I’d like to continue to reason with you concerning 1 Peter 5:2. That which is described as being “among him” were souls that were God’s heritage and his responsibility to shepherd. I use to make a big point of using 1 Peter 5:2 where Peter tells the overseers to “feed the flock of God which is among you” (1 Peter 5:2). The effort was to suggest that the elders can only feed the local church flock of which he is a member. It is assumed that “among you” represents a local church organization and that elders of that sort are still authorized, today. Nothing in the text points to this conclusion. This becomes a senseless point that illustrates how we sometimes force conclusions to justify our modern practices.
First, with regard to the phrase “among you,” not only is the flock among the elders, but the elders are among the saints to whom Peter writes (1 Peter 5:1). They are the ones among him. So, they were among the elders and the elders were among them because they lived in the same city where he was appointed an elder. Further, if elders oversee souls and not churches, and the souls live in the city where he lives, they are among each other. Can you imagine someone living across the street in the same city as an elder approaching him for guidance only to be told that he can’t help him because he’s not a part of his congregation? The reason he can’t minister to him is that the brother isn’t a member of the same church. Do you see how ridiculous this sounds? Yet, this is the norm for those who are married to the church organization. Anytime the word “church” is read in connection with a town, it is automatically assumed to be a local church organization that worships at the same place, with the same people, and with the same elders.
Compare other uses of the phrase “among you” and apply it in the same way when it pertains to a service-related activity like shepherding souls and you will see the fault of this interpretation.
(1) Galatians 3:5 reads, “He, therefore, that ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Are we to understand that the miracles that this servant of God did were in the local church organization because he is “among you?”
(2) Ephesians 5:3 reads, “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becomes saints.” Again, ask yourself, “Was the unbecoming behavior of fornication or covetousness not to be named in the local church membership or assembly? Or, was it not to be a practice found in the lives of any of the saints in their community?
(3) Colossians 4:16 reads,
“And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”
Here, reading an epistle could be accomplished by passing the letter on to each family to read, or they could gather together to have it read to them. But, the epistle being read “among you” does not demand that they must gather in a local church assembly to accomplish it. If they had read it in each home, it still would have been read among them because the ekklesia is neither a local church organization nor a physical assembly. As we have emphasized elsewhere in this book, they are the ekklesia whether they are physically gathered or not.
(4) 1 Thessalonians 5:12 reads, “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you.” Are we to understand that their labor is exclusively within the confines of the local church assembly? For all practical purposes, a majority of church members identify their work in the ekklesia as the work done in the physical assembly. In other words, when we prepare our young men for service, we have classes training them how to lead singing, lead a prayer, or preach a sermon. This, of course, is a natural inference if we take the view that an elder’s work is in the local church organization and associated with their local assembly.
(5) 1 Thessalonians 3:7 reads, “For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you.” Does this mean that Paul is discussing his behavior in church or when they were gathered as members of a local congregation? If so, and the behavior he references in verse eight is working with his own hands, we have Paul describing some physical labor when gathered in the local church assembly so brethren would not feel obligated to support Paul monetarily. That would be interesting if applied today in the local church organization.
It is clear from these passages that “among you” is merely a reference to people who live around each other and thus, can make a positive impact in each other’s lives.