Act 14:23 | Abbott | STEP | Ordained them elders; instituted officers with such duties and powers as the circumstances here required. Ordaining them was inducting them to office, as in , where the designation of the individuals had been previously made by the church. In this case, it is not stated how the individuals were designated. There has been a great deal of discussion, between different branches of the modern church, on the question whether religious teachers ought to be elected by the church, or appointed by superior ecclesiastical officers. We should have supposed that, if it had been intended that either practice should be considered an essential feature in the future administration of the church, the mode in this, and in other similar cases, would have been distinctly specified.

Acts 14:23

Ordained them elders; instituted officers with such duties and powers as the circumstances here required. Ordaining them was inducting them to office, as in Acts 6:6, where the designation of the individuals had been previously made by the church. In this case, it is not stated how the individuals were designated. There has been a great deal of discussion, between different branches of the modern church, on the question whether religious teachers ought to be elected by the church, or appointed by superior ecclesiastical officers. We should have supposed that, if it had been intended that either practice should be considered an essential feature in the future administration of the church, the mode in this, and in other similar cases, would have been distinctly specified.