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--Leadership among God's people over history

 Today, I am reprising my post of September 14, 2011.  About three years ago, I wrote a number of scripts for what, in my mind, were two minute radio commentaries on various subjects which are behind what has been called simple, organic church.  Almost all never got used as radio programs, but they do break down the reasoning behind non-organizational fellowship around Jesus from a belief and history standpoint.  On this one, at the bottom, I have added footnotes (when I originally published these, as I was thinking radio, I didn't write my sources down--I am attempting to correct that).  At the bottom, I reference www.hrscn.com, a website that services non-organizational churches in the Hampton Roads, VA area--at www.simplechurch.org, there is a place to possibly find similar connections in other areas of the world.
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2016—leadership in God’s people over history

            My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.  In the Old Testament, after Joshua led the chosen people into Israel, the Bible tells us that for about 200 years, God Himself was the leader, with persons called judges as the human leaders.  These persons had wider responsibility than what we think of a judge today as having. For one thing, having responsibility for people before God did and still does have a spiritual element.  Still, as it says in Judges chapter 21 verse 25, “In those days, there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  There were threats by enemies in various directions, and the people, who were the chosen people not by faith but by to whom they were born, eventually demanded a king, the story of which is in First Samuel chapter 8 and following.

            In the time of the New Covenant, God raised up a new chosen people by faith, not ethnicity.  They were opposed by both the Old Covenant status quo supporters and the government who heard that believers in Jesus saw Him, not the emperor, as king.  The church had no buildings to destroy, and leadership was by gifting, not to which family you were born to or under what person or group you were trained by. As an underground group that wasn’t a true organization, there was no need to collect money, except to help the poor, both from within and neighbors in need nearby AND also to assist fellow mature believers who were constrained by the Spirit to travel to areas where people had not heard the message of Jesus.  Even then, the apostle we know the most about is Paul, who had a skill by which he didn’t have to depend on others as he spoke about Jesus in his travels around the northern Mediterranean.

            Whether it was intentional or accidental, when the Roman Empire made faith in Jesus officially legal, it forced the trappings of religions of the world it was familiar with onto Christianity—buildings, paid staff, regular collection of money to pay for the buildings and paid staff, and tax-favored status for the now formal organizations. History shows that if something is forced onto a culture for a period of time long enough that no one remembers the thing not being around, everyone treats it as normal.  For instance, in this culture, no one remembers not having radio, and almost everyone doesn’t remember not having TV, and with them, news from around the world being whipped to us almost immediately. 

            I grew up with it assumed that a church was a building and a pastor held a job that one went to school for years to be able to do.  When I was in high school, I learned that there were some pastors and people who taught them or were their overseers who did not believe the standard beliefs of faith in Jesus.  Years later, I learned about spiritual gifts, but where I was, most of the talk was about speaking in tongues, not about who was the one who appointed the leaders.  About this same time, I met persons who didn’t have a church leadership title, but did have a special ability to teach about faith in Jesus in a way that spoke to both my mind and into my spirit, or at least the latter.  Some of these people did normal, everyday jobs.  Only in the past couple of years did I learn that the title “pastor” was not used as a title for a leader until after the Reformation, and that that word’s appearance uniquely in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 in our English Bibles does not reflect a unique word in the original written language, but was a translation decision by persons who reflected their experience of church—whether accidentally or intentionally, only they knew.  Leadership in the true church, the believers desiring to follow Jesus, is not a title for any person or group to hand out, but a responsibility accepted by a believer in Jesus who cannot do other than whatever the Spirit guides, AND if that includes sharing with other believers or not yet believers what he or she has learned about following Jesus rightly AND if that falls into one or more of the categories of leaders mentioned in the Bible*, so be it.

             I can be reached by email at (757757tev@gmail.com--website posted originally is no longer in use) or by phone at 757-735-3639.  To see a transcript of what I just said, my blog is tevyebird.blogspot.com, and this is the posting of September 14, 2011.To find out more about simple church internationally, visit www.simplechurch.com, and in the local area, at, www.hrscn.org.
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Frank Viola and George Barna, Pagan Christianity, 2002: Present Testimony Ministry, later, Barna Books/Tyndale House, p. 12,13, 18, 21, 107, 176, 177.
2 Cor. 2:17 clearly connects to this discussion, but not mentioned in the text above.
*correction of the way I phrased the sentence originally.

