What is Peters Exhortation?
“, and finally, “What if You’re Not an Elder?” A. What is an Elder? First of all, we see clearly here that Peter, in verse 1, is addressing “the elders among you”. Now the word for elder here is the word, presbuteros. It literally means, ‘someone who is older”. So Peter could be addressing everyone over 65, but the rest of the verses indicate that Peter has the leadership of the church in mind. And if we looked at the Old Testament, and the early church in the book of Acts, and the Greek-Roman world at this time, it would not be surprising that the leaders of the church are referred to as “elders”. Acts 14 and Titus 1 tell us that the Apostles appointed elders in the churches they planted. But while village elders were and still are a common feature all over the world, the emphasis here is not on physical maturity, but spiritual maturity. So who were these elders in the early church? Let’s talk about three things we learn from the New Testament about elders. 1. An Elder is an Overseer,
