Quote:
Originally Posted by YP0534
The Lord said that His sheep know His voice.
I really think maybe that's all we get.
The pure and living Word burns in our ears and hearts when we hear it. If we strip away the superstition that one who has spoken for the Lord once is His appointed and anointed forever, perhaps we come to the place where we are able to follow Paul as he follows Christ and also avoid following him should he misstep into error. The Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God. Does the Spirit not witness that we should submit to any particular one at any moment? Or do we need to have some external imprimatur to verify what is the Lord's voice?
And to tie it back to the thread, was Paul's appointment of elders even necessary?
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The first sentence I quoted above says so much to me. And if it is true, then I think the sheep know who their leader(s) is(are). No matter what they do, how many there are, what kind of structure is present, if there is willful acknowledgment by the flock, then I have little complaint.
Now when the leadership includes persons far away, like a denominational headquarters, or a structure of bishops, archbishops, etc., then there is the possibility of direction from beyond the sphere of the flock that might not be something they would "know" or "hear."
But if I am hearing the Lord's voice in my environment, whether denominational or independent, then maybe what man has interposed outside of my local assembly is not truly relevant for me. Maybe arguing about it as some kind of spiritual evil is just a red herring.
In my particular case, there is nothing outside of the "walls" of our assembly that controls besides scripture and the Spirit. And coming back to the idea that the sheep know the master's voice, that tends to leave me content with the idea that we are capable of determining who really are our elders, and further knowing who are elders who do not have "position."
I think that Paul took it upon himself to appoint elders in environments in which the sheep were only just beginning to have some appreciation for the shepherd's voice. If I were to assume that his appointment meant that someone outside, like an apostle, was always going to be responsible for making that determination, I might not think so highly of it. Once I have ears to hear, I am capable of listening. I'm not sure that someone who is not here to listen will know, or alternately they will send in an outsider (a hireling?) as the one they promote (or hear) but it may not be the experience of the flock.