Two minute commentary on the word "pastor" in Ephesians 4:11

This is a republishing of a blog I originally did on December 4,2010.  It is unique in that, unlike any of my other blogs, it never received a page view.  Maybe it is because of the title I gave it, or that it was with the first few days after I started this blog.  This piece was written to be a one minute long radio commentary.  At the time, I recorded it and was able to say all this in clear English in two minutes.  Later, when I compiled a recording, I did five minute commentaries.  Because of the time limit I was working on, there is one statement below that comes across less nuanced than may be proper.

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95—“pastor” word study

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            The modern job, position, and title of the word “pastor” is far different from what Paul meant in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11.  The Greek word “poimen” appears 18 times in the New Testament.  The other 17 times it is translated “shepherd” meaning either a) a sheep herder, or b) a reference to Jesus, that what He does for his people is like what a shepherd does for the sheep.  Neither of those meanings fit Ephesians 4:11.  Paul is speaking about gifts of ministry.  Pastor is the Latin word for shepherd; its use is a distinction in context, but not in the word itself.  The way the sentence is constructed, Paul was putting shepherd or pastor together with teacher, such as we, in English, would write shepherd hyphen teacher.  This was an experienced, faithful, obedient believer who has accepted a gift to care for and teach others in Christian love as a matter of their growing in spiritual maturity.  Such maturity is a criterion on the shepherd’s part.  Intellectual achievement was not.  Certainly no man or organization was or is today capable of giving God’s gifts.  It was not an honorific title.  It had nothing to do with getting paid. 

            Another thing that shows that pastor or shepherd does not stand alone from teacher is that, in the New Covenant days scriptures, one can find persons indicated to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers, but no person is designated to be a pastor.  How did we wind up using the term to designate the leader of a group of believers? Before the Reformation, the word “priest” was used, but the Old Testament shows that a priest is a mediator between man and God.  Jesus’ death destroyed that need.  After the Reformation, over time, the word “pastor” worked itself out over time.

            You can email me at 757757tev@gmail.com.(1) For more info on organic worship, visit http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website).
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 What would be more nuanced is the idea that pastor/shepard and teacher definitely would be a hyphenated two word phrase in English.  This, I am told by people who know this better than I, is a maybe yes, maybe no thing, although, personally, I believe it makes better sense when combined with the fact that we have no early examples of a person being called a pastor or shepherd, and we have a woman, Junia, being called an apostle in Romans 16:7.
I got all this information from Barna & Viola's Pagan Christianity, which, in turn, has the scholarly references.
1)  In the original post, I had a different email address, but that one I am no longer watching.  I have inserted the one I do regularly use for all kinds of purposes.

Simple Church Minute 50--pastors

50—pastors

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            The word “pastors”, in the plural, appears only one time in our English Bibles. It stands undefined.  The word in the Koine Greek is poimen, which appears 18 times in the New Testament.  The other 17 times, it is translated shepherd, and pastor is the Latin word for shepherd.  In those 17 occurrances, it either means a sheepherder, or it is referring to Jesus, usually Jesus referring to himself.  We need to remember that the societies in the days of the Bible were agrarian, and the people experientially understood a lot about sheep and shepherds. Shepherd wasn’t a religious term, it was a farming term.   This one other time, in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, it cannot be either of those.  It appears in the sentence defining what some parts of Jesus’ people call the fivefold ministries—prophet, apostle, evangelist, pastor and teacher.  Australian historian Robert Banks, in his book Paul’s Idea of Community, points out that in other places in the New Testament, the other four ministries are, at some point, connected to a person, but pastor is not.  Further, Banks says that there is the possibility that pastor or shepherd may have been a modifying word for teacher, that is, teachers who guide and protect.  An elder would have been understood as an older, experienced person, and in the early church, an older, experienced believer.  In Second John 1 verse 1, the apostle refers to himself as an elder.  Even if separate, a pastor would have the character of an elder and leader.  None of these positions were formal appointments, but functions that came from experience, gifting, character, and obedience to the Holy Spirit.

