Acts 14:23 “So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”
The process of appointing elders in the church is not the same as separating individuals to the various offices of ministry gifts. Whereas ministry gifts are appointed by the Lord, elders are in turn appointed by the Lord’s ministry gifts. The term elder in this instance is not to be confused with the ministry gift of the pastor, for the office of pastor is one of the ministry gifts and as I have already mentioned, they are appointed directly by the Lord (Ephesians 4:11-12). The Holy Spirit reveals to us in the above quoted passage of scripture that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church that they started, thus confirming the truth to us that the Lord’s ministers are responsible for appointing elders in the church. Although this passage does not specifically mention Paul and Barnabas laying hands on the elders when they appointed them, it is nevertheless strongly implied that they did, after they had prayed with fasting. In other words they would have followed the same pattern set out in the church at Antioch.
1 Timothy 3:1-8 “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. (2) A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behaviour, hospitable, able to teach; … (8) Likewise, deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money.”
Before they appointed elders, Paul and Barnabas would first ensure that the individuals met the requirements as taught by the Holy Spirit in the above quoted passage of scripture. The word translated “bishop” in this passage is the same word that is translated “elder” elsewhere. The earlier passage quoted stated that Paul and Barnabas would commend the elders to the Lord. So how did they do that? They did that by laying hands on them while the whole church was present as witnesses. In these instances, when Paul and Barnabas would lay hands on these elders there would be an impartation of anointing that would take place, which is one of the reasons that Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted before laying hands on those they were inaugurating. Because these elders would not have been separated by the Lord for ministry, they would not have an anointing on themselves directly from the Lord. And so we see that something similar would have taken place in these instances to what transpired when Moses laid his hands on Joshua. If you recall, we read earlier that at the Lord’s instruction Moses inaugurated Joshua into his office. And so when Moses inaugurated Joshua through the laying on of hands, he imparted to Joshua some of the authority and wisdom that he had in his ministry. In the same manner, when Paul and Barnabas inaugurated the elders into their offices they would impart a specific aspect of their ministry anointing to those elders so that they could operate in the office of elder. The primary anointing that is imparted through the ministry gifts to those appointed as elders is the shepherds anointing, for elders are appointed as overseers of the local church and their mandate is to shepherd the Lord’s sheep. The same principles are applied with the appointment of deacons in the church; the only difference being the type of anointing that is imparted. Again, it is the ministry gifts that lay hands on deacons because they impart a specific aspect of their anointing to the deacons to enable them to operate in that office. The primary anointing that is imparted through the ministry gifts to those appointed as deacons is the anointing of helps (1 Corinthians 12:28), for deacons are appointed as helpers in the local church and their mandate is to help in the day to day running of the church.
Michael E.B. Maher
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