1. Three titles are given to the officers of the local church in the New Testament: elder, bishop,
and deacon. The office of the deacon concerns the ordered service of the church. Our focus will be on
the governmental leadership of the church. How are the terms elder and bishop related? How do they differ? See
Acts 20:17;
I Peter 5:1-5;
I Timothy 3:1-7;
Titus 1:5-9.
The titles elder (presbuteros) and bishop (episkopos) refer to the same office,
which deals primarily with the governmental leadership of the church. Several lines of evidence in Scripture
make this apparent.
First, when Paul summons the leadership of the church at Ephesus, he designates them as
"elders," (Acts 20:17) and then proceeds to identify them
as "overseers" (episkopous, i.e., bishops) and to speak of their work of feeding (poimainein, i.e., pastoring).
Peter does the same thing in I Peter 5:1-5. Addressing
the "elders," he charges them to "feed (poimanete) the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
(episkopountes)."
I would agree with Getz that we ought not be "locked in" to certain titles. We ought to be
free to choose titles from our 20th Century vocabulary and culture that clearly describe the New Testament
function. On the other hand, we should not hasten to change simply for the sake of change. Again, I think Getz
is "right on" when he concludes that "… the criterion for change is when certain terms become a hindrance,
rather than a help to the function of a church. Note, however, that because Paul was flexible in terminology
when describing leaders in a church, it does not mean that he was indefinite in other areas. When it came to
leadership qualifications and functions, he was definite, precise, and consistent. This helps us to
differentiate absolutes from non-absolutes in the area of leadership."
Perhaps we should seek to determine an appropriate title for our culture. Should we stay
with the most common New Testament title, i.e., elder, or the currently popular term, i.e., pastor, or is there
yet a better term for this day?
Dr. Earl Radmacher was born some seventy years ago in Portland, Oregon just
a couple of miles from Western Seminary where, in the providence of God, he would later serve on the
theological faculty for thirty-three years (1962-1995) and in administrative positions as Dean of the Faculty
(1964-1965), President (1965-1990), and Chancellor (1990-1995). In 1995 he was designated President Emeritus
and Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology Emeritus.
His parents, who were immigrants from Romania and Austria, settled in Portland in 1913 where they brought
eight children into this world, Earl being the last. The whole family was very active in local churches so
every Sunday found Earl spending all day in church-Sunday school, morning worship, potluck lunch at the
church, recreation break, youth service, evening service, and after service. Even though he heard the gospel
preached Sunday after Sunday, he did not personally receive Christ as his Savior until he was fourteen years
of age. He has often stated that sitting in church Sunday after Sunday doesn't make one a Christian any more
than sitting in a garage makes a car…
At that juncture in his life, Earl came in contact with another Earl-Earl Gile-a faithful Sunday school
teacher who lived right across the street from the grade school he had attended, and he opened up his home
as an outreach to boys from the school. Mr. Gile's church rented the school gymnasium on Thursday nights
and made it available for boys to play basketball if they came to Sunday school on Sundays. That sounded
like a good deal, so he went. Shortly after that, the teacher announced a forthcoming boys camps at Twin
Rocks Beach, Oregon. He decided to go; and there, at fourteen years of age, he accepted Christ as his Savior.
Although the church preached the gospel faithfully, they didn't go beyond the gospel to build up believers
in the faith. He has often said, "As a believer, I didn't need a birth message, but I did need a growth
message. That being absent, I tended to flounder, and my growth in Christ was stunted. Thus, the high school
years were a disaster as far as the things of Christ and spiritual growth were concerned."
As graduation time neared, he took the normal batch of tests to determine which line of work he should
pursue. The tests indicated mathematics or mechanics, so he decided to go the route of mathematics and join it
with money by starting a career in a savings and loan institution. He started as a file clerk and worked up to
an investment statistician that year.
His plans in the investment business were dramatically interrupted, however, by a visit to Portland of a
new evangelist on the scene, Billy Graham, in August of 1950. A friend invited him to go to the meeting and
although he had little spiritual appetite at that time, God seemed to press him toward the affirmative. As
the poet Francis Thompson has written: "He tracked me down the corridors of time." As it turned out, Earl not
only went that night but every night thereafter for six weeks. The only meeting he missed was the women's
meeting (they wouldn't let him in!).
After listening to the powerful preaching of Billy Graham for six weeks, at the conclusion of the last
service, he found himself standing on his feet, going forward, grabbing Cliff Barrow's hand, and telling him
that God called him to preach. His next question was, "What do I do now?" Cliff said, "You go to college to
prepare" and he recommended his alma mater in South Carolina.
Once again, god had a man prepared to help him take the next step. As the tabernacle cleared out, he
saw a man he hadn't seen since grade school. In the beautiful providence of God, this man, Jerry Burleson,
was going to the same college in South Carolina that Cliff Barrows had recommended, and he was looking for
one more rider. Although it was just two weeks before Fall semester, Jerry assured him that they would
accept him on probation through his recommendation. He worked nights for two weeks training another person
for his job so that he could leave with the good graces of his employer.
Twelve years and four degrees later (together with broad opportunities of experience in preaching and
teaching, overseas missions and military chaplainry, local church pastor and parachurch ministries, rural
and urban outreaches), he ended up not in the pastorate, but in the training of evangelists, pastors, and
teachers at Western Seminary. His years there involved traveling over ten million miles and preaching and
teaching over twenty thousand hours in over a thousand Bible conferences and thousands of churches.
Among the numerous books and articles that Dr. Radmacher has authored or edited are the following books:
You and your thoughts (1977), The Nature of the Church (1978, 1995), Can We Trust the Bible
(1979), What to Expect from the Holy Spirit (1983), Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible
(1984), The NIV Reconsidered (1990), The Nelson Study Bible (1997), Nelson's New Illustrated
Bible Commentary (1999), and Salvation (2000).
Dr. Radmacher has often stated, "In my wildest dreams fifty years ago, I could never have imagined the
exciting plans that God, in His sovereign grace, had for me." His life mission is found in 2 Timothy 2:15,
"Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth." His personal life verse is 2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as
in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by
the Spirit of the Lord."