Christian Research Journal Reads Episode 152: Are Pastors and Church Government Biblical? Authority and the Church in the New Testament Era

This is Episode 152 of Christian Research Journal Reads. This is an audio version of the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL article, “Are Pastors and Church Government Biblical? Authority and the Church in the New Testament Era and Beyond” by Matthew M. Kennedy. This article was published exclusively online in the Christian Research Journal, volume 48, number 03 (2025). https://www.equip.org/articles/are-pastors-and-church-government-biblical-authority-and-the-church-in-the-new-testament-era-and-beyond/


 It was accompanied by Postmodern Realities Episode 463: Are Pastors and Church Government Biblical? Authority and the Church in the New Testament Era and Beyond.


This podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. As the flagship publication of the Christian Research Institute, the Journal seeks to equip followers of Christ to think and to live Christianly—to exercise truth and experience life. Truth, especially essential Christian doctrine, forms the basis for how we live our lives in Christ. As the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”The Christian Research Journal enjoyed a print incarnation of almost 45 years. Now exclusively an online publication, the Journal consists of thousands of free articles. We hope that through these audio articles you are not only equipped to proclaim and defend your faith but that as a disciple you also draw closer to Christ in your walk with Him.  You can find the written version of each article that is an episode of Christian Research Journal Reads at the website of the Christian Research Institute, equip.org. All Christian Research Journal articles at equip.org are completely free and do not require a subscription and are not under a paywall.All episodes will be available at the following podcast platforms with more being added daily! You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!You can view off our Website at the at this link and off our Journal main page. 



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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is episode one hundred and fifty two of the
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast. Our Pastors and Church Government,
Biblical Authority and the Church in the New Testament Era
and Beyond, by Matthew M. Kennedy. This article was published
exclusively online in the Christian Research Journal, Volume forty eight,

(00:31):
number three, and twenty twenty five. The Christian Research Journal
Reads Podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles.
To read the full text of this article and its documentation,
please go to equip dot org dot's e qu ip
dot org.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Are Pastors in Church Government, Biblical Authority, and the Church
in the New Testament Era and Beyond. This article is
by Matthew M. Kennedy and is read by an automated voice.
I am a cradle Anglican, baptized when I was three
years old into the Episcopal Church, and serving now as
a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. Almost

(01:16):
all of my church life has been lied within a
hierarchical structure, with a bishop near at hand, for better
or sometimes for worse. I say almost all of my
church life, because there was a brief time when the
congregation I served and still serve existed functionally, though not officially,
as an independent congregation. At the time, I welcomed the

(01:37):
respite from episcopal authority, since the bishop under whom I
had last served had joined with the majority of Episcopalian
bishops to approve the blessing of same sex sexual relationships
and the ordination of non celibate homosexual candidates into holy orders.
That approval spark years of bitter conflict within the episcopal Church,

(01:58):
with many congregations mining included leaving the denomination and losing
their property and assets as a consequence. During those years,
it was easy to question the usefulness of bishops, or
of any extra congregational authority. How wise is it to
set congregations within an authority structure that, should that structure

(02:18):
fall into error or apostasy, has the power to subvert, damage,
or even destroy them. Wouldn't it be better for congregations
to exist independently of one another, or at least bound
so loosely that should one go bad, the rest remain unaffected.
These questions with which I wrestled are grounded in practical concerns,
not principle, but many evangelicals consider congregational independence a matter

(02:42):
of biblical fidelity, a smaller number, but perhaps growing in
the wake of very public pastoral abuse scandals question the
Biblical basis for any hierarchy at all, even on the
congregational level. Does the New Testament, they ask, establish the
institution we call the pastoral office? Or is that something
people in the church created to exercise power over other believers?

(03:07):
Are there pastors in the New Testament? That last question
is a good place to begin. Before we ask whether
there should be ecclesial authorities over and above a local congregation,
we should ask whether there should be any authorities at
all apart from Jesus and the Bible. The answer to
that question is an unequivocal yes. In One Timothy three

(03:28):
to one thirteen, Paul gives instructions for appointing qualified over
seers and deacons, and in Titus one to five nine
he reiterates many of those qualifications for Titus, whom Paul
left on the island of Crete to raise up elders.
It is in his instructions to Titus our Presbyterian friends
will hasten to point out that Paul uses the term

(03:49):
translated overseer episcopos slash episcopos from which we get the
English word episcopal, applied later exclusively to the office of bishop,
and the term translated elder presbuteros slash presbteros, from which
we get the English word presbyter, and the Presbyterians take
their name interchangeably. This suggests that in the early Church

