First Peter - Lorin

their role mostly from a second century
AD onward perspective as focused on
protecting the Torah and the scribal traditions
from misinterpretation. The ultimate
group of elders was the Jewish Sanhedrin
in Jerusalem, although evidence suggests
that ‘elders’ were distinguished from the
priests and referred to representatives of
the leading aristocratic families with influence
on the Sanhedrin mostly as advisors
to the priests who made the decisions
under the leadership of the high priest. 15
c) In the Pauline churches with both
Jews and Gentiles, the influence of the
Greco-Roman culture is present in the
evolution of church leadership models
certainly by mid-first century. The two sets
of local leadership terms πρεσβύτερος
(elder), ἐπίσκοπος (overseer), and ποιμήν
(pastor), along with διάκονος (deacon),
all had backgrounds in the non-religious
world of the first century. By the end of
the first Christian century this influence
is unmistakable, and ultimately corrupting
to the earlier models in the church.
With the expansion of Christianity into
the non-Jewish world largely through the
ministry of the apostle Paul in the middle
of the first century, the Jewish heritage of
the synagogue model began merging with
influences from the surrounding Greco-Roman culture. Given the growing impact of local congregations being
led by non-Jews the meaning of the leadership terms naturally gravitated away from their Jewish definitions
and toward the Greco-Roman definitions.
What were those influences? In the Greco-Roman culture, the adjective πρεσβύτερος (comp. of πρέσβυς,
old) was used as a noun for a title to denote the president of an assembly of citizens in the constitution of
Sparta and in Egypt and elsewhere the plural πρεσβύτεροι shows up in inscriptions as a title of a committee
or group of leaders. The leadership of trade guilds along with other social and business organizations were
often designed as πρεσβύτεροι. 16 Thus the non-Jewish Christians coming into the churches would naturally
important to note that a distinctive ‘synagogue building’ did not emerge as the central meeting place of Jews until about a century
after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (70 AD). Prior to that some buildings were designated as synagogues but often large
private homes were the gathering places for Jews and were designated as synagogues.
15 “In the course of the fluctuating history of this body, which was dominated by party conflicts, the term πρεσβύτεροι undergoes
a clear change. At the outset it is used for all the members of the γερουσία. 43 Only gradually does it become the special term for lay
members as distinct from the representatives of the priestly families, from whom the high-priest and president of the Sanhedrin was
chosen, and also from the theological group of the γραμματεῖς. It is obvious that the direction of the Sanhedrin never lay in the hands
of the πρεσβύτεροι. Yet one may assume that the elders, as representatives of the privileged patrician families in Jerusalem, usually
followed the lead of the priestly Sadducees. 44 Certainly the many synonyms used to describe the elders in Jos., NT and Talmud make
it plain beyond question that the elders had a seat and a voice in the Sanhedrin as lay nobles. 45 Their weakness in relation to the other
two groups may be seen from the NT, which usually calls the members of the Sanhedrin the ἀρχιερεῖς, γραμματεῖς, πρεσβύτεροι in
this order (the ἀρχιερεῖς were still put first even when they had lost actual control to the γραμματεῖς). 46 ” [Theological Dictionary of
the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley and Gerhard Friedrich, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1964-), 6:659.]
16 “Esp. important for bibl. usage is the fact that in the constitution of Sparta πρέσβυς occurs as a political title to denote the
president of a college: τῶν ἐφόρων, IG, 5, 1, 51, 27; 6, 552, 11; νομοφυλάκων, 6, 555b, 19; βιδέων (ephebes), 6, 556, 6; συναρχίας
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