It's interesting that you should mention 1 Tim 3:1. Last week as I was looking over elder qualifications, I was reading through the ESV when I saw this verse translated this way, "The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task." (emphasis mine) Yet the Interlinear Bible translates the Greek as such, "Trustworthy [is] the saying if anyone overseership aspires to of good a work he is desirous". So even then these translations, in attempting to make the translation "more easily understood", treat the word of God in a way that introduces error.

As my last church (OPC) was pushing me away from their fellowship a few years back (more the leadership than the members), there came a time when the elders were asserting their authority because they were ordained to their position. For a time, I considered making a similar claim since I had also been ordained as an elder in the Christian Reformed Church in the 1990s. Why, if their authority stemmed from their ordination, would I not have equal authority under Christ? I decided, however, not to play the game. Authority under the Gospel does not come from some magical incantation said at a special installation service of elders. It comes directly from Christ Himself through Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit. Consider this... let's say I had a gambling addiction (which I don't) which was destroying my life and the lives of those around me. Would the lowliest of my Christian friends have any less of a right to speak with me about my problem than the pastor of my church? I think not! In all likelihood, I am more likely to listen to my fellow believer who I see as struggling with their own sin in their lives than to hear some high-and-mighty preacher who tells me how I should be living as a "good" boy for an hour each Sunday. The Bible is abundantly clear that there is only one Lord, and even then Jesus came as a servant, not a dictator as He has every right to be.