NOTES for Deu 19:1-21
Every state has certain “branches of government”—a ruler, a court, police, a council of elders, and so on. At first glance, Israel is no different from other states: it too has its leaders, judges, and elders. But God's people are organized not like a state machine but as a community, a prototype of the Church. The ministries in this community are given by God. God entrusts His prerogatives—judgment, authority, counsel, and others—to the people, just as in the early Church the Spirit distributed among the faithful the gifts needed for the community's life and ministry. Both then and now, God's ministries differ from secular service in that God's people must carry them out in constant contact with God, listening to His will and fulfilling His commandments. By replacing ministry in the Church with a merely formal discharge of our duties, we risk finding ourselves outside the bounds of God's people.