Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: acts

The Elder John and Leadership of the Church
The A.D. First Century Church

I tend to look at the Acts of the Apostles and oversimplify the History of the Church,

STARRING THE APOSTLES — Peter and Paul.

Although Jesus says of Peter, “Upon this Rock I will build My Church,” we tend to miss the frequency of John at Peter’s side throughout the early acts of all of the Apostles in Jerusalem.

Peter, John and the healed lame beggar

ACTS of the Apostles 1-6 – Peter

Epistles from Apostles to Elders

Even while reading the Epistles of Paul outlining a developing leadership structure of the A.D. 1st century Church, Elders seem to get lost somewhere between Apostolic authority (at the top) and dynamic Deacons (such as Stephen).
```
Elders, Deacons and other Apostolic leadership 
```
Paul writes in his first pastoral letter to Timothy:

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.

1 Timothy 5:17 NKJV

Other English translations help us apply the same Scripture into responsibilities 21st century C.E. churches consider as leadership jobs.

The elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

1 Timothy 5:17 CSB

We need to think of the Apostles John, Peter, Paul and others in these dual roles in relation to the developing churches they establish.

Paul offers a precedent and example of which churches need elders in a pastoral epistle to (the pastor) Titus.

The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town.

Epistle of Paul to Titus 1:5 CSB

Timothy, Titus, Barnabas, Silas and especially the Apostles often deserved double honor for serving as pastor and teacher of a specific local church for a time, in addition to their commission and titles as apostles, disciples, deacons and elders.

JOHN, during his long years of Apostolic ministry to many churches served as an Elder (probably in several towns) in addition to his chosen commission by Christ as an Apostle.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne,

Elders Leading the Family of God

Before we look at letters from John the Elder or the role of an Elder in the New Testament families of God and Christ, let’s honor the tradition into which James and John, Sons of Zebedee, Andrew and Simon Peter and other first century Jews were born.

Elders of Jewish Scripture (the Old Testament)

“You stand today, all of you, before Yahweh your God [יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם]:

your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is within your camps..

Deuteronomy 29:10-11a KJV

Included with the elders [the old men, some leaders of clans or families] yᵊhōvâ ĕlōhîm includes officers [foremen] and many others.

Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

Deuteronomy 31:28 ESV

Then all the elders H2205 of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah

1 Samuel 8:4 LSB

So Samuel did what Yahweh said and came to Bethlehem. And the elders H2205 of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?”

1 Samuel 16:4 LSB
```
Princes are hanged up by their hand: 
the faces of elders were not honoured.
They took the young men to grind, 
and the children fell under the wood.
The elders have ceased from the gate, 
the young men from their musick.
The joy of our heart is ceased; 
our dance is turned into mourning.
The crown is fallen from our head: 
woe unto us, that we have sinned!

Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah 5:12-16 KJV 
```
“But you shall select excellent men out of all the people, those who fear God, men of truth, those who hate greedy gain; and you shall place these men over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

Exodus 18 & Deuteronomy 1 LSB

Elders lead the thousands, the hundreds, the fifties and the tens..

Elders of a developing or disintegrating church

Before we breeze through the years of the ACTS OF THE APOSTLE JOHN, let’s recall the chronology mentioned previously in a look at John’s Gospel — a timeline taking the young Disciple at the foot of the Cross, past his proclaiming the Gospel with Peter on Pentecost and up to the time the Elder writes his Gospel.

A Glance at the Gospel of John

An account of ACTS in the life of John
```
All dates and ages of John are approximate
```
- ~A.D. 30 – Jesus’ ascension, Pentecost, Peter & John preaching in the Temple
  - The Apostle John is only about 25 years old.
- ~A.D. 44 –
  - John is now in his upper 30’s
About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.

Acts of the Apostles 12:1-2 CSB
- ~A.D. 49 – Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15)
  - The Apostle John, ~ age 43
  - Peter, who an angel released at the time James was execution, would have been present, along with James, half-brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem church.
  - Paul and other Elders present to decide how Jews and Gentiles will worship Jesus the Lord as one body of Christ
Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them—Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers—to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, and they sent this letter by them,

“The apostles and the brothers who are elders, to the brothers in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.

