{"id":3121,"date":"2005-08-21T22:36:21","date_gmt":"2005-08-21T22:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=3121"},"modified":"2019-03-12T22:43:36","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T22:43:36","slug":"how-old-does-a-person-need-to-be-to-become-an-elder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-old-does-a-person-need-to-be-to-become-an-elder\/","title":{"rendered":"How old does a person need to be to become an elder?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>How old does a person need to be to become an elder?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>The word translated as &#8220;elders&#8221; in the New Testament comes from the Greek word\u00a0<em>presbuteros<\/em>, which refers to an older person. No set age is implied by the word and it is sometimes used to denote relative age. For example, in the parable of the prodigal son, the younger son ran off while the elder son remained (Luke 15:25). &#8220;Elder&#8221; in this verse is\u00a0<em>presbuteros<\/em>. It doesn&#8217;t mean that the sons were elderly men, but that this son was older than the other one. Similarly, in\u00a0John 8:9\u00a0after hearing Jesus&#8217;s stinging rebuke, the crowd dispersed beginning with the eldest (<em>presbuteros<\/em>). Consider as well\u00a0I Timothy 5:1\u00a0where younger men are not to rebuke an older man. Once again, it is the relative age that comes into play.<\/p>\n<p>I have had people tell me that a man cannot be an elder until he is a senior citizen (i.e. older than 65), but there is nothing in the Scriptures setting an age for elders. Instead, the qualifications limit consideration to older men with no specific age limit given. These qualifications are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<em>Not a novice<\/em>&#8221; (I Timothy 3:6) &#8211; An elder cannot be a relatively new Christian. Even if he were 70 years old, if he was a recent convert, he would not be qualified as an elder.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>Husband of one wife<\/em>&#8221; (I Timothy 3:2;\u00a0Titus 1:6) &#8211; An elder must be of marriable age and is married.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>Having his children in submission<\/em>&#8221; (I Timothy 3:4) &#8211; An elder must have children and have demonstrated that he is able to control his children. A parent of infants definitely would not qualify as an elder.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>Having faithful children<\/em>&#8221; (Titus 1:6) &#8211; Here the children are mentioned as being old enough to decide to be Christians and have demonstrated faithfulness as Christians. Since this usually occurs during the teenage years, an elder would have to be a parent of teenagers or older children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These qualifications would eliminate most men in their twenties and thirties, though some men in their late thirties might meet these standards. Beyond this, to place further restrictions would be to add qualifications that are not given by God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: How old does a person need to be to become an elder? Answer: The word translated as &#8220;elders&#8221; in the New Testament comes from the Greek word\u00a0presbuteros, which refers to an older person. No set age is implied by the word and it is sometimes used to denote relative age. For example, in the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-3121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-elders"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1497,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-man-be-both-a-preacher-and-an-elder\/","url_meta":{"origin":3121,"position":0},"title":"Can a man be both a preacher and an elder?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can an elder function as an evangelist and vice versa? Answer: The word \"pastor\" in\u00a0Ephesians 4:11\u00a0comes from a Greek word referring to a shepherd. This is the man charged with the care and feeding of a flock. As with the office of the evangelist, this office is described by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19524,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-know-when-a-passage-is-talking-about-older-men-in-a-congregation-or-the-elders-of-a-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":3121,"position":1},"title":"How do you know when a passage is talking about older men in a congregation or the elders of a congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering with Elder being mentioned in 1 \u00a0or 2 or 3rd John and refers to a woman. I just remember reading it (II John 1; III John 1). I remember someone mentioning it to me a long time ago and the question I have now is how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5206,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-qualifications-does-an-elder-need-that-a-deacon-does-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":3121,"position":2},"title":"What qualifications does an elder need that a deacon does not?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What qualifications does an elder need that a deacon does not? Answer: In regards to the family, an elder must have \"faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination\" (Titus 1:6) and be \"one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence\" (I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91021,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-deal-with-an-elders-wifes-gossiping\/","url_meta":{"origin":3121,"position":3},"title":"How do you deal with an elder&#8217;s wife&#8217;s gossiping?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do the wives of the elders have any authority over the other women of the congregation? Are there qualifications for the wife of an elder? How should it be handled when the wife of an elder repeats hurtful information about a member of the church she learns from her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/vacant-chairs\/","url_meta":{"origin":3121,"position":4},"title":"Vacant Chairs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is a office that is vacant; chairs that need filling \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps there are some here today that can fill the need \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not everyone can fill it. No everyone will want to. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I Corinthians 12:12-26 - We all have different talents. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each is to use it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47886,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-pastor\/","url_meta":{"origin":3121,"position":5},"title":"What Is a Pastor?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The term \"pastor\" is a familiar term to people in most denominations. It is usually applied to the men or women who stand before the congregation and deliver a message from the Word of God as the preacher. And in many situations, the pastor is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}