Paula

Acts 6:1-6 is a food-distribution issue, which really isn’t related to hierarchy at all but providing a solution to meet a need. Perhaps that can be defined as a “committee”, but it was not for the purpose of forming doctrine or putting a layer between the people and an alleged clergy class. And it was temporary, as far as we know. That incident is never mentioned again in scripture, nor cited as the basis for a “diaconate”.

1 Peter 5:1-2 says nothing about rule or authority, but example and care. I disagree that presbuteros is inherently authoritative and hierarchical in NT usage; that would be begging the question. The Greek wording there is of voluntary deference as a matter of wisdom.

So no, I don’t agree that “the church has always had hierarchies in place from the very beginning”. Jesus is portrayed as the cornerstone, and the apostles as the foundation, with all the rest of us– every believer who came after them– as equal bricks in the building, a building whose “hierarchy” starts at the bottom. Jesus said He came to serve, not be served, and “not so among you” is a command to all believers without exception. Jesus certainly has authority, and the apostles were commissioned by Him. But no one since then has the authority to write scripture, to speak “thus saith the Lord”, or to give order to the other parts of the Body.

Anarchy is not the absence of hierarchy, but the breakdown of all moral restraint; I believe it’s a false dilemma to say otherwise. Certainly the Spirit is capable of guiding and restraining us without human help. And as history shows us all too well, human hierarchy is no guarantee of safety or order based upon the Spirit and not the flesh.