Eldership

[YP0534]

The following seems to be the first occasion that we see the practice of the "appointment of elders" and this is something quite curious.

Act 14:21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and to Iconium, and to Antioch,
Act 14:22 confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.
Act 14:23 And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

I firstly note that this was something accomplished by Saul and Barnabas outside of Jerusalem and Judea. So, is it possible that in these places they did not have much trouble with an existing group of Jewish elders in a leadership role among the group that they would at one point refer to generally as "brethren" as fellow Jews who would then become "brethren" in Christ?

I guess the real question is: how did it come to be that there was such a practice of appointment? I am not aware of any place wherein Paul declares that God has directed him to make such appointments. I am also not aware of any information that such a practice of appointment was a custom among the Jews. To the extent that elders were merely older, what is the function of appointment? Isn't a calendar going to do the job for you?

However you parse it, you have to come down on the side of saying that Saul and Barnabas must have been in a superior position in order to make an appointment. We can, by faith, say that they did so according to the leading of the Spirit and be done with the question. But I would like to see where such leading was revealed to them and to us. Here in this passage, it is spoken as if it were a common thing to have such appointing done by persons such as Saul and Barnabas.

And here's the benefit of further study: in Acts 14:23 "appointed" is a rather poor translation. The definition from Vine's:

Appoint, Appointed:

\cheirotoneo\
primarily used of voting in the Athenian legislative assembly and meaning "to stretch forth the hands" (cheir, "the hand," teino, "to stretch"), is not to be taken in its literal sense; it could not be so taken in its compound procheirotoneo, "to choose before," since it is said of God, Act 10:41. Cheirotoneo is said of "the appointment" of elders by apostolic missionaries in the various churches which they revisited, Act 14:23, RV, "had appointed," i.e., by the recognition of those who had been manifesting themselves as gifted of God to discharge the functions of elders (see No. 2). It is also said of those who were "appointed" (not by voting, but with general approbation) by the churches in Greece to accompany the Apostle in conveying their gifts to the poor saints in Judea, 2Cr 8:19.
See CHOOSE, ORDAIN.

When, in a legislative assembly, there was a vote by show of hands, this would not be ordinarily understood to be an "appointment" or "appointing." Giving due weight to Vine's construction of the compound form, terms such as choice, election and selection are clearly distinguishable from the notion of appointment. Such a translation appears to me to do damage to the author's thought. "Appointment" implies the matter of a position of superior authority and the existence of a formal office. Saul and Barnabas do not "ordain" elders as some translations have it; they select them. The difference is installation versus selection.

Also interesting: The footnote on this verse in NIV implies that the verb may even be translated such that the selection was done by the assembly. Young's Literal concurs that there was a vote here. Only Darby uses "choose" as the verb. The rest appear certain that there was an appointment to an office as a function of the superior authority.