Getting Ordination Right
Monday, November 13, 2023
7:00 AM
Paulus, P. Steven. Getting Ordination Right: Essential Elements of Ordination in the Bible and History, WestBow Press (A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan), 2019.
Steve Paulus has served in pastoral ministry for over thirty years. He is pastor of Staunton Grace Covenant Church in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Steve lived with his wife and three children in Croatia in the 1990s where he taught and served as the dean of the Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) in Osijek. He teaches regularly at the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary (UETS) in Kiev, Ukraine and leads the Institute for Pastoral Studies in affiliation with ETS. He and his wife, Jane, have three children and seven grandchildren. Steve has earned a DMin from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA, an MDiv, and an MA in nonprofit law and management from Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. 
p. 16, "Ordination is the means by which the Christian community formally recognizes and establishes its leaders, and thus establishes itself."  
p. 20, Paulus makes the point that succession was necessary pre-canon in order to preserve doctrinal consistency.  
Chapter 2--Patterns of Ordination in Scripture: The Old Testament--Moses's appointment of Joshua
p. 26, "In later Rabbinic Judaism this event was seen as a prototype for the practice of ordination within the synagogue community."  
Six Elements important in the consecration of Joshua
Of the Lord
Community Need
Suitable Character
Consecrated by the existing spiritual authority (Moses and Eleazor)
The Rite itself--(a) laying on of hands; (b) role of Moses and Eleazor; c) the presence of the congregation; (d) the change in the way the congregation understood Joshua.  
The Role of the congregation
Consecration of the 70 (Numbers 11:16-30)
Initiated by the Lord.
Specific community need
Selected from people who already showed demonstrated leadership (Numbers 11:16)
The continuity with Moses
The rite was simple--he placed them around the tent.
The relationship with the congregation changed.  
Chapter 3--The New Testament
Paulus uses this basic six-part pattern for ordination to assess the following calls:  (1) The appointment of the 12 and their commissioning (Luke 6:12-17; Luke 9:1-2); (2)  Appointment of Matthias (Acts 1:14-22).  (3) The selection of the seven (Acts 6:1-7); (4) Missionary Appointment of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-4).  (5) Prayer over Timothy (1 Timothy 1:18; 4:14; 5:22; 2 Timothy 1;6).  
"Thus far we have established a general biblical pattern for recognizing and setting apart spiritual leaders. Its elements can be narrowed down to the six essentials: 1) divine initiative; 2) congregational or ministry need; 3) suitable candidate; 4) participation of spiritual authorities; 5) a rite of ordination or consecration with impartation of spiritual power; and 6) the role of and subsequent change in relationship with the congregation."  Paulus, P. Steven. Getting Ordination Right: Essential Elements of Ordination in the Bible and History (p. 50). WestBow Press. Kindle Edition. 
Chapter 4--Paradigm Breakers
Elijah and Elisha
John the Baptist
Jesus "By what authority?"
Paulus emphasizes the Congregationalist pattern of particular calls.  He quotes the Cambridge Platform (a 17th Century 
"Elders being appointed to feed, not all flocks, but the particular flock of God over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers, and that flock they must attend, even the whole flock; and one congregation being as much as any ordinary elders can attend, therefore there is no greater church than a congregation, which may ordinarily meet in one place" (The Cambridge Platform 1648,” in The Reformation of the Church: A Collection of Reformed and Puritan Documents on Church Issues, Iain Murray, ed. (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1965), 247.Paulus, P. Steven. Getting Ordination Right: Essential Elements of Ordination in the Bible and History (p. 133). WestBow Press. Kindle Edition.
p. 70 he quotes,Chrysostom, "Now I have not said that it is a terrible thing to desire the work, but only the authority and power."   