The emergent New Testament church did not have the same clearly defined offices of leadership as did the worship of Israel. However, the functions of the family head, prophet, priest, and king are summed up in Christ, who through the Spirit leads the church, the community of the new covenant, in its worship of almighty God.
Family Heads, Elders, and Worship
The Christian movement expanded largely through the conversion of heads of families, who, in turn, led their entire households in baptism into the faith of Christ. Unlike the rampant individualism of the modern Western world, Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures of the New Testament era made commonplace the conversion of whole families, such as those of Cornelius (Acts 10:24–48) and the jailer at Philippi (Acts 16:27–34). Following their Old Testament counterparts, family heads made provision for the worship needs of their households; that the New Testament church met in private homes no doubt encouraged this responsibility. In the Gospels, Jesus set the example for this type of leadership. As the head of the new family of the kingdom of God, he arranged for the Passover meal with his disciples (Matt. 26:17–19) and presided over the celebration. He had observed this pattern from his youth when Jesus’ extended family had seen to it that he was included in their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover (Luke 2:41–42).
It is often assumed that the organization of the early Christian churches was patterned after that of the synagogue, which had an officer (ro’sh hakkneset) who presided over its exercises (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41; Acts 18:17), an “attendant” (ḥazzan) who handled the sacred scrolls (Luke 4:16–20), and a “messenger” (shliḥ) who represented the congregation in leading the liturgical responses of the prayer service. Although it seems reasonable to infer that the elders of the local Christian assembly presided over its acts of worship in a similar fashion, what concrete evidence exists comes from the second century (the Didachē, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, and the Apology of Justin Martyr), in which we find a president of the congregation who officiated at the Lord’s Supper. In the New Testament church, both theologically and practically, it was Christ himself who was the leader of the family, “head over everything for the church, which is his body” (Eph. 1:22–23). Jesus told his disciples, “One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ” (Matt. 23:9–10 NASB).
The New Testament offers few specific details concerning the function of the elders of the church in leading worship. They were to visit the sick in order to anoint them with oil and pray with them (James 5:14), but this was not corporate worship. The silence of the New Testament concerning the role of elders in leading worship, however, is magnificently broken in the portrayal of the twenty-four elders in the book of Revelation. These elders are archetypal worshipers, falling down before the throne of God and the Lamb (Rev. 4:10; 5:8, 14; 11:16; 19:4), casting their crowns before him (Rev. 4:10), extolling the Lord God in majestic anthem (Rev. 4:11; 5:9–10), and crying out “Amen, Hallelujah!” (Rev. 19:4). Because their number signifies the twelve tribes of the old covenant and the twelve apostles of the new, it is reasonable to conclude that these elders represented the true Israel of God, the faithful covenant community of all believers in the Lord Jesus. This, according to the view taken here, is not an eschatological image but a picture of the worshiping church as a present-day reality—the New Jerusalem, in which the Lord God and the Lamb dwell in the midst of the covenant people (Rev. 21:3). These elders are not so much leaders as responders to the glory of God. Yet their actions express an important truth of Christian leadership, laid down by Jesus himself: a leader is one who serves and by his serving sets the example for others (Mark 9:35; Luke 22:25–27; John 13:12–15). The most effective leader of worship leads by personal example.
Prophecy and Worship in the New Testament
The early Christian church, by virtue of its social status within a hostile culture (whether Jewish or pagan), was not able to conduct large-scale public worship. Sacrifice, of course, was no longer needed after the crucifixion of the Lamb of God. But the festive celebration of the new covenant, as described in the book of Revelation, would have appealed to the apostolic church, had it been possible to observe it; this is also clear from Paul’s declaration that “every knee should bow … and every tongue confesses” (Phil. 2:10–11) the lordship of Christ.
It is not surprising, then, that prophets played a role in shaping early Christian worship, as they had in the worship of Old Testament Israel. Paul urged believers to pursue the spiritual manifestations (pneumatika), especially the practice of prophecy (1 Cor. 14:1), and laid down some general rules for their use in worship. Prophecy, he wrote, is of special value in convicting both the “ungifted” and the unbeliever of the presence of God in the assembly, so that he might “fall down and worship God” (1 Cor. 14:24–25).
The exact role of a prophet as a leader in worship is not described in the New Testament (this is also true for other ecclesiastical functions), but something of the practice of the New Testament church may be reflected in the Didachē, where instructions are given for thanksgiving after receiving the Lord’s Supper; the officiant is told to “allow the prophets to give thanks as much as they will” (chapter 10), and the comment is made that “the prophets are your high priests” (chapter 13).
