Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 13:4 (Fall 1970)
Article: Church Functionaries: The Witness In The Literature And Archaeology Of The New Testament And Church Periods
Author: W. Harold Mare

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JETS 13:4 (Fall 1970) p. 229

Church Functionaries: The Witness
In The Literature And Archaeology
Of The New Testament And Church Periods

W. Harold Mare*

A functionary, according to the Random House Dictionary, is a “person who functions in a specific capacity, especially in government service, an official …”1

A brief summary of New Testament church functionaries can be found in Ephesians 4:11 and I Corinthians 12:28, together with such other New Testament passages as Philippians 1:1; I Timothy 5:17; I Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:5–9; Acts 6:1–6; John 1:49, etc. A further understanding of the meaning of these terms and functions can be obtained by examining their use in other literature and in archaeology.

Since the emphasis of this article is focused upon church functionaries in the New Testament and the early period of church history, and since the church and Judaism found their setting in a hellenistic culture, stress in this treatise will be placed on Greek words and concepts.

Since the idea of church and its functionaries developed from an Old Testament economy, this study will begin by taking these Old Testament concepts into consideration. The LXX words and concepts for religious functionaries examined attest the LXX’s understanding of the Hebrew words involved as of about 200 B.C. Inasmuch as the synagogue and its worship seem to have developed out of the Exile and the Return, terms for religious functionaries representing this period as set forth basically in Ezra and Nehemiah will be used as a starting point as it is seen how religious functionary terms were used not only before the Exile but more particularly after in the Intertestamental and in the New Testament and early church history periods.

That in frequently translating the Hebrew qahal, assembly, congregation, by ecclesia (cf. Deuteronomy 9:10; 23:1) and eda, congregation, by synagoge (cf. Numbers 27:17), the LXX is using those terms as virtual equivalents is well known.2 One has but to compare the obvious connections in Judges 20:1, ...

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