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HIERARCHY
DEVELOPMENT
One of the things that Jesus cautioned His followers
about more than any other was the temptation of lording it over one another">
Back
to Download Teaching page - Back
to More Teaching page One of the things that Jesus cautioned His followers
about more than any other was the temptation of lording it over one another,
wanting to be first and seeking places of supremacy. According to Matthew 18:1-4, Mark 9:34-37 and Luke
9:46-48, we read, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying,
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the
midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:30 and Mark 10:31 states, “Many that are first
shall be last; and the last shall be first.
And in Matthew 20:16 “The last shall be first, and the first
last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
Again in Matthew 20:20-29 “Then came to Jesus the mother of
Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain
thing of him…to sit on the right hand, and on the left. Jesus said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise
dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
About it shall not be so among you: but whosever will be great among you,
let him be your minister.” Matthew 23:8-12 states, “Be not ye called Rabbi: for one is
your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call not man your father upon the earth: for one is your
Father, which is in heaven. Neither
be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall
humble himself shall be exalted.” In Luke 9:33-37 “They disputed among
themselves, who should be the greatest. Jesus
said, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant
of all. And he took a child, and
set him in the midst of them…” According to Luke 22:24-27 “And there was
also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
And Jesus said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship
over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as
the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.”
Again, John 13:4-17 says, “Jesus riseth from
supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel and girded himself.
After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the
disciple’s feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded…If I
then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one
another’s feet. For I have given
you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” The Scriptures record how difficult it was for the
early disciples to obey the Lord in being humble, not lording it over others or
wanting to be first. James 2:1-9
warns, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory, with respect of persons…But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit
sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.” John the apostle warns Gaius about this issue in III
John 9-11 “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who love to have the
preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore,
if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with
malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the
brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.
He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen
God.” In Revelation 2:6, to the Church of Ephesus,
Jesus says, “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the
Nicolaitans(nikolaiton=nike: exalt, conquer, victory, lord over, oppress; laos,
people, laity, common man), which I also hate.” And again in Revelation 2:15 “So hast thou also them
that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans(nikolaiton=nike: exalt, conquer,
victory, lord over, oppress; laos, people, laity, common man) which thing I
hate. Repent; or else I will come
unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” The development of a hierarchy system continued into
the 2nd Century. In AD
107, Ignatius the “Bishop of Antioch” wrote seven epistles in which he
justified the supremacy of the “Office of Bishop” over the other brethren.
Later that same 2nd Century in AD 117, Clement of Rome
advocated differentiating between the functions of bishops, elders and pastors
with the “Bishop” being above the others in rank.
He also advocated “clergy and laity” distinction and the
“one-man” pastor leadership role.
The Council of Nicene in the 4th Century AD 325, declared the
supremacy of the position of “Bishop”.
The primary reasons these early fathers gave for the
hierarchy structure and the supremacy of leadership over the laity was to
maintain doctrinal purity and combat heresy within the Church.
However, as history has proven, when one person is on the top of the
hierarchy system, doctrinal purity then depends upon that one man’s
interpretation of Scripture. Whereas, Jesus the Head of the Church gave the Holy Spirit to
maintain truth by bringing to remembrance all that Jesus did and taught. The First Century Church believed and practiced the
priesthood of all believers. Those
among them who were gifted by the Spirit
led by example and ministered in mutual plurality as servants.
All of believers could then seek the mind of the Lord.
Should one among them be in error, the others could speak the truth in
love to that person. Also, when all the congregations of any given city or
town were walking together in an interdependent relationship rather than a
hierarchy system, there was the safeguard of all the believers seeking the mind
of the Lord. When one person,
family or congregation got off into some heresy, then these were dealt with by
the whole church. Heresy then could
be limited to one person, family or congregation and not the whole church of the
city or town. The First Century ekklesia got it right in their
understanding of a simple expression of Christ’s Body made up of all saints as
priests, taught by the Holy Spirit of Christ and by those servant equipping
leaders whom He gave as gifts to the church.
Paul understood this fact well as indicated by the way he could leave a
newly established church by entrusting that ekklesia to the Holy Spirit for
continuing growth. Paul only
occasionally sent letters and personally visited some of the new churches or
sent other apostles to set in order thing that were lacking.
There was no hierarchy involved but rather brothers mutually working as
co-laborers together in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth As has been stated before, the second century church
had legitimate and grave concerns about false teachings that had invaded the
young church. Their answer was to
build a hierarchy by strengthening the pastoral role and by developing a
distinctly separate bishop’s position to guarantee doctrinal purity.
History shows that this hierarchical approach gave rise to even greater
deviation from truth as exemplified by the patriarch and papal development in
both the Eastern and Western Catholic churches.
This led to such erroneous declarations as “Scripture and tradition are
of equal authority.” The Protestant expression of the church rebelled
against these deviations from the Scripture.
Yet they too left in place a different hierarchy type system.
True, it was not a patriarch or papal one but rather an elevation of the
“pastor clergy role” which led to some of the same consequences as the
Eastern and Western Catholic churches. Protestants also have been adversely influenced by
such errors as the doctrine of dispensationalism, especially as it relates to
the gifts of the Holy Spirit being valid today. This teaching was propagated from the “top down”
primarily via seminaries and Bible colleges in the 1830’s through the
influence of the Plymouth Brethren and Darby’s Scofield Study Bible. The Scriptural way of combating error was to build a
firm foundation through the apostles’ doctrine and to equip all the saints for
the work of ministry. They had a
simple structure of mutually submitted believers who lived out the Life of
Christ in interdependent ekklesias with the Holy Spirit as their primary teacher
along with gifted equippers whom the Lord had given to the Church.
The writers of the New Testament scriptures forewarned that there would
be error and false teachings but they also taught the church how to deal with
these heresies. The hierarchy type system often caused the entire
church to accept wrong teachings and doctrines because those on the top “said
so” and thus it led the entire church astray.
However, with the co-laborer, servant leadership, and the interdependence
of the New Testament churches, only a few saints or a single congregation would
be adversely affected. The Body of
Christ could then speak the truth in love to those wavering saints or churches
by admonishing them and correcting them. The same is true of the seminary type training
approaches throughout history. The
false doctrines and teachings were propagated from the “top down” causing
error to be taught throughout the Eastern Catholic, Western Catholic and
Protestant churches. The primary
training of New Testament leadership was not through seminaries nor Bible
colleges but rather by mature leaders equipping and training younger leaders
through instruction, example and practical application.
The early church got it right and we cannot improve upon it but rather
must implement it in its simplicity. The decrees of the 2nd through the 4th
Centuries set in motion the development of hierarchy within the leadership of
the Christian Church. Remnants of this hierarchy leadership exists today in most
of the Body of Christ. It takes
many different forms ranging from the Western Catholic “Pope” to the
“Patriarch” of the Eastern Catholic to the “Reverend Pastor” of the
Protestant Church. What the 1st Century Church demonstrated
as a plurality of servants leading by example turned into an authoritarian
“lording over” the flock in the 21st Century.
Our Lord’s warnings to His disciples about the dangers of hierarchy
development has gone unheeded by most of the Body of Christ and we still suffer
the consequences even to this day! Back
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