As in Israelite worship, the exercise of the prophetic vocation made it possible for women to play a significant role in worship in the new covenant community. In the account of Jesus’ infancy, we hear of the prophetess Anna, who “never left the temple but worshiped night and day” (Luke 2:36–38). Philip the evangelist had seven unmarried daughters, all of whom were prophetesses (Acts 21:9). Paul indicated that it was perfectly proper for a woman to pray or prophesy in the assembly, provided her head was covered (1 Cor. 11:5; evidently, her long hair was considered appropriate covering, 1 Cor. 11:15). Paul echoed Moses’ desire that all the Lord’s people be prophets (1 Cor. 14:5). It is correct to conclude that the Spirit of Christ is prophetic (Luke 4:18–19) and rests on the entire community of those endued with power as his witnesses (Acts 1:8).
Priesthood in the New Testament
The Acts of the Apostles reports that many of the Jewish priests became Christians in the earliest days of the Jerusalem church (Acts 6:7). The New Testament church, however, had no office corresponding to that of the priest in the Israelite religion. In part, this was because it did not conduct sacrificial rites. A more basic reason, however, can be found in the underlying idea of the people of God. As far back as the giving of the Law, the Lord had called all Israel to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:6), to enter into his awesome presence—a vocation the people refused to accept, preferring that Moses alone draw near to the Lord (Exod. 20:19; Deut. 5:23–27). In the crucifixion of Christ, however, the veil hiding the inner sanctuary had been stripped away (Matt. 27:51; Rev. 11:19), revealing both the emptiness of the old institutions and the fullness of the glory of the covenant God, to whom all believers, regardless of genealogy or ethnic background, have access through Christ (Eph. 2:18). Thus all Christians have been called to a “royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9), a ministry not of an earthly altar, but of proclaiming the excellencies of God and his deliverance—the true sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving (Heb. 13:15). Jesus Christ, the “great high priest” (Heb. 4:14), has already offered himself as the only efficacious sacrifice (Heb. 7:26–27).
The Kingship of Christ
Perhaps because of the social position of the early Christians, earthly kings played no part in the leadership of New Testament worship. (contrary to popular imagination, the magi who worship the Christ child are not called kings in the biblical text [Matt. 2:1–12]). But the role of the Davidic king as a mediator of the covenant is integral to the New Testament’s proclamation of Jesus as the Christ (Greek Christos, “anointed one,” equivalent to Hebrew Mashiḥ, a kingly title). In the New Testament, the concept of kingship is transferred to the spiritual plane; as crucified King (John 19:14–22), Christ disarmed the enemies of his people in spiritual warfare (Col. 2:13–15). The Lamb that was slain now has received power, dominion, and worship (Rev. 5:11–14). As the faithful witness and the Word of the covenant, the King of kings and Lord of lords has taken up the sword as the head of the armies of heaven (Rev. 19:11–16). Jesus is the priest-king “like Melchizedek” (Heb. 7:15), and the “mediator of a new covenant” (Heb. 9:15; 12:24). In the New Testament, as it was for David, the role of the king as a fighting man and his role as covenant mediator are combined into one and applied to Christ in the sphere of worship.
Further, as members of Christ, all believers are “kings and priests” (Rev. 1:6 KJV) who reign with him on the earth (Rev. 5:10). According to Paul, by grace, we “reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17). “You have become kings,” he tells the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:8). And to the Roman Christians, he declares that God “will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). As with the offices of prophet and priest, the office of king is also applied theologically to all members of the new covenant community.
Christ Fulfills All Roles
In the New Testament, all the Old Testament roles of worship leadership are incorporated in Jesus Christ. Christ is “head of the church” (Eph. 5:23), the new family of the kingdom of God, which by his death he has created “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). As a Spirit-endowed preacher of the kingdom of God, he is also a prophet, a new Moses, teaching the people “as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matt. 7:29). He is the great High Priest who offers the only efficacious sacrifice for the remission of sins and so removes the barrier to covenant with God (Heb. 9:11–15). In his resurrection, he is exalted to the right hand of the Father as both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:32–36) and governs as “the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5). As head of the family and mediator of the covenant, he officiates as host of the new covenant meal, the Lord’s Supper (Mark 14:23–25), which, in the history of the church, has been the fundamental and most distinctive act of Christian worship.
The preeminence of the living Christ in the worship of the early church explains why the New Testament says so little concerning the role of ecclesiastical functionaries in the conduct of worship. Christ himself directs the worship of the church through the Holy Spirit. Thus, New Testament worship appears to be free-flowing and spontaneous. Spirit-filled believers offer “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19). They come offering up “to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name” (Heb. 13:15). In their assemblies, “everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation” (1 Cor. 14:26); Paul’s strictures concerning decency and order in worship do not cancel its basic thrust of response to the Spirit of Christ. Elders, overseers, and other church functionaries have no clearly designated role as worship leaders, with the possible exception of the prophets. Nor do the New Testament writings provide any instruction concerning who is to administer the Lord’s Supper; even the Pastoral Epistles are silent on this subject. The specialized functions and liturgical offices found in the later church are not present in the New Testament but belong to the postbiblical period.