When it comes to appointing elders in the church, is Titus 1:5 a binding example of a preacher doing the appointing (though not necessarily meaning he does the choosing himself, but the congregation, though he would assist in giving scriptural guidance – Acts 6:3-6)? When I ask this, I don’t ask if a preacher can do it, as Titus 1:5 gives an example. I ask if this example is a binding example, meaning that the appointment can’t be scripturally done by anyone else but by the preacher.
For something to be binding instruction in the New Testament (whether it is a direct statement, approved example or implication from which we must infer), it must also be exclusive instruction. For instance, the New Testament only authorizes observance of the Lord’s Supper weekly on the first day of the week because we have exclusive instruction respecting the frequency and day on which it was observed with apostolic approval (Acts 20:7). Lacking alternative instruction or example to include additional days, occasions or frequencies, Christians properly observe the Lord’s Supper or Communion each Lord’s Day, rather than monthly, quarterly, annually or at weddings.
Non-exclusive instruction on a biblical topic broadens its application. For instance, John chapters 14-16 were spoken by our Lord only to the apostles. Consequently, only the apostles were the promised recipients of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is so since all other references to the then pending baptism of the Holy Spirit either directly specify the apostles as the recipients, or the passage can be translated correctly and reasonably to distinguish between the apostles as the recipients of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and others in the multitude to be the recipients of something else (Matthew 3:7-12). However, John 14:1-3 speaks of Jesus returning someday to take faithful children of God back with him to heaven; does that apply exclusively to the apostles, too, since chapters 14-16 about the baptism of the Holy Spirit apply only to the apostles? No! The return of our Lord at the Second Coming to retrieve the faithful appears in additional passages of Scripture to include more than the apostles only (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The message of John 14:1-3 respecting the apostles who were the recipients of this speech by Jesus is not exclusive to the apostles because other passages of Scripture apply this promise to all faithful children of God. John 14:1-3 is not binding doctrine about the apostles only because the teaching therein is not exclusively applicable to the apostles.
The appearance of elders in the early church (Acts 11:30) precedes mention of the appointment of them that appears in Titus 1:5. The mention of elders in New Testament churches appears where no reference is present respecting their appointment (Acts 20:17; Philippians 1:1). Consequently, students of the Bible typically concur that there is no binding New Testament instruction as to the manner of appointment of elders to be elders.
Furthermore, there is no exclusive teaching, and therefore no binding instruction, pertaining to the manner of appointment of elders in the Lord’s church. Elders, though, who have been appointed by a congregation to serve are said in Scripture to be made elders by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28).
We can discern from Scripture (Acts 6:3-6) the need for a local congregation to select its own church leaders (or official workers). Following the congregational selection in this instance, there was a definitive appointment, induction or validation of the new and official role they were to commence. Though western culture neither fasts nor practices laying on of hands today, a certain solemnity and official induction ought to follow congregational selection of its church officials (deacons, elders and why not preachers?).
The New Testament notices several different persons, through laying on of hands, validating or appointing someone to something: prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1, 3); evangelists (Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23); apostles (Acts 6:6); elders (1 Timothy 4:14). When one realizes there is a difference between “selection” and “induction,” the induction or appointment is secondary and a matter of solemnizing or officiating the selection.
In summary, a congregation is to select its own officials (deacons, elders, preachers, etc.), and once selected, they are to be publicly acknowledged as selected to serve in their respective roles. Not part of this study, though, specifically deacons and elders are to be selected according to listed biblical qualifications (1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:6-8). Then, teachers, evangelists, elders or other designate by the congregation on its behalf ought to solemnize the selection of elders, for instance, on behalf of the congregation.
