Make that six things

So R.C. Sproul Jr. wrote an article for the Ligonier Ministries blog titled 5 Things I’m Surprised I Can’t Find in the Bible. In it he looks at a few things that are important but that God has intentionally left vague in Scripture.

Some of what he wrote makes sense. The Bible does speak a lot about marriage but not very much about how to go about getting married. There is very little about the specifics of the church meeting. So the article is not without value. However there was one thing that jumped out at me because I have heard it stated before and it is such an unwarranted leap in a publication that gets a huge audience because of R.C. Sproul Jr.’s famous father that it bears being exposed.

I found it ironic that in a post about five things you can’t find in the Bible, we get the following dogmatic assertion that is likewise not in the Bible and then a huge leap from this non-existent principle to an even more onerous one:

The Bible is crystal clear that women are not to rule in the church, and that we are to submit to the elders over us. See Hebrews 13 for the latter. Thus the Reformers were correct to list discipline as a mark of the true church. If you are not under the authority of name-able specific elders, you are not part of the visible church and thus do not have a credible profession of faith. You should get under authority.

I am down with the women not leading in the church part because that actually does appear in the Bible. On the other hand…does Hebrews 13 tell us that a) church discipline is something carried out by elders, b) that the writer of Hebrews is even referencing elders at all, c) we are supposed to be under the authority of “name-able” elders and d) that if we aren’t, we aren’t part of the visible church and therefore our profession of faith is suspect?

Well, no it doesn’t. One must assume that he is referring to Hebrews 13:17 or one of the top posts in “most abused passages in the Bible”. Here it is:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17 ESV)

The traditional reading is that Hebrews 13:17 tells us we are to be subject to the pastor of the local church we are members of because of his ecclesiastical office. The problem is that this doesn’t actually appear in the text nor is it implied. I have gone over this before but who are the “leaders” we read of in Hebrews 13:17? Luckily we don’t have to guess or let other people define it for us. Ten verses earlier we read:

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7 ESV)

Ah. So from this reading we see that the leaders are those who spoke (past tense) to the readers the word of God. Perhaps missionaries or evangelists of some sort, the initial preachers of the Gospel through whom God converted the readers of this letter? We don’t really know because we don’t know who the author is or who the audience is other than through conjecture or educated guesses. One thing is certain, it would take an enormous leap to presume that the “leaders” being spoken of who spoke the Word are the pastors of local churches. It doesn’t rule them out but neither does it affirm that contention. Also note that we are to consider their way of life along with obeying and submitting to them. Now we are hardly called to submit just to Pastor Smith at our local church that we selected because of a variety of criteria. In fact, we see lots of submission and subjection going on. Some has to do with elders but others do not. Look for example at 1 Corinthians 16:15-16….

Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. (1 Corinthians 16:15-16)

So here Paul tells us to the readers (and by proxy us) to be subject to every fellow worker and laborer. Now if the point of being subject is to defer to their authority in a hierarchical fashion, we kind of have a problem because now everyone has to submit to one another which is inherently non-hierarchical. What seems to be the consistent theme from Hebrews 13:7, 1 Corinthians 16: 15-16 as well as other places like 1 and 2 Timothy’s depictions of elders is that we should seek to be subject to those who serve and live out lives worthy of emulation, not that we should submit to leaders because they were selected to be a leader in a given local church or even that we should be subject only to those who are “members” of the same local church we belong to.

Hebrews 13 says a lot about a lot of things and it has a few things to say about the idea of authority but not what R.C. Sproul Jr. claims it does. It always bothers me and should always cause you to pay close attention when someone airily claims that a whole chapter of Scripture supports the point they are making without attempting to engage in the text at all and you should especially be on guard when they make statements with enormous implications to your very salvation based on these sweeping generalities. The idea that if you are not a member of a “proper” local church with name-able elders who carry out church discipline that you don’t have a credible profession of faith is a dangerous and Scripturally untenable statement. It sounds sweet to the ears of those who embrace certain church traditions but to question the salvation of someone because they don’t cling to your ecclesiastical traditions is arrogant and prideful.

The lesson here is that just because someone refers to a passage of Scripture and is published by a famous ministry doesn’t mean you should just take them at their word, especially not when they are questioning the salvation of other Christians.