Consider the following passage as the existing pattern of their selection.
(1) Acts 14:23
“And when they had ordained them elders in every church (ekklesia) and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed..”
When the Apostle Paul began his return home from his first journey, he and Barnabas came through the cities which now had disciples living in them. Their purpose for their return trip can be summarized by what they did when arriving. They came to:
(1) confirm their souls
(2) exhort them to continue in the faith
(3) teach them that they must endure much tribulation to enter the kingdom of God
(4) “appoint” elders in every “church”,
(5) pray with fasting, and
(6) commend them to the Lord, on whom they believed (verses 22-23).
In contrast to the cultural milieu of the day, the first-century elders were an oddity because they formed no position of power in an organization to call the shots. There is no reference to a decision making body or a ruling body. These men were recognized by their service to equip saints through teaching and to bring individuals to maturity. They were not recognized by their title or office of authority to call the shots.
In the context of 1 Corinthians 12 through 14, the early disciples also had a spiritual gift or two that they shared among them for purposes of edification. Those gifts were given through the laying on of the Apostle’s hands. The gifted men of Ephesians 4 no doubt had spiritual gifts related to their teaching and care of the disciples, as we have shown in a previous section. In particular, the disciples chosen to be elders may have been Jews well-versed in the Old Testament, but the normal method of training and study is not the reason these men would be selected so soon after Paul’s initial visit. The reason they were so soon qualified was that they lived during the time of the apostolic laying on of hands that gave them guidance of the Holy Spirit. They were gifted men given to the early disciples. Paul refers to this in Acts 20:28 when he writes to the elders living in Ephesus about the flock “in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God.” We should be cautious not to squeeze our set of circumstances on them, thinking they were qualified leaders who could teach from the Scriptures due to years of study. Since they were appointed by God instead of the local church to their work, they were “over them in the Lord” (1 Thess. 5:12, Heb. 13:14). Through the Spirit, they were made bishops to do the same work of teaching that the apostle Paul had done by the same Spirit.
Of course, the next step is for the saints of that city to recognize them as they had recognized Paul. After setting up the bishop’s work, the text tells us that Paul and Barnabas “commended the saints to the Lord on whom they had believed.” Notice, Paul and Barnabas did not instruct them to hire a “preacher/pastor” to preach for them in their local church. Furthermore, no concern was given to a selection process in appointing an eldership because no church was given instructions to select men to an office.
To accomplish their recognition among God’s people as spiritual shepherds, apostles or men sent by them (evangelists) were the ones who did this work so that in their absence, the work of teaching would continue (cf. Eph. 4:11). There should be no vacancy of teaching because godly shepherds, who were skilled in teaching, were recognized to continue it. In reality, it wasn’t them who was doing the work, but it was the Spirit working through them to do this work. This brings new meaning to their description of being “over you in the Lord” and to “esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work’s sake” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; cf. 1 Tim. 5:17, “worthy of double honor”). They were vessels of honor because they were chosen by the Holy Spirit to the work to which he had called them.