Elders should be men of the Word

 

Our focus verse for this week is here:

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. (Titus 1:9, NIV)

holding firmly the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it. (NASB)

From the time that the snake beguiled Eve in the Garden, to Satan's tempting of our Savior, to the dark ages of ignorance of the Word . . . the enemy has always been attacking the Word of God. The bright flame of the Reformation lit up the world by providing the common men and women a way to read the Bible. Before that, only the priests could read it, since it was in Latin, and few of them did! Martin Luther translated it into German, and the Reformation preachers, evangelists, and translators were off to the races.

More recently, there have been attacks on God's Word by people who question its accuracy, its inerrancy, and even its relevancy to our day. Everyone who professes to know Jesus believes in a theology. Here's the question, though: do they hold to a biblically sound theology? If our doctrine veers away from scripture, we are worshiping a false god. We must grow in understanding the Bible so that we can know God more fully. And so that we can follow Him more closely. 

Paul says that one of the roles of elders is to know the scriptures well enough so that they are able to keep the church in the truth. They need to see and identify Satan's attacks and his attempts to make Christians err. So, they must be godly men who hold firmly to the truth of God's Word, and they must also teach it boldly.

Paul's letter to Timothy emphasizes this teaching role, too:

An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching, (I Timothy 3:2, NASB)

And here:

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. (I Timothy 5:17)

Paul seems to be saying that some elders are so gifted that they can focus on the affairs of the church AND the ministry of teaching the Word. He emphasizes that they are worthy of financial support. Other elders, while they are capable of teaching, have a natural bent toward the areas of oversight and of shepherding the flock. So, every elder must be knowledgeable enough in scripture so that he can help instruct believers and correct doctrine errors when they pop up.

Every elder must be studying and growing in understanding the Word of God. The verse we began with (at the top of the post) stated that they must hold "firmly" to the Word. One translation called it the "faithful" Word, and one called it "trustworthy."  In order to hold it tightly, one must understand it. And to understand it, the elder must study it. This is a lifelong process. Elders must have the desire and the self-discipline to study the Bible diligently, and to read texts that help with understanding sound doctrine.