(04:13):
there were not three offices bishop slash overseer, elder slash presbyter,
and deacon, but only two, the elder slash overseer and
the deacon. In one Peter five, Peter, addressing elders, tells
them to shepherd the flock of God first two. The
word translated shepherd is the verbal form of the noun

(04:34):
poyman slash poymen which in Latin his pastor. The noun
form of the word is used by Paul in Ephesians
for eleven twelve. And he gave the apostles, the prophets,
the evangelists, the shepherds poymenus slash poymenus, and teachers to
acquit the saints for the work of ministry. So at

(04:55):
this point we can say that the offices of elder
slash overseer and deacon our New Testament offices, and that
the role of elder slash overseer was associated by Peter
with the task of the shepherd slash pastor, and that
Paul almost certainly uses the term shepherd slash pastor as
a title for elders slash overseers in Ephesians for eleven twelve.

(05:18):
Since Luke tells us and Acts fourteen twenty three that
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in every church.
With prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord
in whom they had believed, we can also say that
these elders slash overseers or to exercise their ministries in
local congregations. But do these offices carry authority with them?

(05:40):
Are Christians bound to submit themselves to their pastors slash
elders slash overseers? Do pastors have authority within congregations? The
answer to these questions is also yes. Peter, after instructing
elders to shepherd the flock of God one Peter chapter five,
verse two goes on to command the younger people and

(06:01):
the congregations to which he writes, who might be more
prone to youthful rebellion, to be subject to the elders
chapter five, verse five. Some may object that, since the
word elder can refer to an older person, Peter may
simply be instructing young people to respect older people. The context, however,
rules out that possibility. After describing the task of the

(06:24):
elder as that of a shepherd, he adds that those
elders who do well will receive an unfading crown of
glory when the chief shepherd appears chapter five, verse four,
an obvious reference to Jesus and his return. The implication
is that the elders exercise as shepherding authority within the
congregation beneath, analogous to the authority Jesus exercises over the

(06:47):
whole church. Other passages confirm this understanding. The author of
Hebrews writes, obey your leaders and submit to them, for
they are keeping watch over your souls. Thirteen seventeen. Paul
asks those in the Thessalonian church to respect those who
labor among you and are over you in the Lord
and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in

(07:09):
love because of their work one Thessalonians five twelve thirteen.
While these two texts do not use the word elder
or overseer, it seems obvious there being no other leadership
office identified in the New Testament that elders slash overseers
are in view. In one Timothy five seventeen. Moreover, Paul

(07:29):
explicitly describes the role of the elder as ruling or
exercising authority in the congregation. Let the elders who rule
well be considered worthy of double honour, especially those who
labor in preaching and teaching. These passages establish sufficient proof
that the Apostles appointed elders slash overseers, and that those
occupying this office exercised authority within local congregations. It is

(07:54):
also interesting and important to note that in these passages
Peter and Paul, and the author of Hebrews also assume
that the believer will live out his or her Christian
life bound up together with other believers in such congregations.
The New Testament knows nothing of the contemporary solo Christian
whose only pastor is Jesus and only instructor is the Bible.

(08:15):
Jesus himself giving instructions for discipline within congregations in Matthew
eighteen fifteen twenty assumes that his followers will relate to
one another within congregations where it is possible to work
out differences face to face and slash or to be
under congregational discipline if necessary. Does the New Testament establish

(08:36):
any authority above the congregation. Turning now to the question
of independent or loosely confederated congregations versus extra congregational hierarchy,
here too the case for hierarchy proves conclusive. Before turning
to specific texts, we should note the implicit unity among
and between the congregations addressed by the New Testament authors.

(08:58):
Peter sends his first epistle to be disseminated among congregations
in the regions of Pontus, Galicia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithenia
one Peter, Chapter one, verse one, with the expectation that
the instructions in his letter are both applicable to every
congregation in each region and authoritative within them. Paul's letter
to the Galatian congregations carries the same assumption as does

(09:21):
John's revelation specifically addressed to the seven churches in modern
day Turkey. In one Corinthians eleven sixteen, referring to head
coverings in public worship, Paul instructs the Corinthian congregation to
conform to the common practice of the wider churches of God.
He does the same when addressing women speaking in public
worship in One Corinthians fourteen thirty three thirty four. Paul's

