In chapter four, Job discusses "the Early Church Fathers", namely Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Cyprian, who died between 100 and 246 CE. These are a fascinating cast of characters, but in this post I'll stick to summarizing what Job says about them, and how this relates to the notion of a Christian "tradition of the elders". This chapter corresponds to Part 1 TR 3, available to download here.)In Job's view, theologically, these early leaders got it right, preserving the faith against a host of heretics. (50) But practically, when it came to church leadership, they replaced God's design for the church with an inferior model.
How so? A crucial point emerges from the speech of Paul in Acts 20:17-28, carefully compared with all the other relevant passages in the NT. This is that the following (Greek) words:
- elder / presbyter
- overseer (sometimes mistranslated "bishop")
- shepherd (often translated "pastor")
It takes some time to reflect on how profound this is: there simply is no concept of a "pastor" or "head pastor" in the New Testament, in the way we now understand those terms!
In short, the early (late 1st century to early third century) church evolved a system employing a laity/leadership class distinction. At the top was the Bishop - he was the top dog, the Big Cheese. Job gives some rather shocking quotes from various letters by Irenaeus (himself a bishop), c. 110 CE:
...be very careful not to resist the Bishop, that through our submission to the Bishop we may belong to God... we should regard the Bishop as the Lord Himself... always act in godly concord; with the Bishop presiding as the counterpart of God, the presbyters as the counterpart of the council of the Apostles... Thus, as the Lord did nothing without the Father... so you must do nothing without the Bishops and the presbyters. ...let all men... respect the Bishop as the counterpart of the Father, and the presbyters as the council of God... without those no church is recognised. (59)And Tertullian:
The distinction between the order of clergy and the people has been established by the authority of the Church... (60-1)Thus, the norms implicit in the New Testament with overthrown. Moreover, church tradition has now been elevated above the NT and the apostles' tradition. Or has it? As Job points out,
...the Fathers claimed for themselves the same type, and measure, of authority that the original Apostles of Jesus possessed. They argued that what they taught was necessarily correct precisely because they, as those standing in a direct line back to the original Apostles, were saying it. (63)The bottom line:
Historically Christian churches have supported, and submitted to, this tradition of the Early Church Fathers rather than being in obedience to the... traditions of... the New Testament. (64-5)We've been basing our leadership practices not on the Apostles (and so, on the will of Jesus, which is the will of God), but rather on this ancient catholic tradition, which purports, like the mythical oral law of Moses, to go back to a divine source. But, it conflicts with the Bible, which we accept as inspired by God.
Nor is this only a Catholic problem; all mainstream Christian traditions, be they Baptist, Pentecostal, or many going by the name "house church", practice hierarchical leadership. In Job's view, "Any kind of 'stand apart' leadership is wrong. An elder is not the first among equals; he is just one amongst equals." (66) The New Testament model is of "locally grown, non-hierarchical leadership", not "one person in church who has come in from the outside". (67) He says more justify these strong assertions in later chapters - stay tuned.
Finally, Job pulls his punch a little. The early church fathers, he holds, aren't entirely to blame, because the NT canon was still being decided on. (50) Still, the church, after agreeing on the NT, should have re-examined her practices in light of it.
Next time: the great baptism fiasco!
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