The History of the Office of Elder (5): Restored During the Reformation Era
This article traces the restoration of the office of elder during the sixteenth-century Reformation, particularly among Reformed and Presbyterian church leaders like Ulrich Zwingli who reasserted Christ's headship over the church and implemented plural eldership structures. Kuiper examines how early reformers recovered this biblical office after centuries of its absence from church practice, establishing the foundational polity that would characterize Reformed church government.
Previous article in this series: January 1, 2013, p. 159. We are currently examining the history of the office of elder after the time of the apostles in light of this question: how closely to God's norm regarding the office of elder, which norm is given us in Scripture, did the church of Christ adhere after the time of the apostles? In our last article we saw that the office disappeared in the New Testament church after the first few centuries A.D. Now we see that God used the sixteenth...
Full article available on sb.rfpa.org