XiiToufiywfif «aj miroi ri,* XiircfpyiKf tw, Tp»0r,Tii K/ti >,>ctr««>*i'. The y»p in this passage is most naturally referred_ hack to ifieut T»v Kt/oiov; this is the main thought which r/>«i7(, iC''-'^" yt^fm, and ii^oKiuMffAit*vt descrilie more exactly. But If the
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ment of finance, the daily administration of dis- cipline fell upon the local officers (cf. 1 Tli 5'-'), as ivell as all those general duties included in presi- dency.
The exact division of labour between the ' pro- I)hetic ' and the local rulers naturally varied with the strength and efficiency of the local organiza- tion. In .lerua., where the local organization was very strong, the work of the |)rophct sinks into the hackground. There were prophets at Jerus. (cf. Ac II"), and their voice was heard on great occa- sions (e.g. ib. 15^ 'it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us '), but the presbyters are more prominent in the administration of affairs. In Corinth, where the local organization was lax to a degree, St. Paul finds it necessary to issue com- mands on the arrangement of a variety of matters connected with their private life anil assemblies for worship, which, in a more organized community, would have been determined by the local officers. Another feature which would atiect the relation of apostle and prophet to the local community, is the possibility that, in cases where the prophet was settled in a place, he was also a local ruler, i.e. not gud prophet, but appointed in the regular way ; e.g. Judas and Silas, who were chief men among the brethren (Ac 15^), appear also as prophets (it. *■-). In general, the direct rule by revelation appears as initiative in great steps {e.g. Ac 8^ 9'" 10'""- 13- 16«etc.).
Growth of the local Ministry. — The closing days of the apostolic age witnessed a rapid advance in the importance of the local officers. The immense gTowth of the Church made the personal super- vision of the apostle more and more intermittent, and naturally threw more initiative on the bishops. Again, certain dangers develojjcd themselves in regard to jjrophecy. There had always been a ri.sk that the prophet should introduce a subjective element into the message as it was revealed to him. But this was not all. There arose false apostles (2 Co II'-'*) and false prophets (Mt 24", >lk 13--, 1 ,Jn 4', Rev lO'^). Against these dangers there existed a special gift called the discernment of sjiirlts (1 Co 12'"). In Thessalonica (1 Th 5"'-'^') and Corinth (1 Co 14^) St. Paul found it necessary to remind the Christians to exercise discrimination in regard to the prophet's mess.age. lie lays <iown also (1 Co 12') an objective criterion by which the false projjhet may be detected (cf. 1 Jn 4'"-, Rev 2- 19'°). Tlie great rise of false prophets in later d.'iys necessarily weakened the authority of the j)ro]iliet, anil this, again, tended to strengthen tlie bishojis. There are three directions in which this increased authority developed.
(1) Teaching. — Of course the apostles and pro- phets were also teachers. Teaching was one of their main functions. Hut, exactly as in the case of other local administration, the daily burden of drilling new converts probably did not fall on them. Their teaching was occasional. On whom, then, fell the duty of regular teaching ? The exist- ence of a regular class of persons called ' teachers ' answers the question for us. These were persons possessing in an eminent degree the 'gift' of teaching (Ro 12', 1 Co 12'), i.e. a jiower of grasping and imparting the truths of the Christian religion. They were not, like the apostles and prophets, guided by direct revelations, but they counted, next to these, as the third order in the Church (1 Co 12^). They appear, too, in the Didnchc, as vnndering ministers, possessing authority in all Churches, and not confined to any one single Church. Again, they were not appointed to an office of teaching, but became teachers by the
yip refora to it^iXapyCpout, thi.s implies no more with regard to the pmphcl Hum iBSaiil in ch. 11, viz. that the [jrophel must not demand niotietary payment.
voluntary exercise of their 'gift' (cf. Ja 3', 1 Co 4'°). They appear, then, as a middle stage be- tween the prophetic order and the local adminis- trators, connected with the former by their volun- tary e.xercise of an authority e.\tending over the whole Church, but having, in common with the latter, no claim to a ' revelation.' Teachers, in fact, represent (except that they were not confined to the single Church) the position of the local ruler, before it became transformed, by apiioint- ment, into an office. Their right to teach lay in their possession of the gift, and submission to them was the result of a voluntary respect. But every Christian was in some degree a teacher, because every Cliristian had the responsibility of edifying his brethren (cf. Col 3'*). And the local ruler was, from the very nature of his position, a teacher in a higher degree (cf. 1 Th 5'^). With the growth of the tendency, already described, of incorporating the apostolic teaching into an approved oody of tradition, the work of handing on this sacred 'deposit' became part of the bishop's duty. Timothy is enjoined to select faithful men, and instruct them carefully in this apostolic teaching (2 Ti 2"). At the same time, the voluntary teacher, who was teaching on his own lines, became dis- credited, in a similar manner as the prophet, by the rise of false teachers (1 Ti 4' 6^ etc.). Every- thing tended, therefore, to throw extra weight upon these accredited teachers, and diminish the authority of the others. But in 1 Ti 3-', Tit I' St. Paul expresses the desire that the bishops shall be persons who possess, in an eminent degree, the ' gift ' of teaching : in 1 Ti 5" he crders that elders who 'labour in the word and in teaching' (i.e. who are also teachers) shall be especially honoured (cf. Eph 4" Toui d^ TTOL/j-dfas Kai SidaaKaXovSy i.e. local officers of administration and teadiing). Finally, he regards these rulers as the special <ruardians of the faith, the supporters of true and destroyers of false doctrine (Ac 20'"-^', Tit l""", cf. He 13"). Thus, on the one hand, the voluntary teacher was tending to become merged into the official bishop ; and, on the other, the bishop was acciuiring an authoritative right to teach. In the Diilache the teacher still ajjjiears by the side of the prophet, but nothing is said of him separately, which shows that his importance was of the nature of a survival lather than active. The bishops and deacons, however, are spoken of as also performing the service of the prophets and teachers (15'). Thus we see in the Didache that what St. Paul desired had come to pass, viz. the bishojis were all teachers.