If you are elders, you cannot administrate affairs of other local churches. If you are elders in Jerusalem, you cannot administrate affairs in Samaria. In the Bible elders are always local. You cannot go beyond the sphere of your local church to go to another local church to administrate their affairs. If you are an apostle, you should not directly administrate the affairs of a local church. An apostle can deal with the local elders, but an apostle cannot deal directly with the affairs of a local church.
Let me give you an example. The work in Corinth was carried out by Paul. In Acts we see clearly that Paul went to Corinth and rendered them help. I want you to see that the relationship between Paul and Corinth was close and deep. Paul wrote two letters to the Corinthians. Not only did Paul go to Corinth himself; he even sent others to Corinth, such as Timothy and Titus. Paul did all these things, but there was no way for him to cast out the sinner in Corinth. Paul was an apostle, but he was not an elder in Corinth. Paul could not post an announcement saying that since this one had committed sin, he would remove him. Paul had to say to the church in Corinth, “Remove the evil man from among yourselves” (1 Cor. 5:13). Paul had no way to remove this man for them. Why was this? Paul was an apostle, not an elder. In the Bible Paul did not tell us that he was an elder in a certain locality. Rather, Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles. He could not administrate a local church. The apostle could not directly handle the administration of a local church. The elders can administrate the church in their own locality but not those in other localities. The apostles can administrate the work of the region, but they cannot directly handle the local administration. The affairs of Corinth had to be handled by the Corinthians, not by Paul.
As an apostle, how did Paul deal with the situation in Corinth? He said, “In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you and my spirit have been assembled, with the power of our Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (vv. 4-5). When you work, you can only use spiritual authority to deliver such a one to Satan, but you have no way to remove him. If the Corinthians would not remove him, Paul had no way to do it. I am not sure if you have seen this. This is the arrangement regarding the church in the Bible.
In Jerusalem, a local church at the center of the work, Peter had to bear two responsibilities. He had to be in Jerusalem taking care of the work in that area, and at the same time, he was also an elder in Jerusalem. If he had not been an elder in Jerusalem, then he would have had no way to directly administrate the affairs of Jerusalem. Peter and John were elders in Jerusalem, and James was also an elder in Jerusalem. I do not have the complete assurance to say that all the apostles who lived in Jerusalem were always elders in Jerusalem. Probably, those whose names were mentioned were all elders in Jerusalem. Peter had to administrate the affairs in Samaria; therefore, Peter was also an apostle. He took care of the work in that area based on his status as an apostle and administrated the church in Jerusalem based on his status as an elder. This matter is very clear in the Bible. Therefore, the many co-workers in the local church at a center of the work today need to be responsible for the work on the one hand, and they may need to be elders on the other hand. You are elders, and at the same time, you may also be apostles, administrating the work in other places. I hope you can see the relationship between these two responsibilities.
One day when Antioch had a problem, they sent some to Jerusalem to inquire about this. When all the brothers in Jerusalem decided to send a letter, they could say to the saints that the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had made such a decision. As far as the apostles were concerned, this was a regional matter. As far as the elders in Jerusalem were concerned, this was a matter of the local church. The decision was made with apostles and elders. The apostles and elders decided this matter together.
I do not know if you have seen this. I feel this is a beautiful thing. You need to know that in the aspect of the spiritual work of the church, there is not much room left for your imagination, nor much for you to add. God has put this in front of us in a very detailed way: It is the apostles who administrate the work, and it is the elders who administrate the local church. Peter bore both responsibilities at the same time.
I still need to point out that there were apostles, such as Paul and Barnabas, who were not elders. According to our understanding, after careful study we cannot find any place in the Bible that tells us that Paul was also an elder. In the church in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas had a part only in the ministry of the word, not in the church affairs. They had a part in the ministry, but they were neither deacons nor elders; they did not hold these offices. They were prophets in Antioch. Therefore, Paul and Barnabas, the two apostles in Antioch, were in the ministry; they did not hold any office in the church.