Ordination of Bart Carlson — "One Ruling Office"

Acts 14:21-23

Pastor Albert N. Martin preaches on the ordination of Bart Carlson as an elder at Trinity Baptist Church, expounding Acts 14:21-23 and Titus 1:5-7 to establish the New Testament pattern of church leadership. He argues that Christ instituted one ruling office—that of elder, pastor, or bishop—with interchangeable terminology, rejecting hierarchical structures like archbishops or popes. The sermon emphasizes that ordination is a symbolic recognition of God-given gifts and a commendation to God for increased grace, not a conferral of sacramental power. Martin then leads the congregation in formally recognizing Carlson, posing questions about his doctrinal convictions and commitment to ministry, followed by prayers for his personal godliness, family life, and public ministry.

2 illustrations in this sermon

The New Testament Pattern of Church Leadership: One Ruling Office

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No Arch-Elders or Popes

Driving home: We read that the apostolic practice was uniform, and it was clear that once they had established elders in the church, they could commend those churches to the Lord of the church and to the one who was the Lord of the ch…

Martin uses the absence of subsequent apostolic visits to establish 'arch-elders' or 'super-elders' (bishops, archbishops, cardinals, or popes) as evidence against hierarchical church structures, emphasizing the uniformity of apostolic practice in establishing only elders.

And they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia, and when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Atalia, and from thence they sailed to Antioch. And we have no subsequent record that having revisited these fledgling churches in order to confirm or strengthen the souls of the believers, to instruct them that they would enter the kingdom through many tribulations, and having established elders as the abiding leaders, we read no record that they ever made other visits to established arch-elders or super-elders, i.e. bishops or archbishops or cardinals, nor did they ever gather...

2:03 - 3:29 Read in full sermon

The Symbolic Nature of Ordination: No Sacramental Grace

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No Magical Powers in Ordination

In this part of the sermon: He explains that the laying on of hands in ordination does not convey special sacramental grace, magical powers, or infuse special virtue, directly refuting Roman Catholic…

He uses the example of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (changing bread into Christ's body) to illustrate what ordination is NOT: it does not impart magical powers or sacramental grace, contrasting it with the Reformed understanding.

What are they doing? Well, they're conveying any special sacramental grace to him. They are not imparting to him any magic. They are not imparting to him any magical powers that will enable him to change that loaf of bread into something other than an ordinary loaf of bread, even though your sight and sound and touch and taste would all tell you it's bread, that you're supposed to believe that he has exercised these magical powers to make it the actual body and the cup, the actual blood of Christ.

10:35 - 11:12 Read in full sermon

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