1004--pastor, as a one minute commentary

Today, I am posting another one-minute commentary that I somehow neglected to publish earlier.

1004—pastor

            My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.  You may have heard that the one place that the word “pastor” appears in the New Testament is Ephesians 4 verse 11.  In English, this is true.  A standard tenant of the Christian faith is that we believe that God inspired the writers of the Bible to say what they did in the original languages.  In studying the Bible, one finds that the original words have some extremely meaningful nuances, and, as much as we can appreciate translations, they invariably and unavoidably add and delete nuances.  In the original Koine Greek, the word translated “pastor” is poimen, and that appears 18 times in the New Testament.  All the other times it is translated “shepherd” and refers to either a sheep herder, or that Jesus cares for us as a shepherd cares for his sheep.  In Ephesians 4, there is reason to believe that the word is modifying the following word, “teacher”.  We have no evidence of this being used to designate a type of leader in the church by itself until after the Reformation.  You can find out more about simple worship at www.hrscn.org. You can call me at 757-735-3639.

2010--comparing apples to apples

            This is another five minute commentary for radio, as are most of my posts.  This one, at this time, I feel is kind of special.  I feel that I need an introduction commentary, as is #28 in the two minute commentaries I posted in December, 2010.  With this one, I began by thinking that, as I have examined the critique the ideas behind organic church, that most come down to the misunderstanding rampant in the western world as to what the words “church, pastor, preach, tithe, and communion” mean.  Below, I tie this to an experience I had as a teen, which years later, I realized spoke to a general principle going on in institutional churches today.

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2010—comparing apples to apples

            My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.  When we make a choice in the world, a reasonable person would like to make an apples to apples comparison.  When we go to a grocery store, there are a number of dish detergents on the shelf.  We might choose one by price, or color, or fragrance, or how the package looks on your shelf, or how it affects one’s hands or if they give a nickel to a favored charity, or you could have ordered some via Amway a couple of weeks ago, or bought a book on chemistry and made it yourself.  All these choices have pluses and minuses.  In making comparisons in the real world, as opposed to, say, politics, one needs to compare apples to apples.  Some of those companies wish to make the comparison as easy as possible, particularly with the strategy of offering the lowest price.  The company offering the product at the highest price is attempting to do something to differentiate themselves such that whatever that unique thing is will make you ignore the high price.  In autos, for instance, the companies wish to put so many optional features on a car that you can’t find two identical cars to compare to.

            The reason I bring this up is to present the following question.  Think of the following words:  church, pastor, preach, tithe, communion.  When you hear that word, or read that word or read about that concept in the Bible, are you thinking of the same thing that the writer of scripture was talking about when he was writing it?  Now some might say that that is an unfair question, in that we know that to some minor degree, according to our experiences, we all see the words we use everyday in a very slightly different nuance.  I’m not talking about that.  I’m asking, do we understand these words apples to apples similar or apples to pineapples different?  When Paul wrote the Koine Greek word ekklesia, how similar is that word in how the original receivers of his letters understand it in comparison to our modern English word church, which also includes aspects you have picked up from your experience that you’ve never heard said.

            Let me give you an example from my life.  My parents were honest, moral people, if you asked them, they would have said they believed in God, but I doubt ever really thought through what that meant.  When I was 8, they started having me go to Sunday School at a church a couple of miles away (I lived in a rural area).  When I was 15, I came to faith in Jesus, just a few weeks after the elderly pastor of that church passed away.  About a year later, the new pastor also came to teach the high school class I was in, and asked how many people believed doctrine X, which that church held one view of, and most churches held an opposite view of.  I’d never considered the idea one way or another, and wasn’t sure, although I knew the church’s stand, so, in a show of hands, I stuck my hand out sideways and waved by wrist to indicate that I wasn’t sure.  I was sitting in a front row, and later learned that no one else raised their hand, where raising their hand indicated agreement with the official position.  Given that, the pastor taught about this doctrine for four weeks, and then asked that question again.  This time, no one, including myself, raised their hand.  What was the pastor to do—now no one agrees with that denomination’s position?  You can’t toss everyone out—you need a salary.  The answer is:  don’t talk about it one way or another.

