Thanks to all who attended the Breakfast this morning. Bro. Mark was gracious to provide a question and answer time during the breakfast. As always, Bro. Mark was very helpful and encouraging with our many questions. I am sure that we could have spent all day asking Bro. Mark questions about church and missions. Most of us were able to attend the lecture on preaching that followed our breakfast, which was again very edifying. Bro. Mark spoke on techniques and application of preaching. This was a conclusion of three days of lectures at RTS.

For those who are able, Bro. Mark will be at First Presbyterian tomorrow and Saturday providing a seminar on healthy churches, which is part of his 9Marks Ministry. He also indicated that he will be preaching a First Presbyterian Sunday morning.

I know that I should have posted this earlier so that others could prepare, but if your church celebrated a Reformation Celebration we would be happy to hear about it.  If you have pictures, please send them our way or better yet, send us the link so that everyone can enjoy them.

Castlewoods Baptist celebrated our 2nd Annual “After Darkness…Light! Reformation Celebration.”  Our children and youth dressed up as heroes of the Reformation and people were allowed to have a tour of the Reformers.  Hopefully, I will have pictures up real soon.

As most of you know, Dr. Mark Dever will be preaching at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson during the John Reed Miller Lecture Series on November 6-8. I have just been informed by Josh Dear, the manager of the RTS Bookstore, that Dr. Dever has agreed to join us for a Mississippi Founders Breakfast on November 8 at 9:00 a.m. at the Solid Ground Cafe located just past Grace Chapel on the RTS campus.

Please come and join us for this special event. The event is free, but we will be accepting a free-will offering for those who would like to give to offset the cost of hosting the event. If you would like more information, please email Josh Dear at jmdear@samford.edu

I found this video on Don Elbourne’s website Rebuild Lakeshore. I thought that it was so good that it deserved another posting.  Be sure to check out Don’s comments about the video on his blog.

In a recent column, Dr. David Dockery, president of Union University, calls for the SBC to work together for unity and love in the convention.  No doubt, this is a welcomed suggestion, and Dr. Dockery’s is right in calling all SBC churches to work to this goal, as Dockery is correct in pointing to our biblical mandate to do so in John 17.  What interest me is Dr. Dockery’s source of common ground that the SBC should use to reconcile and begin again – the Nicene Creed.

First of all, getting the SBC to acknowledge the Nicene Creed as a historic Christian document is going to be Dockery’s biggest obstacle.  “Baptist don’t believe in creeds,” “No creed but Christ,” or “No creed but the Bible” is usually what you will hear when mentioning the “C” word to most SBCers.  That “C” word is typically treated with more disdain that the other “C” word that we don’t have time to get into here.

However, I applaud Dr. David Dockery’s attempt at uniting the SBC and trying to use a  historic and very Christian document to do so.  I know that he has been working for some time in working for unity in the SBC, and I pray that the Lord will bless his efforts.  Still, when most members of SBC churches still cannot ge a very non-baptistic phrase and erroneous theology out of their vocabulary and head, I don’t see how we can find common ground.

Your thoughts please.

The Founders Blog has updated the information the upcoming conference in Ridgecrest, NC, that is being sponsored by LifeWay and presented by Southeastern Seminary and Founders. The topic is Calvinism and the SBC.

Please go to Founders Blog for more information.

Any ideas on how to convince the Mississippi Baptist Convention and/or Mississippi College to sponsor the same thing here?

Part 3

There is a disagreement among Baptists concerning the correct translation and application of the words επισκοπης (episkope, Bishop) found in 1 Timothy 3:1 or the word επισκοπον (episkopos, Bishop) found in verse 2.

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It must first be understood that a correct understanding of Greek words and their proper application will not settle the matter for many Southern Baptists who oppose Elders in Baptist Churches. The problem goes far deeper than how a word is correctly translated for many Baptists. Error does not require an acknowledgement of what is incorrect, it requires a defiance of what is correct.

1 Timothy 3:1 states, This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. The word bishop is the point of contention, actually, the translation and application of this word is the secondary point of contention among many Baptists. Strong’s translates the word as follows:

1) investigation, inspection, visitation
1a) that act by which God looks into and searches out the ways, deeds character, of men, in order to adjudge them their lot accordingly, whether joyous or sad
1b) oversight
1b1) overseership, office, charge, the office of an elder
1b2) the overseer or presiding officers of a Christian church

When the Apostle uses the phrase office of overseer, there is only one Greek word to be used, episkope. This word has two interrelated thoughts. It speaks of divine visitation and overseeing or attending to. Episkope also has its root in a word which means watchman.

The word episkope is found in 2 Kings 11:18. Although the Hebrew word is pguddah, it has the same understanding and application as defined in Greek. It is sometimes used to refer to one who trains or oversees soldiers in warfare, which directly relates to the principle that Christians are in a spiritual warfare against ungodliness and need to be trained and supervised by one who watches over others.