            We actually do not have historical evidence of the word pastor used as the term for a single person head of a congregation until after the Reformation.  The Reformers realized that the word priest implied the exact opposite of what Jesus did on the cross.  The Bible shows us only one titular office:  head of the church, which is Jesus.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, visit www.simplechurch.com or (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute 21--supporting Christian workers

21—supporting Christian workers     

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            In the early church, people like Paul, Priscilla and Aquila had skills that allowed them to travel to other cities and cultures to teach people about Jesus.  It appears that Paul was born into wealth, which is why he was a Roman citizen, and would have had no need of the tentmaking skill except that it was a requirement of being trained a Pharisee.  Only after his conversion did it become clear that even that was God’s hand on his life, as it helped make possible his missionary journeys.  There is no place in the New Testament that condoned local religious professionals.  There was money specifically raised to send persons to places where it was questionable that one could obtain a livable skill for that culture.

            Our culture is a lot different.  In Paul’s day, just being literate was a prized skill. Part of what brought Rome to its knees was that people got saved, learned to read so they could read the Bible for themselves, and then were qualified to work in the Roman bureaucracy.  When Diocleatian’s last general persecution happened, so many believers fled, the Empire could not function.

            Today, one of our society’s problems is that in too many businesses and other organizations, the people they want to hire and promote are not the hones, not the best trained, but the most easily corrupted people.  It is a natural, but difficult, part of our commitment to living for Jesus to desire to do work that is honest and ethical by God’s standards.  How do we give our best to honor Jesus in work?  1. Work as unto God, not as unto man.  2. Get a skill.  One of six in our society with a college degree is not using it in his or her job.  Further, I know what I am saying about leadership and every member ministry threatens the jobs of many Godly people who are in the status quo church system, but it is not scriptural.  3. Desire work from an ethical employer.  Our society is overrun with employers whose only honest jobs are the bottom line ones.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally, (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute 10--clergy salaries

10—clergy salaries

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Paul was the human writer of much of the New Testament.  In Philippians, chapter 3 verses 5 and 6, he tells us of how exactly he lived his life as a Pharisee before his salvation.  He was part of the Jewish religious system, and had become will known due to his education and zeal.  Historically, the Levites were dependent upon the tithes of the rest of Israel for their living.  Israel many times walked away from God’s direction, and failed to support them.  As such, the Pharisees instituted a tradition that every Pharisee was to learn a trade, just in case.  Paul came from a rich family, and didn’t need a trade, but as part of the process, learned to be a tentmaker.  When Paul came to faith in Jesus, had time to grow to Christian spiritual maturity, and prepared to spread the truth of Jesus to Gentile lands, he was prepared to not need financial help to live.  The church of that time had no professionals.  Paul taught that the church should support those who went out to spread the Gospel, and in later parts of his ministry was voluntarily supported.  It is even more amazing what God did through Paul, given that he could only minister part-time during the earlier part of his journeys.

            Today, many church leaders expect a salary.  The most extreme offense is from some denominational leaders and professors who do not believe, teach new leaders to not believe, and expect believers giving to support their salaries, to administrate against the true church.  Further, many traditional pastors are under pressure to avoid teaching all of God’s Word, as there is a person who potentially has a finger on his salary, that is offended about some point in the Word.  The pastor has no idea how to support his family if he loses his job, and doesn’t have a skill, even if he has a graduate degree.

            This is one of the results of one unscriptural practice after another.  What can they or you do now, if somehow tomorrow the traditional church was no longer allowed to exist, as has happened in other countries?  Few traditional churches have a plan.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally, (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

An excellent book on the role of vocation in the Christian life is "The Other Six Days" by R. Paul Stevens.  While I do not believe I quoted Stevens in this blip, his thoughts have definitely affected mine on this subject.