(09:45):
collection from the Gentile congregations for distribution to the impoverished
congregations in Jerusalem and Judea, described in two Corinthians eight
to nine, is predicated on the principle that while there
are many local churches or congregations, they are all all
bound together by one spirit, one Lord, one faith, and
one baptism Ephesians four to four to six, so that

(10:07):
their contribution shows their confession of the Gospel of Christ.
Two Corinthians nine thirteen. All this suggests that local congregations
in the New Testament were not considered independent entities loosely confederated,
but that the churches of God were one, and that
the Apostles themselves exercised extra congregational authority over them. To

(10:29):
all of this, those who argue for local independence will agree,
but insist that the union of the churches was and
remains only a spiritual union. The authority the apostles held
over all the churches then now resides exclusively in the
New Testament. The apostles continue to rule the church by
the authority of their writings, and while the apostles during

(10:50):
their lifetimes exercised authority over all the congregations, there is
no indication that they passed this authority on to others.
There is much to agree with you. The union of
one congregation with another is a spiritual union first and foremost,
their unity marked by faithful preaching, the right use of
the sacraments, and common discipline and discipleship. This is why,

(11:13):
despite denominational differences, Christians worshiping in an Anglican congregation and
those worshiping in a Baptist congregation can recognize one another
as Christians and members of the one flock under the
Chief Shepherd. But does the spiritual union recognized by those
marks necessarily preclude external authority structures. Further, it is true

(11:35):
that the apostles continue to exercise authority over and within
local congregations through the scriptures, and that the office of
apostle formally ceased with the death of the last apostle,
those who both bore witness to Christ's resurrection and were
appointed by him. But does that necessarily mean that the
apostles never intended for any version of extra congregational oversight

(11:57):
to continue. I do not, in what fought follow intend
to argue for a particular form of extra congregational authority.
The case doesn't depend on there being something akin to
the Roman Catholic system, Eastern Orthodox system, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian,
or Methodist systems. Instead, the case depends on there being

(12:18):
some kind of extra congregational authority structure, not directly involving
the apostles, but existing with the approval of and slash
or established by the apostles with apostolic warrant. The first
example supporting the existence of such an apostolically approved extra
congregational authority structure can be found in the person of James,

(12:38):
the brother of the Lord Galatians one nineteen James was
not an apostle, yet he oversaw the Jerusalem churches. Luke
in Acts fifteen provides a record of a church council
held in Jerusalem to decide whether gentile believers would be
required to be circumcised and submit to the ceremonial laws
of the Old Covenant. Peter and both attend this council,

(13:01):
along with the apostles and elders Hacts fifteen to six.
The presence of the elders at the council, along with
the great number of believers in Jerusalem Hacks twenty one
twenty indicates there must be more than one congregation. One
might expect Peter or one of the other apostles to
preside over the meeting. Instead, James presides. He is the

(13:23):
last to speak, and he is the one who seems
to issue the final verdict. Therefore, my judgment is that
we should not trouble those of the gentiles who turn
to God, but should write to them to abstain from
the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and
from what has been strangled, and from blood from ancient generations.
Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him,

(13:46):
for he has read every Sabbath in the Synagogues, Acts fifteen,
nineteen twenty one, emphasis added. The council then drafts the
letter in keeping with james a judgment, with the expectation
that congregations around the Roman world will recognize and submit
to the word of the Council, including both apostles and elders,
that met under the authority of a church leader who

(14:07):
is not an Apostle. Later, in Acts twenty one seventeen
twenty six, when Paul arrives in Jerusalem bearing the large
gift from the Gentile churches in the East, James meets
him in the company of all the Jerusalem Elders. Acts
twenty one eighteen. James and the elders tell Paul to
participate personally in a purification rite in the Temple and

(14:29):
to pay the expenses for the required sacrifices for four
Jewish Christians who have presumably taken a Nazareth vow, so
that all will know that there is nothing in what
they have been told about you, but that you your
self also live in observance of the law. Acts twenty
one twenty three twenty four, Paul acquiesces to James instructions,
so James in Jerusalem exercises authority over the elders and

(14:53):
congregations in Jerusalem to such an extent that, at least
in Jerusalem, even the Apostle, Paul and the other apostles
defer to his judgments. James's role isn't unique. The oversight
he enjoys in Jerusalem is similar to that which Paul
confers upon Titus on the island of crete. This is
why I left you in crete, so that you might