The New Covenant terms, elder, overseer, pastor and shepherd are so closely related they are sometimes considered to be the same as can be seen in Acts 20:28 where the Apostle exhorts the overseers (episkope) to both watch-over and feed the flock of God purchased with Christ’s own blood. The Apostle makes no distinction between a pastor or elder. He combines both offices into one single understanding and purpose and plainly states both offices are appointed by the Holy Spirit.

With this in mind, why do a great many Southern Baptist churches (in particular) reject the office of Elder? Do they not understand the office is created by God the Holy Spirit? Do they not understand the command to have Elders in churches as the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy? Do they not understand that the office of pastor and the office of elder, though sharing common ground, also have distinct roles? The answer to these questions is YES, they don’t understand. I am compelled to believe this due to the fact that Baptists are people of the Bible.

The Baptist Faith and Message (2000) states the following about the Scriptures;

I. The Scriptures

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. Did you read that carefully Baptist? It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. If Baptists, who are people of the book, truly accept the Bible as the perfect treasure of divine instruction, why then do we also reject the perfect treasure of divine instruction when it comes to understanding the Biblical role of Elders in Baptist churches?

Unfortunately, the same document states the following about the Church;

VI. The Church

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

It is also unfortunate that the office of Elder, appointed by the Holy Spirit, did not make it into the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message and even more unfortunate that the office of Deacon has been greatly distorted beyond its plain Biblical teaching and is often actually used as the office of Elder by churches who reject Elders.

My opening statements, The problem goes far deeper than how a word is correctly translated for many Baptists. Error does not require an acknowledgement of what is incorrect, it requires a defiance of what is correct, explains why many Baptists fail to grasp the correct understanding of God’s Word. We have fallen into the traditions of men. We have become pleasers of men rather than pleasers of God. I am reminded of the words of John A. Broadus,

Brethren, we must preach the doctrines; we must emphasize the doctrines; we must go back to the doctrines. I fear that the new generation does not know the doctrines as our fathers knew them.

Although Broadus made this statement close to a hundred years ago, the new generation is equally applicable to us today. Brothers and Sisters of the Bible, we must go back to God’s Word and reject the traditions of men or cease calling ourselves people of the book.

Yes, they are finally here… The Complete CD’s for the Mississippi Founders Conference 2007. 

There are four CD’s total:

Session I: The Pastoral Theology of C. H. Spurgeon

Session II: The Local Church and Baptist Identity

and Question and Answer Sessions for both Sessions

We are trying to make the set as affordable as possible.  With a $10 donation the Mississippi Founders Conference we will give you all four CD’s!

Please make checks payable to Castlewoods Baptist Church and put MS Founders Fraternal on the memo line.

All Four CD’s for $10 Send Checks to:

MS Founders Fraternal 
c/o Castlewoods Baptist Church
175 Stonecastle Drive
Brandon, MS  39047

I found out recently from Josh Dear, bookstore manager at RTS-Jackson, that Mark Dever is scheduled to speak at RTS for a few days in November and will be hosting a Healthy Church workshop. The 9Marks website does not give the dates or location for the workshop other than Jackson, but Josh believes that it will be at First Presbyterian Jackson. Please check his website (scroll towards bottom) and this one for more updates.

Part 2

The above statement is not meant to criticize anyone’s knowledge. It is intended to inform Baptists who might be opposed to Elders on the (supposed) grounds that Elders in Baptist churches has no historicity among Baptists.

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The following is a list of Baptists who defended the practice of Elders in Baptist churches:

―Benjamin Keach wrote of “Bishops, Overseers, or Elders”, 1697¹

―Benjamin Griffith wrote in favor of ruling elders distinct from the pastors or teaching elders (18th century)²

―Samuel Jones of the Philadelphia Association wrote that “Concerning the divine right of the office of ruling elders there has been considerable doubt and much disputation (19th century)³

―W. B. Johnson, first president of the Southern Baptist Convention, writing of New Testament churches, each church had a plurality of elders.⁴

―J. L. Reynolds, pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia, wrote in 1849 that the apostolic churches seem, in general, to have had a plurality of elders as well as deacons.⁵

―William Williams, one of the founding faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary wrote in 1874 that In most, if not all the apostolic churches, there was a plurality of elders.⁶

―There was a plurality of elders in C. H. Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle in London⁷

―A. H. Strong, president of Rochester Theological Seminary, and author of his influential 1907 Systematic Theology summarizes the positions most Baptists in America seemed to hold at the beginning of the 20th century’ In certain of the N.T. churches there appears to have been a plurality of elders…⁸

Baptist documents also testify to the historic practice of Elders:

―1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, A particular church, gathered and completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members; and the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church (so called and gathered), for the peculiar administration of ordinances, and execution of power or duty, which he intrusts them with, or calls them, to be continued to the end of the world, are bishops or elders, and deacons.⁹

