"The Falling Away"
To understand the church in apostasy, one must first observe the New Testament Church under the guidance of the apostles. The church was planted in a city or community by the preaching of the gospel. When men and women were convinced that they were sinners and needed a Savior, they were persuaded to believe that Jesus was God's Son and turned from their sins to Him. Upon a confession of their faith in Christ, they were baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This baptism was for the remission of their sins, and it put them into Christ. These redeemed people in any community constituted the church in that community.
Christianity, once established, did its own evangelistic work. It grew naturally from within; it attracted people by its very existence in a town. The gospel was spread not only by public proclamation of the Word by apostles and evangelists, but by every zealous Christian who took the message to his family, his neighbor, his fellow-worker; in fact, to everyone who would listen. There were no missionary societies, no missionary institutions, no "sponsoring churches," no committee appointed, no "big brotherhood projects."
The church in Antioch of Syria, from which Paul and Barnabas started on their evangelistic work, did not assume authority over the churches Paul started in Perga, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra. Neither did Paul before starting this work go "barn-storming" through Palestine making outrageous demands on the churches for support and painting glowing pictures of the great possibilities in Asia Minor, making impossible promises of results to be accomplished.
After establishing several congregations, Paul and Barnabas left Derbe, retraced their steps through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, and "appointed for them 'elders in every church." (Acts 14:23) This demonstrated that each congregation was an independent unit, fully self governing in every respect.
It is to be noted at this point that an elder has no authority beyond the congregation in which he is serving as an elder. He cannot scripturally be an elder over two or three churches, neither can he be an elder of a church, or churches, thousands of miles away. In the New Testament, the terms "elder" and "bishop" refer to the same man and to the same work. The former refers more particularly to age, and the latter to oversight. (cf. Acts 20:17,28; Titus 1:5,7) The words are used interchangeably. These elders when duly qualified and appointed, took the oversight of the congregation in which they had been appointed. They did not take any oversight at all over a congregation in a district, state, or country where they were not appointed.
In the New Testament we have the example of a church sending contributions directly to Paul (Phil. 4:16); but we have no example at all of a church acting as a "clearing house" for the contributions sent by other churches. The church in Antioch sent relief to the famine stricken saints in Judea, sending it by the hands of Paul and Barnabas. They sent it "to the elders" in Judea. Paul also secured contributions from Gentile churches for the same purpose. (1 Cor. 16:1,2; 2 Cor. 8:9; Acts 24:17) The men mentioned in Acts 20:4 were messengers from their respective churches, bearing the contributions. The apostles did not want to be accused in any way of mishandling these funds.
The Apostasy
That was the picture of the church in its original purity. But Paul prophesied that a "falling away" would come. (Acts 20:30; 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1) In fact, this leaven was already at work when he wrote the second letter to Thessalonica. When one looks at the beginning of the second century, it is apparent that some drastic changes have already come about. The simple New Testament order in which each church had its own elders and deacons has already weakened under the encroachments of the "episcopal" system. The authority is being centralized. This centralization began with the growing power of the bishops, especially those in big cities. A distinction is being made between an "elder" and a "bishop." Though all the churches had "elders," it began to be the custom to have a "bishop" also who had more authority than the elders; this bishop at first was simply one of the elders who was given more than ordinary prestige and deference. Jerome traces the bishop as distinct from the elder to ecclesiastical custom rather than to divine tradition. (Ad Titus, 1:7)
The episcopate then became a substitute for the church organization as given by the apostles. It started in the East and spread through the West; it was almost universally accepted by the end of the second century. Though the literature is scanty in the first half of the second century, enough of it is available to point out the trends. Ignatius of Antioch, Syria, (died 117 A.D.) was condemned by the Emperor Trajan to be sent to Rome and to be thrown to the Lions. Ignatius wrote several epistles, and in them stressed the importance of obedience "to the bishop." His writings presuppose the episcopate in distinction to the eldership. The following quotations show his position: "Where there is no bishop, there is no church" (Ad Trallians); "I will be in harmony with those who are subject to the bishop and the presbyters and the deacons" (Ad Polycarp); "The bishop presides in the place of God." (Ad Mangesians) To Ignatius the unity of faith is bound up with the episcopate. The bishop is the reason for unity. He names Onesimus as bishop of Ephesus; Damas as bishop of Magnesia, and Polycarp as bishop of Smyrna.
Polycarp of Smyrna, condemned to be burned at the stake in Rome in the year 156 A.D., claimed to have been a disciple of the Apostle John. Yet in his letter to the Philippians, he writes of himself as a bishop and makes distinction between himself and the elders at Smyrna. Thus we have this distinction between bishop and elders clearly apparent just one generation after the death of the Apostle John. This claim of bishop being superior to elders was repeated and enlarged upon by Irenaeus (died 202 A.D.), who was sent from Asia Minor to Lyons, Gaul, and by Cyprian of North Africa, who died in 258 A.D.
In succeeding centuries the power of certain bishops increased greatly and led to the "metropolitan" and "patriarchal" systems, which finally culminated in the extravagant claims of one bishop to being the "universal bishop" or pope of all the churches. The "metropolitan" bishop was one who claimed to be bishop over a metropolis, or metropolitan area, exercising authority over all the churches within his district. The "patriarch" was in authority not merely over a metropolis, but over a whole country or nation. Furthermore, the country bishops (chorepiscopoi) were told to look to the apostolic mother churches (Jerusalem, Antioch. Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome) for guidance.
Even in the full grown development of the "metropolitan" power, however, the local bishops would consult with the elders of the congregations before acting. These bishops did not necessarily submit to the judgment of their respective elders; for the bishop could act independently of the elders; just as eventually the metropolitan could act independently of the bishops; and as the patriarchs could act independently of the metropolitans.
All of these ascending gradations of authority are clearly in violation of the simple New Testament pattern, which shows each church to be an independent unit, and the largest unit of action on earth. The elders who were appointed in these local congregations were not subject to any bishop, neither were they in any way subject to any other eldership. Elders may send out an evangelist, and they may also recall him; but cannot at all assume authority over any church which this evangelist may have established.
When we in this twentieth century see any church among us violating these simple scriptural principles, that church is fulfilling the prediction of Paul concerning a "falling away." We must adhere to the principle of "doing Bible things in Bible ways; and calling Bible things by Bible names."