Well, this book has excellent meat for Presbyterians, too. In fact, I was a bit surprised at how much I agreed with Merkle. He is professor of NT at Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary, and received his Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
What is so great about this book is the ease of getting information from it. It is in a question and answer format, with each question getting about 4-8 pages of attention. The reasoning is concise, clear, and biblical, for the most part (the exception being his congregationalism). He takes a firmly conservative stance on women’s issues, without denying women’s gifts, or their extreme importance in the church. Given the recent discussions on this blog about female deacons, this book is quite timely. It should be impossible for the PCA to consider the question without consulting Merkle’s book, which is quite up to date bibliographically, as well (with one exception: despite the relative dates, he does not seem to know about the second edition of Women in the Church). The questions he answers are by no means trivial. As a few examples, he answers these questions: Does the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 support Episcopalianism of Presbyterianism?, Does 1 Timothy 5:17 make a distinction between two types of elders? He deals with women’s issues on the topics of both elders and deacons. On the issue of female deacons, Merkle has a very clear, short, but cogent argument on 1 Timothy 3:11 and 1 Timothy 2:12. I would have appreciated a bit more on Romans 16, but he does deal with the questions. For congregationalists, the question “Is it important to use the titles ‘elder’ and ‘deacon’?” is a very important question. It is a refreshingly well-written book, with many helpful points in it, accessible to both laymen and ministers. Highly recommended.
David Gadbois
greenbaggins
paigebritton
Reed Here
reformedmusings
rfwhite
Ron Henzel
Green Baggins 
New Book on Church Government - The PuritanBoard said,
March 4, 2008 at 11:31 am
[…] Benjamin Merkle’s new book entitled 40 Questions about Elders and Deacons. See my review of it here. __________________ Rev. Lane Keister Teaching Elder, PCA, North Dakota (working out of bounds in […]
Benjamin P. Glaser said,
March 4, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Thanks for this Lane.
greenbaggins said,
March 4, 2008 at 12:17 pm
You’re welcome, Benjamin.
pduggie said,
March 4, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Does he treat 1 Tim 4:14 and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Timothy had the hands of several men layed on him, instead of having “hands of [conferring] eldership” layed on him?
greenbaggins said,
March 4, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Not quite sure what you’re asking, Paul. Merkle does deal with 1 Timothy 4:14 on page 210, where he states: “It should be noted that here the entire body of elders, not just one elder or bishop, laid hands on and appointed Timothy to service.” On page 220, Merkle says “the laying on of hands is never used in the New Testament as a symbolic act of restoration but is commonly used in reference to appointing or commissioning someone” (then references 1 Tim 4:14 among other passages). Hope this answers your question. At any rate, it is the only substantive interaction with that passage in the book, if the scriptural index be believed.
pduggie said,
March 4, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Well its one of those verses that seem to prove ones own point until you read the other side and see that they turn it around to make it a problem verse for your own position.
I was hoping there was a grammatical proof that “presbytery” was a collective noun, and not a state of being.
J.R. Polk said,
March 4, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I was hoping there was a grammatical proof that “presbytery” was a collective noun, and not a state of being.
It would seem to me that the word “hands,” as in “hands of the presbytery,” would prove that “presbytery” is a collective noun. The word in question is also found in Luke 22:66 and Acts 22:5 with reference to the sanhedrin.
If I’m way off base here, maybe one of our resident TEs can correct me. Thanks.
pduggie said,
March 4, 2008 at 5:11 pm
in 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul says that his gift is from the laying on of “my” hands.
J.R. Polk said,
March 4, 2008 at 6:41 pm
#8
2 Tim. 1:6 reads, “of the hands of me.” The genitive of the personal pronoun “me” (mou) is actually in the Greek text.
Tim. 4:14 reads, “of the hands of the presbytery.”
I’m not sure if that’s what you’re driving at, but there it is for what its worth.
thomasgoodwin said,
March 4, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I’m a congregationalist at heart, so thanks for the info!
thomasgoodwin said,
March 4, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Don’t tell my Presbytery :) Or was I speaking of Goodwin? ;)