Ordination - Tuesday with Timothy #59

1 Timothy 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

The Holy Spirit gave Timothy this gift - not the presbytery - when He called Timothy, and provided this gift to carry out the ministry. The giving of the gift accompanied the laying on of hands of the elders. I believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit in preaching is not dependent upon other men laying hands. The Spirit gives gifts at His sovereign pleasure and just because a man has been ordained does not mean he has been given gifts to preach  and visa versa. But when God calls a man to the ministry, the Holy Spirit will provide the man the power to do the job. When the church sets a man apart for the work, the Lord will bless him to do the work. Having said that, this gift could be neglected. Timothy would need to diligently work to improve and strengthen himself in the ministry. There are two errors to avoid here. The first, considering that the ministry is a mere intellectual exercise and there is no spiritual component to preaching or being a pastor. The other is believing that getting "the call" means that you live however you want, never read, study, pray, apply yourself, but just show up and preach "what the Lord laid on your heart" Saturday night while you were watching TV.

The gift Timothy received at the time of his ordination accompanied a  prophecy. I believe this was a special, prophetical word that accompanied the ordination, not just someone preaching a sermon. The Holy Spirit confirmed to all (maybe especially to Timothy) that it was the will of God for Timothy to preach. The presbytery, or the body or council of elders, laid hands on Timothy, which was a common practice and is one of the basics that Christians ought to know about (Hebrews 6:1-2). In the book of Acts, laying on of hands was either to pray and to bless or to pray and set apart for the work of the ministry. The presbytery prayed for Timothy, laid their hands on him as the church ordained him to gospel ministry.

What's an elder? Elders, in general, were men who have authority in a particular group. Starting in the Old Testament, this was how the Jewish people ruled and governed themselves, and continued through the New Testament (Luke 22:66). In 1 Chronicles 24-25, David divided the priesthood into  24 orders. Elders or chiefs would represent the whole priesthood, 24 Chief Priests and 1 High Priest. In the church, elders were representatives and leader (Acts 15:2; 20:17) who were called to shepherd the church from that local body. Being an elder, doesn't necessarily mean one has to be an old man to be one, but it does mean that one should have the wisdom that comes with maturity, that one would expect from an older man. Timothy, being a young man in age, was a mature Christian man, entrusted to be an elder of the church, to lead and shepherd God's church. The presbytery was a group of other ordained men, and they laid hands on Timothy and prayed for him as he was set apart for the work of the ministry, recognizing God's call in his life and his aptness for the work. You see this with the deacons as well in Acts 6:6.

Who were the elders? We don't know. Those that vouched for Timothy were from two different cities, Lystra and Iconium, likely being two different churches (Acts 16:1-3). Paul had just recently ordained elders in these cities and surrounding cities (Acts 14:21-23). I suppose your view of church government will determine how you answer the question of who these elders were. If these passages from Acts are the places where Timothy was ordained, it would appear that more than one church participated in the ordination. While it is true that elders in the context of the church is referred in the plural, it is also true that a many of the passages referring to elders is also talking about more than one church, or it is unclear, such as this passage.