[aron]

From YP's list: Qualifications for elders

Blameless as a steward of God; above reproach (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6-7)
Husband of one wife; a one-woman man (1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:6)
Temperate, sober, vigilant (1 Timothy 3:2)
Sober-minded, prudent (1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:8)
Of good behavior; orderly, respectable (1 Timothy 3:2)
Given to hospitality (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8)
Apt to teach; able to teach; he can exhort believers and refute false teaching (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:9)
Not given to wine (1 Timothy 3:3, Titus 1:7)
Not violent, not pugnacious (1 Timothy 3:3, Titus 1:7)
Patient, moderate, forbearing, gentle (1 Timothy 3:3)
Not a brawler; uncontentious; not soon angry or quick tempered (1 Timothy 3:3, Titus 1:7)
Not covetous; not a lover of money; not greedy of base gain (1 Timothy 3:3, Titus 1:7)
Rules well his own house; his children are faithful, not accused of rebellion to God (1 Timothy 3:4, Titus 1:7)
Not a novice; not a new convert (1 Timothy 3:6)
Has a good report or reputation with outsiders (1 Timothy 3:7)
Not self-willed (Titus 1:7)
A lover of what is good (Titus 1:7)
Just, fair (Titus 1:8)
Holy, devout (Titus 1:8)
Self-Controlled (Titus 1:8)

Reading again the list of qualifications of elders, I was touched again, strongly, with something that's been bugging me for a long time now. Paul's list of qualifications are compared to what?

Did Apollos or Peter recommend leaders in the assembly who were brawlers, given to wine, keepers of more than one wife? Who was recommending something different than Paul here? Why did he have to write these words?

Or was it okay for the "rank & file" to drink & fight & fornicate; just not the "leading ones"?

Where do these admonitions come from? Why is Paul writing these words? I don't get it. It seems to me to be a huge dropoff from "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" and "Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God", to "Don't drink and fight". It seems to be a big dropoff to go from "It was written, do not steal, but I say to you, do not even covet", to "Those who stole should steal no more".

The spiritual, mystical, deep, even unfathomable, limitless teachings have been replaced by prescriptions for outward behavior that even most unbelievers would shrug at. Don't steal, don't punch one another, stay sober. What happened here?

Just a little contextual question for the "eldership" discussion. Something clearly happened to the fellowship, from Acts chapter 2 to Paul's epistles.

Compare Paul's prescriptions for the "leaders of the flock" to Jesus' "Beatitudes". The latter is clearly at another whole level of reality. What happened?