AKA, A Question of Character 6

Our present age is interesting both for its preoccupation with youth and its demand for the instantaneous.   Such has not always been the case in human history: legend had it that Confucius was born an old man, and anyone visiting countries in south east Asia today will no doubt be struck by the honour given to old age.  In a West where there are billions spent on trying to look young, the idea that old age would carry with it great prestige is an alien concept.   As to the cult of the instantaneous, everything from easy credit to the popularity of Wikipedia indicates that we want goods - material and immaterial - as quickly as possible and with minimal prior effort.

Seen in this light, Paul's requirements for eldership in 1 Timothy 3 are profoundly counter-cultural.  Most of them would imply that mature age is normative for office bearing.  That Paul has to encourage Timothy to allow no-one to despise him because of his youth (1 Tim. 4:12) is a sure sign that mature age was typical for an elder (a matter no doubt reinforced by the cultural context as well).

Here, in 1 Tim. 3:6, Paul points to another characteristic which, if not necessarily implying great age, certainly requires significant experience: the elder should not be a recent convert.   There are numerous obvious reasons for this: for a start, few of the other qualities which the elder is to possess are likely to be present in a new convert.  Further, Paul adds the very specific reason, that a new convert given such responsibility might well fall into the trap of pride and thus into the condemnation of the devil.

This is difficult teaching for a number of reasons.  First, many of us remember when we were first converted and realize that we often had much more enthusiasm for the things of God, for telling friends about Christ and for simply rejoicing in our salvation than we do now.  As the first passion of marriage often settles into a less exciting routine over the years, so our Christian lives can lose their edge as we become jaded by failures and frustrations.   Thus, in putting leadership in the hands of Christians of long vintage, do we not lose some things that are good and important and praiseworthy?

Second, that the person should not be a recent convert again bumps up against the modern predilection for youth and for leadership that is mould-breaking, innovative and not encumbered by tired tradition.  Examples of this might be the occasional high-profile celebrity who is converted.  Typically, the Christian world immediately lionises such, puts them on the tour circuit and gives them a platform for influence they have earned simply because of their pre-Christian lives. We may not ordain them; but we set them aside for significant teaching ministries - which amounts to the same thing. That directly contradicts what Paul is saying here.

Further, as I have noted before, this is one reason why the use of technology and media aesthetics needs to be subject to constant and thoughtful criticism: such things favour the leadership of the young; and thus they encourage yet further the tendency to put youth and technique above the qualifications which Paul holds as so essential.

Yet Paul's reason for holding back on giving such office or platform is important: to do so simply creates an opportunity for pride and gives the devil a potentially lethal foothold.  If 'too much, too soon' is the epitaph which should be written on the grave of many a rock star in an early grave, then it could just as easily be the epitaph on the spiritual graves of young converts given too much responsibility and influence too soon.   We do new converts no favours whatsoever by allowing them positions of power and influence within the church.  It is, indeed, pastoral cruelty to do so.

So elders are to be those with a track record in the faith.  Such are less vulnerable to pride precisely because they have been Christians for a while and will presumably have learned something about the deceitfulness of their own hearts and the kind of sins to which they are most vulnerable. We might also speculate that they have also learned that being an elder is not necessarily a particularly glamorous position.  It is work marked by fidelity to an often uninspiring, tedious routine; but such fidelity and such routine is vital to the normal, healthy life of the church.

Of course, what I said about the enthusiasm of the new convert as a good thing still applies. If the new convert is not to be an elder, that does not mean that the enthusiasm is not to be directed in the right channels.  And that is surely one of the greatest delights of being an elder or of simply being a faithful church member: the discipling of the young convert or Christian in a way that does not stifle such enthusiasm or allow it to be transformed into cynicism at the first setback; but which uses it for the expansion of God's kingdom.