Acts 15:22-23 LSB
- ~ A.D. 55 – Mark, (John Mark, gentile nephew of Barnabas who had accompanied his uncle and Paul on Cypress & became a scribe to Peter) – writes his Gospel.
  - The Apostle John is about 50 years old
  - Paul and others write Epistles to various churches
- ~ A.D. 61 – Luke, gentile physician of Paul, writes his Gospel and Jesus’ Apostle Matthew Levi writes his Gospel
  - The Apostle John is now in his upper 50’s
  - The Apostles Peter and Paul continue to write Epistles
- ~ A.D. 62 – James, half-brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem church is martyred
- ~ A.D. 66
  - John is now 60 years old
  - The Jews revolt against Rome
    
    Christians flee Jerusalem
  - The Apostles Paul and Peter are Martyred in Rome
    
    Jude (Jesus’ half-brother) writes an Epistle
    
    Epistle “to the Hebrews” written (anonymously)
- ~ A.D. 86
  - The Elder John is now 80 years old
  - ALL of the other Apostles are dead and as Jesus had told Simon Peter, is the only one remaining.
  - The Lord has saved John even from torture, exiled on a Greek island of Patmos.
  - John will now write three Epistles…
    
    ten, if you count brief greetings to seven in his apocalypse from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Elders of the New Testament

In the New Testament, the role of elders becomes more defined within the structure of the early church. Elders, also known as overseers or bishops, are responsible for shepherding the flock, teaching sound doctrine, and maintaining church discipline.

Plurality and Accountability:
The New Testament model for church leadership often emphasizes a plurality of elders, suggesting that multiple elders should lead each congregation. This plurality provides a system of accountability and shared responsibility, ensuring that no single individual holds excessive power. The collective wisdom and diverse gifts of multiple elders contribute to the health and growth of the church.

Conclusion:
The biblical concept of elders encompasses a rich tradition of leadership and service, rooted in both the Old and New Testaments. Elders are called to be shepherds, teachers, and examples, guiding the people of God with wisdom, humility, and integrity.

Their role is vital to the spiritual well-being and doctrinal soundness of the church, as they seek to honor God and serve His people faithfully.

source: BibleHub.com

NO man was more directly accountable to our risen Lord Jesus Christ, with a lasting impact on the saints of an expanding second century church who had met him, than the ELDER JOHN.

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
March 28, 2026
The Longest Faithful Apostolic Journey of John
How do you picture the Apostle John?
- From familiar Scripture as a young man near Jesus,
- or an old man on Patmos;
- or do you see a faithful man following Jesus on an extraordinary journey lasting many years?
INTRODUCTION to JOHN’s Apostolic Faith

late A.D. 20’s at the Jordan river near Bethany

John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

Jesus turned and saw them following.

“What do you want?”

“Rabbi”

“where are You staying?”

“Come and see,”

So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him.

Gospel of John 1:35-39 excerpt, BSB

James and his young brother John were not sleeping when the Messiah of Israel came to their Rabbi, John the Baptist.

In fact, these two sons of Zebedee had sought the savior of Israel, and then found and followed John the Baptist (who many Jews believed could be the one).

Then they would join the Master of whom John spoke, and follow Him when the Lord sought His own disciples from their own little fishing village far removed from Jerusalem.

Introduction to Jesus’ Disciple John

John is a familiar and beloved Disciple of Jesus, well-known to Christians and unbelievers alike through the Gospels, as well as numerous illustrations and paintings often commissioned by the Roman or Orthodox Church many centuries later.

~ in the year of our Lord 30
```
He and others likely didn't have a visible halo over their heads. And art such as DaVinci's, 'The Last Supper,' — with young John clinging to Jesus, which illustrates John's actual devotion — shows a long table and chairs never used in upper rooms of the A.D. first century. 
```
A.D. 30’s – A.D. 50’s

Perhaps Christians will recall that prior to His crucifixion, JESUS sent the Twelve out to some cities to proclaim the Gospel.

And some may recall that the APOSTLE John was with Peter when both Apostles had been sent to preach in the Temple after Pentecost (~A.D. 30), were witnessed to work miracles.

“How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language?

Acts of the Apostles 2:8 CSB
- Here is one brief look [October 2021 C.E.] from our TalkofJESUS SERIES from Acts of the Apostles.
  - Perhaps five years later you will still recognize some of the faces.
Be saved from this perverse generation!

Three Score Years of John’s Apostlic Faith

Followers of Jesus Christ in these last days will generally picture the Apostle Jesus loved as he began his faithful path of life in the early years of John’s life (when he was only in his twenties).

Even in Acts of the Apostles, our early focus turns from Peter (and John, somewhat) primarily to Paul.

Although John’s Gospel details key witness of the Lord Jesus Christ prior to the Lord’s death, resurrection and ascension, the Apostle wrote his Gospel for the Church many years later, around the year of our Lord (A.D.) 85 – fifty some years after Pentecost.

~ A.D. 50 – ~ A.D. 100

The Apostle John wrote his final letters near the end of the A.D. First Century!

Written between a mid-first century Council in Jerusalem and his own natural death near the end of the A.D. First Century, the Epistles of John reveal a familiar festering of indignancy between Jerusalem’s Jews and occupying Roman legions.

