuser…all have chiefly to do with judicial procedure, as distinct from diabalo, to slander. It is derived from agora, a place of public speaking….hence it signifies a speaking against a person before public tribunal. It is the opposite of apologia, defence.”

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Witnesses

• BAGD: 1. In the legal sense Acts 7:58; Mt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; 2. Of anyone who can or should testify to anything…

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Two or Three Witnesses

• This precedence of two to three witnesses is founded in the law. • A man was not to be executed on the basis of

an unsubstantiated accusation. (Deut. 17:6)• A man was not to be punished for any sin on

the basis of only one man’s testimony. (Deut. 19:15)

• This principle is carried over into the Law of Christ (2 Cor. 13:1; Matt. 18:15-17)

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How This Applies to Elders• Those who are responsible to correct and lead others

will likely have enemies.• Sooner or later accusations may be made against them. • Accusations against them should not be accepted unless

they can be substantiated with the mouth of two or three witnesses. • H.E. Philips: “Evil men are always ready to charge an

elder with some misdeed or sin. Any such criticism should be regarded as idle gossip unless sustained by two or three unimpeachable witnesses.” (Scriptural Elders and Deacons, pg. 223)

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The Local Church’s Responsibility to the Elders• KNOW (1 Thess. 5:12) • ESTEEM (1 Thess. 5:13) • BE AT PEACE (1 Thess. 5:13) • IMITATE (Heb. 13:7) • OBEY (Heb. 13:17) • SUBMIT (Heb. 13:17) • REBUKE NOT AN ELDER (1 Tim. 5:1) • HONOR (1 Tim. 5:17-18) • RECEIVE NOT UNSUBSTANTIATED ACCUSATIONS (1 Tim. 5:19-

20) • CALL WHEN SICK (Jas. 5:13-15)

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Call When Sick (James 5:13-15)

• Is this talking about spiritual sickness or physical sickness?• If it is physical sickness, is the healing miraculous

or non-miraculous? • What is the significance of the anointing with

oil? • Is the assurance of the healing qualified or

unqualified?

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When Sick Call the Elders

• To the elders is entrusted the oversight of our souls. (Hebrews 13:17) • Elders are to be vigilant (1 Tim. 3:2)•We have the obligation to call them.

(James 5:13-15)

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The Local Church’s Responsibility to the Elders• KNOW (1 Thess. 5:12) • ESTEEM (1 Thess. 5:13) • BE AT PEACE (1 Thess. 5:13) • IMITATE (Heb. 13:7) • OBEY (Heb. 13:17) • SUBMIT (Heb. 13:17) • REBUKE NOT AN ELDER (1 Tim. 5:1) • HONOR (1 Tim. 5:17-18) • RECEIVE NOT UNSUBSTANTIATED ACCUSATIONS (1 Tim. 5:19-

20) • CALL WHEN SICK (Jas. 5:13-15)

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