(15:15):
put what remained into order and appoint elders in every
town as I directed you. If any one is above reproach,
the husband of one wife and his children are believers
and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.
For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach.
He must not be arrogant or quick tempered, or a drunkard,

(15:36):
or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover
of good, self controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must
hold firm to the trustworthy word is taught, so that
he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine,
and also to rebuke those who contradicted. For there are
many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those

(15:59):
of the concision party. They must be silenced, since they
are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what
they ought not to teach. Titus one to five eleven.
Notice that Titus not only has the responsibility to raise
up and oversee elders for various congregations on the island,
he also has the authority to silence the insubordinate empty talkers,

(16:21):
wherever they may be. How our Presbyterian friends point out,
as mentioned above, that overseer and elder refer to the
same office, and that overseer or bishop is not used
to refer to a distinct third office beyond that of
elder and deacon. While this is true, it should also
be noted that both James and Titus occupy rolls that,

(16:41):
while not so named, function precisely like that office the
ancient church later identified with the title bishop. It may
well be that Tamothy exercised a similar role in Ephesus
during Paul's absence, and that others would have held similar
positions as the number of congregations in a given city prolifer.
Whether Titus and James, impossibly Timothy and others held singular

(17:04):
authority as proto bishops, or whether they operated within the
shared authority of a plurality of elders, it seems evident
that the notion of an independent congregation with no authority
over or beyond itself but Jesus and the scriptures is
a new idea that does not reflect the state of
affairs of the early Church. Under the Apostles or after
the Apostles. Evidence from Apostolic fathers the writings of the

(17:30):
Apostolic father seemed to confirm this. The epistle of Clement
of Rome to the Corinthian Church, dated to the agnineties,
indicates that the Roman congregations were bound together under a
corporate structure, and that Clement, probably together with a group
of fellow elders, exercised authority over them. Clement's letter also
indicates that the Corinthian Church looked to the Roman Church

(17:53):
for guidance in adjudicating a tumultuous conflict precipitated by the
overthrow of the Corinthian Church elders. Owing dear brethren, to
the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves,
we feel that we have been somewhat tardy in turning
our attention to the points respecting which you consulted us,
and especially to that shameful and detestable sedition, utterly abhorrent

(18:17):
to the elect of God, which a few rash and
self confident persons have kindled to such a pitch of frenzy,
that your venerable and illustrious name worthy to be universally loved,
has suffered grievous injury. Likewise, assuming Ignacious of Antioch's letter
to the Philadelphians, dated probably to the very early second century,

(18:38):
is reflective of an original manuscript. The office of bishop,
very early on gained significant authority. Give heed to the
Bishop and to the presbytery and deacons. Now some suspected
me of having spoken thus, as knowing beforehand the division
caused by some among you. But he is my witness,
for whose sake I am in bonds that I got

(19:00):
no intelligence from any man, but the spirit proclaimed these words.
Do nothing without the Bishop. Keep your bodies as the
temples of God, Love unity, avoid divisions. Be the followers
of Jesus Christ, even as he is of his father.
Assuming there is more than one congregation in Philadelphia, Ignatius

(19:22):
urges all of them to heed the Bishop and to
do nothing without him. Setting aside again the question about
what type of extra congregational authority existed, it is clear
that such authority did exist, as the norm, the authority
Ignacious himself assumes in his writing pastoral instructions in the
seven letters that he writes to the various churches on

(19:43):
the way to his martyrdom in Rome indicates that Christian
congregations did not consider themselves independent of one another. Ecclesiastical
oversight of a congregation is biblical. Ultimately, our congregation's flirtation
with independent governance lasted about two years after we left
the Episcopal Church. We were granted temporary episcopal oversight through

(20:06):
the Anglican Church of Kenya, for which we remain indebted
and grateful, but which meant that Episcopal visits were rare
and that we were in large part on our own.
Nothing terrible happened during those years, but it didn't take
long to realize that while a corrupt or a post
a hierarchy can do great damage to a congregation, the
absence of any hierarchy can leave a congregation isolated and

(20:30):
subject to unchecks a version from within. There are practical
dangers and potential threats inherent in any form of church governance.
The question ultimately comes down to biblical principle rather than pragmatics.
Does the Bible support a congregational model of governance or
an extra congregational hierarchical form. Considering the New Testament evidence

(20:51):
described above and examples from the early Church not to
mention the historic tradition of church governance to the Reformation
and beyond or congregational polity finds little support. Congregations during
the Apostolic era look beyond themselves for guidance and oversight,
and that model has historically been the established norm.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
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