Do you have greater authority because you as an elder or as a deacon sit at the table with someone? That is the question. What also counts here: nowadays the authority of the office is not self-evident anymore. You receive it by the manner in which you carry out your task.

Nowadays the office does not impress anymore. Does the office give you extra support? When you make an arrangement for a visit, you do so as elder, deacon or minister. But when you sit at the table, you sit there as person so and so. It is then important how you come across and what you say.

Council⤒🔗

Within the congregation, the authority of the office is not self-evident either. Sometimes there are developments in a certain area of church work that are so far advanced already, that the decisions of the council are experienced as “a day after the fair”. Or just the other way around: the inhibitory action of the council meeting. We finally develop something worthwhile for a group of enthusiastic believers, and then the council again steps on the brakes. Are the councils experienced as organizations that give direction and develop policies? Or are councils throttled by internal tensions, by positions of authority of persons or of interest groups? In situations like these the temptation is great to try and get something done without the meeting.

Classis and Synod←⤒🔗

And the meetings of classis and synod? Do we still care about the decisions of a broader assembly, like classis and synod? It is significant that in disputes in which the broader assembly makes a finding, a congregation or office bearer involved has a hard time accepting that authority and is quickly inclined to go to the worldly judge. We still vividly remember all the problems around the schisms in the past. Who is the synod that her decisions would be determined with authority? Many congregations rejected the findings of the general synod as being unlawful. With all the consequence of that.

Reformation←⤒🔗

Did the Reformation break with the authority of the church? The churches of the Reformation broke with the church hierarchy of pope and bishop. An important reason for that was the criticism about the mass offering (sacristy) which was sacramentally executed by the priest in the liturgy. In the churches of the Reformation, the proclamation of the word became central, and the priest became minister. So, it is not the case that with the rejection of the pope and the bishop the apostolic authority was abandoned. Because the apostolic proclamation, the testimony of cross and resurrection, of Jesus Christ as Saviour, remained the foundation of the churches of the Reformation. That proclamation does not take place without deliverance and authority. That is already so in the New Testament. Paul writes to the congregation in Corinth: “For what I received I delivered to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3, 4). In this text there is the mention of deliverance and forming of traditions. Even Paul cannot rely only on the revelation of Jesus Christ he received on the way to Damascus.

Deliverance←⤒🔗

The church stands or falls by the testimony of the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Both for the proclamation as well as for the faith life of the congregation, the authoritative deliverance of the apostles is decisive. The reformers have indeed rejected the apostolic succession as expressed in the ‘Peter office’ in the Roman Catholic church. The role of the apostles was, in the eyes of the reformers a one-time matter. It is not succeeded.

But does that not create a power vacuum in the church deliverance? Who guarantees the truth of the testimony concerning Jesus Christ? They were eyewitnesses. What then is the authority with which the church proclaimed the gospel in the time after the apostles?

Minister←⤒🔗

In the classical reformed form for the installation of the minister, the minister is called shepherd and teacher. It is striking that at certain points a similarity is drawn between the task of the minister and the task of the apostles.

An important task for the office of minister is for instance “the ministry of reconciliation”. At that point the shepherds (ministers) are mentioned in one breath together with the apostles: God who reconciled us to himself in Christ and gave us (apostles and shepherds) the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:17). And a bit further the servants have in common with the apostles in what they say: “We shall persevere in prayer and in the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). And at the administration of the sacraments, it is said explicitly that the charge (baptismal charge) given to the apostles, also concerns the servants of the word.

Proclamation of the Word←⤒🔗

The drafters of the classical reformed form have realized that the succession of the apostles is in one way or another, finalized in the servant of the word (minister). The prominent role of the minister in the churches of the Reformation is therefore not a remainder of the Roman hierarchy, but a conscious and necessary choice: the proclamation of the gospel is essential as foundation of the church. It is completely in agreement with Calvin, who was of the opinion that the shepherds and teachers followed in the place of the apostles and just like the apostles, have the charge to proclaim the gospel and administer the sacraments. “What the apostles have done to the entire world, every shepherd must do to his own flock, for which it has been destined” (Institution IV.3.6).

Elders←⤒🔗

In the New Testament we can discover two more lines of authority beside the line of the apostolic one.

Firstly, there are the texts that give evidence that elders were appointed. We read in Acts 14:23 that Paul and Barnabas appoint elders (presbyters). By the raising of hands they chose elders in every congregation, and with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they now believed. And Paul charged his co-worker Titus in Crete to appoint elders in every town. In that same section the term overseer (bishop) is also used. And 1 Timothy 5:17 proves that there are also elders who labour in preaching and teaching in word and doctrine.

Gifts and Services←⤒🔗

Secondly, in the early dated letters of Paul there is specific mention of gifts (charismata) and services (diakonia) as spontaneous expressions of the work of the Holy Spirit.

These gifts of the Spirit came especially in the beginning period, and it looks as if this spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit contributed to the building up of the congregation. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord” (1 Cor. 12: 4, 5). In Romans 12:6, “also we have gifts of grace, distinguished according to the grace given to us: if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully”.

Discussion←⤒🔗

What do we see in the discussion about the office? The two lines of thought just mentioned are often played off against each other. Some people suggest that the origin of the elder and overseer (bishop) is a later development in the New Testament, a reification and rigidity, a precursor of the Roman Catholic doctrine of the office. That would be at the cost of the spontaneous, charismatic expressions of the Holy Spirit, as it happened in the early beginning of Christianity. Pentecostal churches often appeal to the direct, spontaneous leading of the Holy Spirit and do not care much for the structure of the offices.

But also in the established protestant churches, one could often hear voices that still considered the origin of the office more or less as falling away in regard to the first charismatic beginnings.

Not Redundant←⤒🔗

The apostolic testimony, the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the ministry of reconciliation — however we formulate it — remain the foundation of the church. The office of word and sacrament give expression to that. “Charisma” and “service” give expression to the dynamic working of the Holy Spirit, but do not make the office redundant.