Compare this authority to the authority of an apostle who spoke the oracles of God. He could give orders from God (1 Cor. 16:1-3). But, in matters of judgment, Paul had no commandment of the Lord and it became a matter for the people to decide. For example, Corinth was to decide who was going to go with Paul to take the bounty. For Paul to make this decision for them would have been an abuse of authority. This abuse is descriptive of a “busy body” who concerns himself with matters that are not his business. Leaders may lead by teaching, taking the lead in any good work, putting brethren in remembrance, clarifying options, or prodding others to execute their plan, but they have no jurisdiction to make decisions for them. When today’s uninspired men meet secretly to make decisions for the whole church, they take upon themselves more authority than did the inspired apostles of our Lord. If this is not being lords over God’s heritage, please explain how it could be perceived differently. The result of this thinking is a condition where both the leaders and brethren perceive the people of leadership to be separate from the church with little contact between the two in matters of judgment. Of course, the reason for this perception is due to a misunderstanding of the nature of the called-out. If it is not a religious organization, no decisions are required to be made for the group.
It is interesting to observe the implications of a local church organization of the Churches of Christ making the transition from monthly “business meetings” to a ruling leadership. Both of these are decision-making bodies in “business.” Business meetings are still necessary until they can become “scripturally organized.” It is unusual and confusing to admit that until there are qualified individuals who desire the office, the local church is “scripturally unorganized.” In such a case, it is allowable to accept the unorganized organization. When the congregation judges that certain men are to be appointed and acknowledged as their leaders, the leaders immediately take charge and call the shots in running the business of the local church organization and the business meetings end. Is the judgment of the people now inferior to his so that he must separate from the people who elected him? Can it be that together they have the good judgment to appoint him, but beyond this, they have no good judgment? If we accept that the Lord uses the congregation’s judgment to select them, would he expect their judgments to be lacking once leaders were selected? If the Lord thought enough of their judgment to appoint them, you would not think that they lost it overnight. Second, if elected leaders rule in judgment, as it is proposed, and fellow Christians have no say, do they not become congregational lords?
Of course, every denomination has some board to make decisions for the church and our questions are designed to show the problems with such a system. None of these problems exist if we do not assume the given view of the church as a corporate institution and the elders as an elected position of authority. The only decision that is to be made is whether or not we choose to be a disciple of Christ. The pattern is already left for us. Christians are to be in constant fellowship, hospitable, diligent students of the Word, holding forth the Word of life to a dark world. What particular way an individual chooses to work is not for a corporate body to decide. Nor are they incompetent to do God’s will until some ruling elder gives their permission to do it. On numerous occasions, a leadership has forbad the private meetings for Bible study if there were no leaders to oversee it. When any system produces such control as to when they can study their Bibles with others, it has reached the same lordship that existed in the days of the early church fathers in the second and third centuries.
As we have shown, the first-century elders were not needed to make business decisions. They were needed to provide spiritual leadership because they were chosen by the Holy Spirit as gifts given to the early saints for their spiritual growth. In the absence of spiritual gifts