For 35 years, Biblical Eldership has been the premier book on church eldership—essentially a textbook for training elders. It has caused a worldwide awakening to the biblical concept of plurality leadership in the local church by qualified elders. And like a textbook, it needs to be updated from time to time.
What has made this book stand out from all others on this subject is that it addresses every New Testament passage on elders and provides a thorough careful exposition of each passage.
Without changing the theology, Alexander Strauch has updated and expanded this significant, new edition (expected in September 2023). The book is a completely fresh revision.
“My goal is to let the New Testament inform and shape our practice,” Alexander said. “Biblical Eldership is based on the conviction that God-breathed Scripture is sufficient for directing the polity and leadership of our churches. The original qualities that made Biblical Eldership unique remain the same. There is no change in the theology—only improved exposition of the relevant biblical texts and more practical suggestions for pastoral elders.”
Along with this new book, there will be an entirely new study guide and teacher’s guide. In addition, Alexander Strauch and David Anderson will provide a podcast series covering each of the 30 chapters in the book, giving further explanation, comments, and practical application.
We hope you are blessed by the below excerpt from the first chapter of the new Biblical Eldership.
Humility (from chapter one of the new Biblical Eldership)
The greatest leader and teacher ever to have graced this earth described himself as gentle and humble:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28–30)
What Jesus reveals about himself is set in direct contrast to the prideful, abusive religious leaders of his day and their oppressive man-made rules. Here in the most extraordinary way, Jesus disclosed his heart as gentle and lowly (humble). His gentleness and humility were evidenced in the fact that people from every segment of society were drawn to him—men and women, young and old, wealthy and poor, powerful and oppressed. To them he said, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden.”
Women and children felt comfortable coming to him. Mothers wanted him to touch and bless their children. Jesus was approachable, compassionate, and humble, never arrogant or self-important. He ate and drank with the untouchables of society, with people with whom the religious leaders would never associate. A loveliness of spirit and a tenderness of heart radiated from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so should his character radiate from us as well.
Like Jesus, whom we are to imitate, we ought to be gentle and humble in our leadership and in all our relationships with our brothers and sisters. Do not, however, confuse gentleness and lowliness with weakness, passive leadership, or fearfulness. No person upon this earth was stronger in moral character, courage, self-control, and intellectual powers than the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet at the same time he was gentle and humble. Such a refined balance of character is the sign of true greatness. As the gentle and humble master, he taught his followers to be humble and servants to all.
Who is First and Greatest? Mark 9:33–37
The first example of the disciples squabbling over who among them is to be considered “greatest” occurred immediately after Jesus’s Passion prediction of his humiliating death at the hands of wicked men (Mark 9:30–32). Jesus speaks of his crucifixion, but they can only think of themselves and their status within the group. How little did they understand of their Lord’s ways:
And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them and, taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me. (Mark 9:33–37 = Matt. 18:1–4; Luke 9:46–48)
The disciples were preoccupied with the question of who was the “greatest” or “first” among them. They wanted to know their status within the group, how people viewed them individually, and who would have first place among them.
The Paradox
Jesus answered this age-old question by means of this now-famous paradoxical statement: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
Here Jesus begins to transform his disciples’ thinking about greatness, leadership, discipleship, and life together in the community of Christ’s followers. As the master teacher, Jesus used a figure of speech called paradox. A paradox is a statement that appears contrary to common experience, or even absurd, but conveys a deeper truth.
These last-first sayings appear contrary to the prevailing opinion but in Christ’s kingdom they are profoundly true. “Mark used the paradox to jolt and challenge his readers to depart from the accepted opinion that servanthood is incompatible with authority.”[iv]
Jesus asserts that true greatness is not achieved by striving for prominence over other people or by grasping for power, but by exhibiting a humble, self-effacing attitude of service towards “all”—even the lowliest person, one without status or power, such as a small, socially insignificant, dependent child. Thus, in Christ’s kingdom being great or first is a reward for humility in this world, selfless service to all, and generous giving of oneself.
