You must choose for yourselves bishops and deacons who are worthy of the Lord: men who are humble and not eager for money, but sincere and approved. -- Didache 15
[Choose for yourselves, not receive from another...hmm! Wonder what Benedict makes of that?]
Yes, the Greek in the Didache is the verb keronteneo. The Didache agrees with 2 Corinthians 8:19, where Barnabas was chosen by the congregations.
ReplyDeleteWhat we can conclude from this is the flexibility in how pastors/bishops/presbyters become the shepherd of a congregation(s). The Apostle Paul appointed some and we see congregation also choosing. It seems that in some cases Paul was the prime mover with the congregation agreeing; in other cases it was the congregation leading the way with apostolic concurrence.
But what I find interesting is the “congregations” choosing Barnabas. This shows that congregations can band together to issue a call—kind of like a synod doing that representing the congregations. Hmm . . . what say the “bronzies” on this?
Rich Futrell