Biblical Standards for Leadership in an Age of Scandal by JOSEPH MATTERA for Charisma News
In an age of an Evangelical church culture fraught with scandals, we must continually remind and ground ourselves in the biblical criteria for leadership, otherwise, we will lose our credibility within our churches and before the world. The following are some of the ethical and ministerial standards related to priests, kings, and New Testament elders.
These are qualifications that we can still apply in principle to today’s church.
Old Testament Standards for the Priests (Leviticus 21): Initially, all the children of Israel were to serve as priests of the Lord (Exodus 19:6). Among the many laws related to the standards for the priesthood, which relate to all present saints according to 1 Peter 2:8-9, are some ministerial and ethical principles that we can allegorically extrapolate (although the actual ceremonial qualifications are no longer relevant).
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Standard: They shall not dwell among dead bodies and make themselves unclean (Leviticus 21:11). This has to do with not participating with people while they are involved in the works of darkness. (Jesus called unconverted people “dead” in John 5:25, Luke 9:60, and Ephesians 2:1-3.)
Principle: I can’t tell you how many Christians I know of who think nothing of going out and partying with the world, getting drunk, listening to perverted music, gambling, or other worldly pursuits.
Standard: They shall not marry a prostitute or a divorced woman but only a virgin (Leviticus 21:13-15). The basic idea of this passage is that marriage is not a free-for-all. Priests are commanded to marry women of God without previous marital issues. This is so that the priestly class is protected from unnecessary distractions and can nurture their children in a godly environment.
Principle: Jesus modified this view for the Kingdom age of the Church when He forbade divorce, except for sexual immorality, and forbade marrying a divorced person for an unbiblical reason (Matthew 5:31-32 and Matthew 19:8-9).