Christians were caught in a new light leading them to dangerous intersections of worldly clashes affecting the lives of Jews, Romans, Greeks and every saint seeking Christ.
Pictured: A.D. 70 burning of the Temple in Jerusalem by the occupying Roman army.
Writing to the Jews, the saints and the Romans

The saints of the Church witnessed Apostolic faith in a Roman governed world with diminished Jewish influence throughout Syria, Asia, and Europe (including Rome) — and even in Rome’ s local Herodian tetrarchies which included Galilee and Judea, with the city of Jerusalem.

The Apostle John wrote to saints who came to Christ from all of these varied backgrounds — saints and their Elders new to the Gospel, in need of sound teaching and vulnerable to temptations of false teaching.

Introduction to John’s Epistles

In order to further understand a turbulent historic setting for this SERIES on the final LETTERS of JOHN, we will first take a brief look at the first century Church and also look ahead to John’s other well-quoted book, Revelation.

FINALLY — with God’s help and that of theologians more studied than me —I hope to tie it all together by studying the two briefest letters in the New Testament: the Epistles of Second John and Third John.
```
COMMMENT with your QUESTIONS and observations about the THREE Letters of John at anytime. 
Your input may be important to our understanding of John's letters. 
```
NEXT: Reintroducing John, the man, disciple, Apostle and Elder

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
March 11, 2026
I have finished my course – the Apostle Paul
The Apostle now closes his final letter to Timothy noting that his course redirected by Christ on a road to Damascus so many years before — his marathon race of missions into all the world — indeed even the end of the Apostle’s mortal life is at hand.

δρόμος – I am spent
```
in the N. T. σπένδεσθαι, to be offered as a libation, is figuratively used of one whose blood is poured out in a violent death for the cause of God
```
Paul, with Timothy about five years earlier, had written to the church in Philippi:

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to boast because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

But even if I am being poured G4689 out G4689 as G4689 a G4689 drink G4689 offering G4689 upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

And you also, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

Epistle of Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi 2:14-18 LSB

The Apostle had then sent Timothy and Epaphroditus to the church at Philippi.

~ A.D. 66

And now Paul again writes to Timothy:

ἐγὼ γὰρ ἤδη σπένδομαι καὶ ὁ καιρὸς τῆς ἀναλύσεώς μου ἐφέστηκεν

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

2 Timothy 4:6 – Greek NT, LSB:

Although Paul was formerly housed in Rome for some time as a citizen having appealed to Caesar, the Apostle is now imprisoned with many others awaiting the whim of a merciless new Caesar Nero.

I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith.
Second Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy 4:7 NKJV

I have fought the good fight

ἀγωνίζομαι – agōnizomai –
- to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to accomplish something):—fight, labor fervently, strive.
That would be the Apostle Paul alright. Every saint of the church recognized his example which the Apostle expected them to follow, as they would Christ, who said:

“Strive G75 to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Gospel of Luke (the physician who traveled with Paul who had written his Gospel while accompanying the Apostle) 13:24 LSB

Paul had written to the saints in Corinth [~A.D. 55] some ten years ago:

Now everyone who competes G75 in G75 the G75 games G75 exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 LSB

I have finished the course

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Acts of the Apostles 20:24 NIV – Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

Paul, since his conversion by Christ on the road to Damascus is, if nothing else, consistent in his persistence for the Gospel, even though the Apostle’s mortal life seems always in peril.

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course..
2 Timothy 4:7a KJV

τελέω – teleō – finish
- to bring to a close, to finish, to end
  - to do just as commanded, and generally involving the notion of time, to perform the last act which completes a process, to accomplish, fulfill
Luke recounts what Jesus had told the Twelve prior to His crucifixion:

“I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how it consumes me until it is finished [or accomplished – teleō]!

Do you think that I came here to bring peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

Gospel of Luke 12:49-51 CSB

And in his second account Paul’s physician reports of Christ’s crucifixion, where the Lord Himself spoke, “It is finished,”

When they had carried out [teleō] all that had been written about him, they took him down from the tree and put him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and he appeared for many days to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

Acts of the Apostles 13:29-31 CSB – from Paul’s Sermon in Antioch of Pisidia

I have kept the faith

What does that mean to you?

Do you have the Apostolic faith of Paul.. or Timothy?

Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure,

I am clean from my sin”?

Proverbs 20:9 LSB

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love;

just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love [agapē].

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you,

and that your joy may be G4137 complete G4137.

John 15:10 -11 LSB – JESUS

And PAUL personally addressed Timothy earlier in this second letter:

… I unceasingly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, having remembered your tears, so that I may be filled [plēroō ] with joy, receiving remembrance of the unhypocritical faith within you.

Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy 1:3b-5a LSB

At last the champion’s wreath

Paul finishes his final epistle:

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day,

and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

2 Timothy 4:8 NKJV

NEXT: Paul’s last personal pleas

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
February 28, 2026