The world’s ‘churches’ are following the Nicolaitan model of ‘church governance’. Nicolaitan literally means ‘controlling the people’ and it unfortunately took root in spite of Yeshua’s warnings in Revelation 2 and 3, and it set the foundation for ‘clergy’ versus ‘laity’. Do you see the suffix of ‘Nicolaitan’ in that last word?
For three hundred years plus, the congregations of Messiah were self-governed, answering not to a Pope, but directly to Yeshua. We see this clearly in the book of Revelation, where Yeshua Himself dictates letters of reproof to seven congregations.
In 325 A.D., Constantine became the first effective ‘Pope’ of the new ‘Catholic Church’, which changed doctrines and robbed local congregations of their autonomy. Eventually, the title and office of “pope” was created, and eventually that man became the ‘vicar of Christ’, and even now is seen as ‘god on earth’.
Not all denominations follow the same model since the protestant reformation, but some Protestant denominations do have central rulership. This is in violation of the Scriptures, and of the way the apostles and their proteges operated until the papal takeover.
In the books of 1 Timothy and Titus, we have the outline of qualifications for people of leadership, but this was not ‘global’ leadership of all His congregations, but only the local Body/assembly.
Paul explains to Timothy [1 Tim 3:1-7] that an ‘overseer’ should be morally upright, married to one woman [at a time], sober, and well behaved. Then, [1 Tim 3:8-13] he explains that ‘servants’ [of the Body] must be similar. The difference is, they do not have to have the gift/ability or responsibility to teach. They must, however, understand and uphold the ‘Mystery of the Faith’, which is explained elsewhere as the Resurrection of Yeshua and His indwelling of true believers.
All of these men must be ‘examined’, ‘tested’, to ‘see’ if they can indeed serve the Body in humility. Their wives also are to be tested, and meet the criteria here, and support their husbands. This means that wives must be submitted to their husbands as leaders of their households and the Body.
Paul echoes these sentiments in Titus, and further explains that after the ‘testing’ and ‘examination’, they must be ‘ordained’. This means that those who have undergone the same process already and have proven themselves servants of Messiah gifted by His Spirit ‘lay hands’ on the one to be ‘ordained’ into the same service. Submission to this process is a first indicator as to their humility and willingness of heart to ‘serve’, and that they are not doing it for notoriety or vainglory.
Nowhere in the discussion was there any mention of the congregations answering to a ‘father’ or a ‘pope’ [rooted in Latin for ‘father’]. In the two passages mentioned above, and in James 5:14, we see that leaders were to be local, accountable, and collaborative, with Yeshua as the direct ‘Head of the Body’.
Ancient Judaism gives us an example. Synagogues were led by congregational elders who had a collective responsibility, not by a single spiritual autocrat.
Yeshua submitted to that model. He is seen receiving the Torah Scrolls from the Shammash in Luke 4, where “Shammash” is ‘servant’, what got changed to ‘deacon’ in later times in the Gentile sphere of influence.
Yeshua quotes Judaic congregational governance in Matthew 18:15-20, basically citing rules articulated in Synagogues for local problem resolution. If local Synagogues could not solve an issue, or if a sin was morally repugnant and required some form of punishment beyond local authority, the Sanhedrin was invoked. There, more senior men who were to have wisdom used that wisdom in debate and mutual accountability to guide decisions.
As stated, we see this meted out in the Revelation. Yeshua writes letters ‘to the Messenger of the congregation’, but the letter is directly from Yeshua Himself. In the letters, there were warnings, commendations, rebukes, and promises both positive and negative, demonstrating His authority over the congregation. There is seen ‘between the lines’ no central authority apart from Him in governance. Congregations are individually responsible before Messiah Yeshua for maintaining local oversight and divine accountability.
This model prevents abuse of power, which came quickly in the Catholic model, where the ‘church’ started killing ‘church members’ for noncompliance to ‘trinity’ and to ‘sunday worship’, two of the worst evils foisted on the community of faith.
Yeshua’s model preserves the wisdom of ‘plurality’: “There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.” Without a human, central figurehead, the connection between Yeshua and the congregation must be maintained. Paul repeatedly emphasized this. [Kol 1:18, Ef 5:23].
Thus, local, plural leadership under the direct authority of Yeshua reflects both the biblical pattern and the theological intent of His Body, the congregation.