Do you ever wonder why Free Will Baptists only have two major offices in the church, pastor and deacon? Is that right? Other denominations have bishops, elders, and district superintendents. The Catholics have a pope, cardinals, and archbishops. Are we missing something here?
The New Testament reveals a simple organizational model that does not dramatically change until the second decade of the second century. While there are differing schools of thought on the role of elder in the New Testament model, it is clear that no bishop, as the term is presently used, was present during the first century.
Clement of Rome introduced the idea of “apostolic succession” to the early church about 95 A.D. in his first letter to the church in Corinth. Here, he declared that the apostles had passed down their authority to succeeding generations of clergy. He did not suggest that the authority was given to just one successor, or that the source of authority was Peter alone. In his letter, he inferred that the church employed only two levels of office at that time—pastors and deacons.
The Didache, the first “how to” manual published by the church also suggested a two-fold office. A popular school of thought argues that, at this time, the church in a city divided into several congregations for the sake of convenience and that each church had its own pastor. All the congregations in that city were part of the one church.
This theory seems to be encouraged by the fact that Ignatius, about 117 A.D., mentioned for the first time, a “monarchical” or city bishop. The authority that once had belonged to the apostles now resided in the bishop as the church focused on this “vicar of Christ” who could say, “thus saith the Lord,” in the absence of Christ and His apostles.
In the writings of Ignatius, it would seem that this new bishop was elected by his fellow pastors and served as the “president of the presbytery.” More than likely, he served as both administrator for the whole and as pastor of one of the city congregations. His authority was local, but in his city it was absolute.
By 185 A.D., Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, France, was a diocesan bishop with administrative authority over bishops of smaller cities in his district. And by the fourth century, the church supported rural, city, diocesan, metropolitan (bishops of larger cities with authority over diocesan bishops), and patriarchical bishops (those in larger provincial capitals in the Roman Empire with authority over metropolitans). In time we would be introduced to archbishops, cardinals and a pope in Rome.
Whether Free Will Baptists attribute their two-fold office pattern to their baptistic government heritage or all the way back to the New Testament, they find themselves in good company.
About the Writer: William F. Davidson was professor of Church History at Columbia International University, in Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. Davidson is an alumnus of Peabody College, Welch College, Columbia Bible College, Northern Baptist Seminary, and New Orleans Baptist Seminary. The Ayden, North Carolina, native also served as pastor of Free Will Baptist churches in Kentucky and Virginia.
