Syllogisms on Polity

1. Assumptions

1.1. Basis for Church Polity

• All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work; it is therefore the sufficient standard for the government of the church. 

• The means by which Scripture normatively prescribes church polity is not restricted to express commands but extends to approved apostolic precedent and deductions derived by good and necessary consequence.

• Therefore, the church is obligated to order its government exclusively according to those elements of polity for which there is positive divine warrant in Scripture, and all other forms, offices, or practices must be deemed human inventions and thus unlawful.

2. The Church

2.1. The Headship of Christ

• The Lord Jesus Christ is the sole Head and King of the Church, to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given. 

• As King, Christ governs His church through His Word and Spirit, delegating a purely ministerial and declarative authority to the offices He has appointed.

• Therefore, all church government is a stewardship under Christ, and its authority is not inherent but derived, requiring it to act solely as ministers of His Word.

2.2. Its Nature

• A church is a congregation of saints by calling, instituted by Christ for the administration of the Word, the sacraments, and discipline.

• The exercise of the keys of the kingdom presupposes a definite, covenantally bound body over which this authority is exercised, thereby distinguishing the church from the world.

• Therefore, a local church, to be rightly ordered, must maintain a formal, delimited membership, thereby identifying those who have submitted to its spiritual oversight and are eligible to receive its sacramental and disciplinary ministrations.

3. The Offices

3.1. Extraordinary Offices

• An office is extraordinary and not within the authority of the church to perpetuate if its commission is not mediated through the ordinary calling of a local church.

• Prophets receive their commission directly from God, Apostles witnessed the resurrected Christ as a requirement; and Evangelists, as apostolic delegates, received their commission directly from an apostle. 

• Therefore, the offices of Apostle, Prophet, and Evangelist are extraordinary, and the church, lacking the means to issue such direct commissions, has no warrant to appoint men to them.

3.2. Two Categories of Ordinary Office

• Scripture provides exhaustive qualification lists for only two categories of ordinary officers: elders and deacons. 

• The offices of Pastor, Teacher, and Ruling Elder involve functions of rule and authority rather than mercy and service.

• Therefore, the offices of Pastor, Teacher, and Ruling Elder belong to the class of elders rather than deacons.

3.3. Male Officership

• Scripture restricts the exercise of authoritative teaching and spiritual rule over the assembled church to qualified men. 

• The scriptural qualifications for both categories of perpetual office, elders and deacons, presume male candidates by requiring them to be the "husband of one wife." 

• Therefore, the perpetual offices of the church are to be held only by qualified men.

3.4. Plurality of Officers

• The apostolic pattern for organizing churches was the appointment of a plurality of elders in each local congregation.

• Scripture recognizes that an insufficient number of officers leads to the neglect of ministerial duties, as seen when the Hellenistic widows were overlooked, prompting the appointment of the first deacons to remedy the deficiency.

• Therefore, each church should endeavor to ordain a plurality of officers, sufficient in number to provide thorough spiritual oversight and care for the entire congregation.

3.5. Ordination

• The outward call to office is established when a man is recognized by the church as qualified and called, and he accepts that call, which establishes the formal relation between an officer and the flock.

• The biblical pattern for installing a called officer is ordination, which is the solemn act of setting a man apart for his office by the laying on of hands with prayer.

• Therefore, ordination is the biblically warranted rite for the formal installation of an officer into the place to which he has been called by the church, properly applied to both elders and deacons.

3.5. Non-Official Roles

• The perpetual, ordained offices of the church are limited to those for which Scripture provides specific qualifications and duties.

• Scripture also provides examples of recognized, functional roles of service that do not constitute a formal, ordained office, such as the enrolled widows who served the church in specific capacities. 

• Therefore, a church may recognize and employ members in various non-ordained, functional roles of service without unlawfully creating new offices, provided these roles do not usurp the duties or authority of the ordained offices.

4. The Diaconate

4.1. The Office of Deacon

• The scriptural precedent and qualifications for deacons establish a role focused on the ministry of mercy and the management of the church's material resources, a function distinct from the spiritual oversight belonging to elders. 

• The formal office of Deacon (diakonos, meaning "servant") was instituted to fulfill this specific function of service.

• Therefore, the office of Deacon is a perpetual, non-ruling office ordained for the ministry of sympathy and service.

4.2. The Identity of the First Deacons

• The function established in Acts 6 is explicitly called the "service (diakonia) of tables," and the men appointed were to "serve" (diakonein) in this capacity.