Fighting for First Place: Mark 10:32–45
The Bible doesn’t hide the fact that among the twelve apostles, self-centered attitudes and power struggles existed. Thinking exclusively of themselves, James and John asked Jesus for the two most powerful positions in the kingdom: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mark 10:37).
In his timeless volume, The Cross of Christ, John Stott captures the irony of this account: “James and John want to sit on thrones in power and glory; Jesus knows that he must hang on a cross in weakness and shame. The antithesis is total.”[v]
Their request immediately sparked conflict among the other disciples, as selfish ambition always does. Mark records that, “when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John” (v. 41). They were outraged because they wanted purple robes, ivory thrones, and golden crowns for themselves. They were all “card-carrying members of the ‘self-seekers’ club.”[vi]
The Promise of Suffering and Death
Jesus responded to the brothers’ request for thrones by saying: “You do not know what you are asking.” He could not promise them the highest thrones, but he could promise them suffering and persecution: “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized” (v. 39).
By the use of the metaphors of the cup and baptism, Jesus referred to his suffering and death. By accepting the cup, they were to share in Jesus’s suffering and rejection from this Christ-hating world. They did not understand that according to God’s plan, suffering precedes glory, the cross comes before the crown, loss before rewards, and serving before reigning.
The supreme example of the paradox of absolute authority and humble “slave of all” is our Lord Jesus Christ: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (v. 45). Jesus’s death on the cross is the greatest expression of humility, servanthood, and love—and thus true greatness.
Contradiction
Despite our Lord’s repeated teaching on humility, we still find lack of humility and the abuse of pastoral authority a substantial problem in the worldwide Christian community. At the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa (2010), the 5,000 plus delegates representing every country in the world agreed that lack of humility and the abuse of pastoral authority among pastors was a worldwide harm to believers and needed to be addressed urgently.[vii] Undoubtedly, pride of position and abuse of authority are innate problems of the corrupt human heart, but those indwelt by the Holy Spirit and obedient to the teachings of Jesus are to be different, radically different; they are to be Christlike leaders.
[i] BDAG, s.v. “πραǘς,” “pertaining to not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance, gentle, humble, considerate, meek” 861; see Matt. 5:5; 21:5 (= Zech. 9:9); 1 Peter 3:4; CSB renders the Greek term here as “lowly.”
[ii] BDAG, s.v. “ταπεινός,” “pertaining to being unpretentious, humble” 989; see Luke 1:52; Rom. 12:16; 2 Cor. 10:1; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; NIDNTTE, 4: 448–454; the following translations render the Greek term here as “humble” NASB; CSB; NIV; NRSV; the ESV and NKJV translate as “lowly.”
[iii] A paradox is “an apparently self-contradictory (even absurd) statement which, on closer inspection, is found to contain a truth reconciling the conflicting opposites” (J. A. Cuddon, A Dictionary of Literary Terms, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Blackwell, 1991).
Last – First: According to this saying, the term “first” signifies the one who pushes himself to the front and asserts his high position of authority. The terms “last” or “servant” signify the person of no status or rank, one who assumes a position at the bottom of the social ladder of life—not a position anyone would naturally choose.
Last – First: According to this saying, the term “first” signifies the one who pushes himself to the front and asserts his high position of authority. The terms “last” or “servant” signify the person of no status or rank, one who assumes a position at the bottom of the social ladder of life—not a position anyone would naturally choose.
[iv] Narry F. Santos, “The Paradox of Authority and Servanthood in the Gospel of Mark,” Bibliotheca Sacra 154 (Oct.–Dec. 1997): 453.
[v] John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1986), 286.
[vi] Lewis B. Smedes, Love Within Limits: Realizing Selfless Love in a Selfish World (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 42.
[vii] The Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and a Call to Action (Bodmin, UK: The Lausanne Movement, 2010; The Lausanne Legacy: Landmarks in Global Mission (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2016).
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