Autonomy and Authority - 6

Definition Of An Independent Assembly

  The assembly which is truly independent according to the NT pattern is one that is:-
       (1) gathered in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone and to His gracious Presence in their midst, a heavenly, pure, and separated assembly (Matt. 18:20; 2 Cor. 6:16,17);
       (2) where the only authoritative basis for ministry is the preaching of the whole Word of God both gospel and teaching (Acts 20:24,27), with liberty to exercise all the spiritual gifts under the guidance and sovereignty of the Spirit (Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 12; Rom. 12, etc.);
       (3) where the ordinances of the assembly are properly administered, that is Baptism and the Lord's Supper;
       (4) and where the assembly exercises faithful discipline to maintain itself in spiritual order and doctrinal and moral purity. This last point indicates there must be the functioning of a proper Biblical leadership through the Spirit-chosen elders, who will be responsible for this general care and protection of God's flock.

       From this it may be stated that an autonomous congregation is not subject to episcopal, papal, or council control, but is self-governing; the only absolute control and authority lying with the Sovereign Lord in the midst of the assembly who, through His Spirit, guides by means of under-shepherds or elders. Thus there is no room for the democratic process of voting by a show of hands which plainly denies the sovereignty of the Lord and the leading of the Spirit.

Ephesus The Pattern Assembly

       The characteristic marks of an assembly are seen particularly in the assembly at Ephesus , which by reason of its strategic place in NT revelation becomes the pattern local assembly for the Church age. Paul describes it when speaking to its elders in Acts 20:28 as, "the flock, in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood". From which description we understand it was an assembly:-
       (1) where the Holy Spirit was sovereign, for He alone it was who made the elders by raising them up from the body of the assembly apart entirely from any synod, council, theological establishment or local election, and endowing them with ability and desire to feed and lead God's flock;
       (2) where the government was autonomous under a plurality leadership, because Paul called to him "the elders of the church" v.17 who are designated "overseers" in v.28—no one man is seen as having authority over other elders and over the assembly;
       (3) where the membership was on the basis of blood-purchase, "the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood" v.28, showing that only blood-redeemed believers in the Lord Jesus have any right to membership in this holy assembly:
       (4) where the company is a true spiritual flock, the possession of the One true Shepherd who called them "My sheep" (John 10:27), and who, as His flock, gather around Him as "the great Shepherd of the sheep" (Heb. 13:20).

A Three-Fold Authority