―Basil Manly, Jr. stated in 1859, The regular officers of a church are Bishops or Elders, and Deacons.¹⁰

―The Baptist Faith and Message, 1925, …Scriptural officers are bishops or elders and deacons.¹¹

―Herschel Hobbs, who chaired the 1963 revision committee of the Baptist Faith and Message, wrote in 1964, Pastor—this is one of three titles referring to the same office. The other two are ‘bishop’ and ‘elder.¹²

The Bible testifies to the historic doctrine of Elders: (All texts are from the original 1611 KJV, the Bible cherished by Baptists)

―Then the disciples, euery man according to his abilitie, determined to send reliefe vnto the brethren which dwelt in Iudea. Which also they did, and sent it to the Elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul, Acts 11:29,30

―And when they had ordeined them Elders in euery Church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they beleeued, Acts 14:23

―And certaine men which came downe from Iudea, taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saued. 2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissention and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certeine other of them, should goe vp to Hierusalem vnto the Apostles and Elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the Church, they passed thorow Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conuersion of the Gentiles: and they caused great ioy vnto all the brethren. And when they were come to Hierusalem, they were receiued of the Church, and of the Apostles, and Elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them, Acts 15: 1-4

―Then pleased it the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church, to send chosen men of their owne company to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas: namely, Iudas surnamed Barsabas, & Silas, chiefe men among the brethren, And wrote letters by them after this maner, The Apostles and Elders, and brethren, send greeting vnto the brethren, which are of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, Acts 15: 22,23

―And as they went through the cities, they deliuered them the decrees for to keepe, that were ordeined of the Apostles and Elders, which were at Hierusalem. And so were the Churches established in the faith, and increased in number dayly, Acts 16:4,5

―And from Miletus hee sent to Ephesus, and called the Elders of the Church, Acts 20:17

―And when we were come to Hierusalem, the brethren receiued vs gladly And the day following Paul went in with vs vnto Iames, and all the Elders were present, Acts 21:17,18

―Let the Elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture saith, Thou shalt not mousell the oxe that treadeth out the corne: and, The labourer is worthy of his reward. Against an Elder receiue not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses, 1 Timothy 5:17-19

―For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordaine Elders in euery citie, as I had appointed thee, Titus 1:5

―Is any sicke among you? let him call for the Elders of the Church, and let them pray ouer him, anointing him with oyle in the Name of the Lord: And the prayer of Faith shall saue the sicke, and the Lord shall raise him vp: and if hee haue committed sinnes, they shall be forgiuen him, James 5:14,15

―The Elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an Elder, and a witnesse of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be reuealed, 1 Peter 5:1

The historicity of Elders in Baptist churches is supported by documents dating back to the 17^th century and examples from Baptists extending thru the 20^th century. The evidence cannot be either misunderstood or given some vague and ambiguous alternative understanding. Furthermore, the testimony of Scripture is clear that Elders are to be ordained in all churches (congregations) and since Baptists are people of the Bible, …we cannot be Baptists without the Bible, we must know personally for ourselves, what order of obedience it requires at our hands¹³, Baptists must settle the issue of Elder led churches based on the facts of Holy Scripture and the numerous historic examples by Baptists throughout history. Our historic documents relied upon the authority of Scripture to determine the correct use of Elders in Baptist churches and we must not allow our traditions and the lack of knowledge of our own Baptist history determine the issue of Elders in Baptist churches.

If the argument against Elders in Baptist churches is settled based upon the absence of Baptist history, the argument fails. If the argument against Elders in Baptist churches is settled based upon the absence of clear Biblical evidence, the argument fails.

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Footnotes:¹ Benjamin Keach, The Glory of a True Church, in Polity, ed. Mark Dever (Washington, DC; 2001), p. 65.
² Benjamin Griffith, A Short Treatise, Mark Dever, ed., Polity, p. 98.
³ Samuel Jones, Treatise of Church Discipline, Mark Dever, Polity, pp. 145-146.
⁴ W. B. Johnson, The Gospel Developed, Mark Dever, Polity, p. 192.
⁵ J. L. Reynolds, Church Polity or the Kingdom of Christ, Mark Dever, ed., Polity, p. 349.
⁶ William Williams, Apostolical Church Polity, Mark Dever, ed., Polity, p. 531.
⁷ The Church Conservative and Aggressive The Metropolitan TabernActsle Pulpit, volume 7, pp. 658-659.
⁸ A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, pp. 915-916.
⁹ chapter 26, paragraph 8
¹⁰ AbstrActst of Principles, Article 14.
¹¹ Article 12.
¹² Herschel H. Hobbs, What Baptists Believe, (Broadman Press, 1964) p. 85.
¹³ Thomas Armitage, D.D., Three Great Foundation Principles, taken from Baptist Doctrine, 1892