I’ve read further in Frank Viola’s book ‘Who is your covering?’. It is a quite remarkable book, going back to the Greek words and examining their meaning, also looking at the context of the period in which they were written.
He starts by looking at models of leadership (basically contrasting hierarchical models with Jesus’ words):
Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.”
The word translated ‘exercise authority’ is ‘katexousiazo’, made up of two parts: ‘kata’ and ‘exousiazo’. ‘Exousiazo’ alone means “exercise authority”; ‘kata’ means ‘down’ or ‘towards’. Jesus appears to be criticising hierarchical power structures. (Interestingly, the word here translated ‘servant’ is ‘diakonos’, from which we derive ‘deacon’.)
The author makes the point that the Gentile power structures are position-based, whereas authority in the Kingdom of God is based on action: “let him be your servant”.
Linking in to Mary-Anne’s post about calling the Pope “Holy Father”, the author also examines the difference between traditional religious authority structures (at the time, the Jewish Rabbinical system) and what Jesus was speaking about:
Matthew 23:8-12: But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father- the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
In other words, there should be no titles; those who serve (here again ‘diakonos’) are great.
He continues by looking at the ‘authority structures’ put in place by the apostles. The primary authority over the local churches were the elders. Paul instructed Titus, for example, to “appoint elders in every town”. Two things are notable (my addition to the comments in the book): firstly, the church in a city or region is generally referred to singularly, not ‘the churches’, and Titus should appoint ‘elders’, apparently indicating that there should be several of them in each church. Secondly, in the list of attributes required to become an elder, the word used suddenly changes from ‘presbuteros’ (‘elderly man’) to ‘episkopos’, often translated as ‘bishop’. This appears to indicate that bishops were the same thing as elders, and that there were several of them in each church.
Peter writes to elders, saying
1 Peter 5:1-3 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock
He exhorts them not to ‘lord it over’ the church, but to be examples. This again shows that elders are not leaders in the sense of determining what is to be done or controlling the church, but in the sense of being mature Christians setting an example to the younger Christians.
To quote the book:
“Simply put, elders were spiritual facilitators who supplied guidance, provided nurture, and encouraged commitment in the assembly. Eldership, therefore, is something one does rather than a slot that one fills…. If Paul and the other apostles wanted to paint church leaders as officers, there were numerous Greek terms that they could have employed to do so.
Significantly, however, such Greek words as arche (a rank-and-file leader, head, or ruler), … hierateia (a priest’s office), … et. al. are all missing from the apostles’ ecclesiastical vocabulary. Like that of Christ, the apostles’ favourite word to portray church leaders is diakonos, which means servant or waiter.”