What is wrong with the "church"? That's a fair question. In truth, there is much that is wrong with the "church", beginning with the name often applied to it as I have noted before.
As I engage in a Leonard Nimoy, In Search Of, type investigation, this time focused on the "clergy" and the "professional leader" of the so called "church", oftentimes referred to as pastor.
My investigation led me to a work by Frank Viola and George Barna called, Pagan Christianity. In this work they do a good job of digging up the roots of our present day "church leader" and the responsibilities attached to them.
While in this series I'll share some of their work, I'll also take a look at what the duties and responsibilities are of the Body of Christ for pastors, elders and evangelists based from Scripture and not the commandments and doctrines of men.
As I connect the dots through this series you will start to see where God's people have erred from Scripture and have set up a system and structure that opposes what Christ had established for His ekklesia.
My search begins with an "early church father" - Ignatius of Antioch, who was the first person in "church" history to begin with the local congregation having a single leader or head. Ignatius elevated one of the elders in each congregation above all others, which was referred to as the bishop. (Ferguson, Early Christians Speak, 173)
In AD 107, Ignatius wrote a series of letters before his martyrdom that exalted the authority and importance of the bishop's office. (Bruce, Spreading Flame, 203-204)
According to Ignatius, the bishop had ultimate power and should be obeyed absolutely. Here are some excerpts from his letters: "Plainly therefore we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord Himself...All of you follow the bis as Jesus Christ follows the Father...Wherever the bishop shall appear, there will the people be; even as where Jesus may be...It is not lawful apart from the bishop either to baptize or to hold a love feast; but whatever he shall approve, this is well-pleasing also to God...It is good to recognize God and the bishop. He that honors the bishop is honored of God...Do nothing without the Father, being united with Him, either by Himself or by the Apostles, so neither do you anything without the bishop and the presbyters...You should look on your bishop as a type of the Father. (Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (New York: Dorset Press, 1968), 75-130.)
For Ignatius, the bishop stood in the place of God while the presbyters, or elders, stood in the place of the twelve apostles. (The Organization of the Early Christian Churches, 106, 185)
In Ignatius's mind, the bishop was the remedy for dispelling false doctrine and establishing church unity. (The Organization of the Early Christian Churches, 100) Ignatius believed that if the church would survive the onslaught of heresy, it had to develop a rigid power structure patterned after the centralized political structure of Rome. (The Rise of the Monarchical Episcopate, in Three Essays on Early Church History (Ann Arbor, MI: Braun-Brumfield, 1967); Ordination: A Biblical-Historical View, 175) Single-bishop rule would rescue the church from heresy and internal strife. (Christian Priesthood Examined, 69; Early Church Writings, 63-72)
At the time of Ignatius, the one-bishop rule had not caught on in other regions. It was only being practiced in such Asian cities as Ephesus, Philadelphia, Magnesia and Smyrna. (Spreading Flame, 66-69; Ministry in Historical Perspectives, 23-25) But by the mid-second century, this model was firmly established in most churches. (Christian Priesthood Examined, 67; Spreading Flame, 69) By the end of the third century it prevailed everywhere. (Ministry in Historical Perspectives, 25)
The bishop became the man responsible for teaching the faith and knowing what Christianity was all about. (Christian Priesthood Examined, 68) The bishop became the solo pastor of the church. (Growth of Church Institutions, 35) The bishop became the professional in common worship. (Protestant Worship and Church Architecture, 65-66)
As can be seen Ignatius, very early in the begin of Christ's ekklesia, began to set up, exalt a man over the local congregation. Not that he received "divine revelation" that contradicted the revelation given to the apostles that laid the foundation of the ekklesia, but rather Ignatius followed after his own reasoning (Judg. 21:25; Prov. 3:5; 14:12; 16:25; 21:2) and caused the ekklesia to drift (Heb. 2:1) from it's foundation as it will become more clear in this series.
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