But it shall not be so among you
This is not to be extended to Christian nations, as if there were
to be no order of magistracy subsisting in them; but that all
must be on a level, and no distinction of princes and subjects,
of governors and governed; nor to Christian churches, as if there
was no ecclesiastical authority to be used, or any church
government and power to be exercised; none to rule, whom others
are to obey and submit themselves to; but is to be restrained to
the apostles as such, among whom there was an entire equality;
being all apostles of Christ, being equally qualified and sent,
and put into the selfsame office by him: the same holds good of
all pastors of churches, who have no superintendency and
pre-eminence over one another, or can, or ought to exercise any
lordly power and authority, one, or more, over the rest; being
equally invested with the same office power, one as another: for
otherwise Christ's kingdom would appear like the nations of the
world, and to be of a worldly nature; whereas it is spiritual,
and does not lie in worldly pomp and grandeur, and in external
superiority and pre-eminence of one another; but in the spiritual
administration of the word and ordinances; which every pastor of
a church has an equal right to exercise, and obedience to them
lies in a submission to these things:
but whosoever will be great among you, let him
be,
or, as in Mark, shall be your minister:
whoever would be reckoned a great man in the kingdom of Christ,
or under the Gospel dispensation, must be a minister to others if
he is desirous of being truly great in the esteem of God, and of
men, he must do great service for Christ, and to the souls of
men; and seek to bring great glory to God, by faithfully
ministering the word and ordinances, and by denying himself
worldly honour and glory, and by serving others, through much
reproach, difficulty, and opposition.