• The formal office whose title, Deacon (diakonos), corresponds to this specific function (diakonia) is given its own distinct qualifications in Scripture. 

• Therefore, the men appointed in Acts 6 are rightly identified as the first deacons, and this event establishes the biblical precedent for the office.

4.3. The Diaconate and Finances

• The apostles deliberately separated the eldership from the "service of tables" to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word, establishing a clear division of labor. 

• This specific task of managing the church's resources and alms was delegated not to the general membership, nor to other officers, but to a new, distinct group of qualified men appointed for this purpose. 

• Therefore, the administration of church finances and alms is a duty exclusively assigned to the office of Deacon, and ought not be entrusted to elders or to non-ordained members of the congregation.

5. The Eldership

5.1. The Identity of Elder and Overseer

• When Scripture uses different titles interchangeably for the same office, those titles are synonymous.

• Scripture uses the terms Elder (presbyteros) and Overseer (episkopos) interchangeably to refer to the same individuals in the same context.

• Therefore, the terms Elder and Overseer refer to the same class of spiritual officers, distinct from deacons.

5.2. The Classification of Pastor

• The scriptural duties ascribed to the category of eldership include shepherding (poimainō) the flock of God. 

• The office of Pastor (poimēn) is defined by this primary function of shepherding the flock. (Eph. 4:11).

• Therefore, the office of Pastor rightly belongs to the class of elder.

5.3. The Classification of Teacher

• The category of eldership is characterized by the exercise of spiritual rule and teaching authority, while the category of the diaconate is characterized by service.

• The office of Teacher (didaskalos), by its name and function, is fundamentally an exercise of doctrinal authority.

• Therefore, the office of Teacher rightly belongs to the class of elder, and its holders must meet the qualifications thereof.

5.4. The Distinction between Pastor and Teacher

• The grammatical structure of Ephesians 4:11 lists a series of plural nouns—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers—indicating each represents a distinct office.

• The function of teaching is not intrinsically synonymous with the function of pastoring, as doctrinal instruction is conceptually distinct from the comprehensive spiritual care of a flock.

• Therefore, the offices of Pastor and Teacher are two distinct, perpetual offices of the Word.

5.5. Ruling Elders

• 1 Timothy 5:17 distinguishes between elders who rule well and those who, in addition, labor in preaching and teaching.

• This indicates a specific office within the category of eldership whose primary function is spiritual rule (proistēmi) and governance, distinct from the ordinary labor of public preaching.

• Therefore, the office of Ruling Elder is a distinct, perpetual office of spiritual governance.

5.6. The Unity of Eldership

• Scripture requires that all who are to be considered for the category of eldership must be "apt to teach" (didaktikos). 

• The classification of Pastor, Teacher, and Ruling Elder under the single class of elder means they all share the same fundamental qualifications.

• Therefore, the distinction between these offices is one of primary function and labor, not of fundamental qualification, and all must be competent to teach and rule regardless of their particular office.

6. The Communion of Churches

6.1. The Local Nature of Office

• Scripture describes the appointment of elders as being made "in every church," and their charge is to shepherd the specific "flock among you" over which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers. 

• The authority exercised by these officers in a broader assembly, such as a council, is not derived from a separate, regional office, but is an extension of the authority of the local offices they hold, exercised jointly.

• Therefore, the authority of a church officer is intrinsically tied to the particular congregation they serve, and they participate in the governance of the wider church only by virtue of their primary, local appointment.

6.2. Councils

• The apostolic church, in its handling of extra-congregational doctrinal disputes, provides a normative pattern for the government of the broader church.

• The Jerusalem Council was convened by apostles and elders from multiple churches and acted authoritatively over the constituent churches. 

• Therefore, Scripture warrants the exercise of joint, formal authority by the elders of multiple churches, convened as a synod or council, to adjudicate ecclesiastical controversies, and their decisions, being consonant with Scripture, are to be received by their churches. 

6.3. Communion

• The universal Church, though manifested in particular congregations, is one spiritual body united in Christ and is therefore jointly entrusted with the singular, universal task of the Great Commission. 

• This essential unity requires visible expression, which includes the mutual acknowledgement of other true churches, the reception of their members to the sacraments (inter-communion), and cooperative action in fulfilling missionary and other duties that transcend the capacity of a single congregation. 

• Therefore, particular churches are ecclesiastically obligated to seek and maintain formal fellowship with other faithful churches, manifesting their unity through inter-communion and collaborative efforts in missions and ministry.