            The thing I am getting at is that what Paul and the other writers of the New Testament, and the apostles taught during the days of the early church, when faith in Jesus spread like wildfire, and also what we have seen in parts of the world where the government or a social group is overtly attempting to persecute faith in Jesus, but faith has been spreading like wildfire, was connected to what Jesus taught the disciples, who in turn taught the early church.  We, here in the West, with all of our money and marketing ideas and media teaching are not seeing people come to faith in Jesus in an exceptional way, and may even be seeing a harvest of criticism and mockery from unbelievers that aren’t always undeserved.  I am suggesting that some of these key words in the Bible have, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes intentionally by both well meaning persons and those who were not, have morphed in meaning so significantly that we are not reading our Bibles correctly, that is, we are reading the correct word, insofar as translating the word from Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic to English, but we are connecting an incorrect definition to it, as various people in history have leaned on society in ways that have changed how we understand a word, and we’ve added and deleted to the word by what we’ve seen but no one has ever overtly explained.  My time today is done, but this series is looking at a variety of specific instances.

          You can contact me at simplechurchminute@yahoo.com  or 757-735-xxxx.  Hearing a talk goes really quickly; if you would like to see a transcript of what I just said, I have it posted on my blog, tevyebird.blogspot.com, dated September 1, 2011.  For more information about organic worship in this area, visit www.hrscn.org.

            Almost nothing that I say in these commentaries are my original ideas, but I am putting out in the public because these are ideas spoken of in some evangelical seminaries, and among certain groups of believers in Jesus, but are quite invisible to many believers who are sincerely desiring to follow Jesus, and who are plugged into what is being said and sung in Christian pop culture.  Two books which are an excellent introduction to what will be said in these commentaries are:

George Barna & Frank Viola, Pagan Christianity.

Wolfgang Simson, Houses that Change the World

Many Christian bookstores will not have these in stock.  Many authors sell their works on their websites, and I have not had any problem finding anything I have been looking for on amazon.com.

Book Review: The Pastor Has No Clothes by Jon Zens

The Pastor Has No Clothes: Moving from Clergy-Centered Church to Christ-Centered Ekklesia, by Jon Zens (Lincoln, NE: Ekklesia Press, 2011)

            This is the book that has taught me the most about following Jesus in spirit and truth that I have read so far this year.

            Jon Zens is a man who holds training in Christian theology through doctoral level, but, by the end of that training, concluded that what the New Testament shows us to be the way the church was to operate is what God meant, and what we see in western society is that tradition, having been morphed by various political and social movements through history, changed practices in the church to the degree that it does not reflect what Jesus taught the apostles, who, in turn, taught the early church.  In Jon’s previous works, he dealt with the difference between the early church meeting in homes informally as opposed to the tradition prevalent since the Roman Empire’s Edict of Tolerance of having buildings, paid staff, and ritual, in “A Church Building Every ½ Mile” and the role of women, which was uniquely equal before God and the rest of believers in “What’s With Paul and Women?” 

In “The Pastor Has No Clothes”, Jon deals with the difference between the early church, where believers met informally, and understood themselves to be responsible for each other’s growing in faith to the modern formal service dominated by one person designated in most institutional churches as a pastor or priest.

            The title, obviously, is a play on words off of Hans Christian Andersen’s children’s story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, where the Emperor is conned, but the people fear speaking out until a little boy says, “The Emperor has no clothes.” The pasted together look of the front cover is further symbolic of the content.  The not subtle comparison is that the pastoral office (not the persons holding the position specifically) is treated with dictatorial respect, without regard to the wisdom or lack that comes from the position by historical (not biblical) tradition.

            The forward to the book states a main point—the division between clergy and laity is unscriptural; the first word comes from the Greek kleros, which means the inheritance, and all believers, by faith are the inheritance, and the Greek laos, which means the people, and all believers are God’s people.  Both words referred to all believers.  From there, the first sixty pages breaks down in simple English what the church that was trained by the apostles were taught about their common life of living for Jesus, and how the Roman Empire and later social and political moves distorted the church in later times, with the result of the church largely losing much of its unique flavor in contrast to the world, going from believers “edifying each other” as in 1 Thessalonians 5:ll changed to one person in charge of a formal organization, being somehow divinely called to this work (although no one ever explains how that works), teaching others forever, and being in charge of everything.  This is explained in a manner that is readable for the average person.

            In pages 61 to 70, which is an introduction to the balance of the book, he examines some of the ideas Eugene Peterson, the lead translator to “The Message” Bible, seminary professor, and pastor, has in his recent memoir of his days as a pastor, and his mother’s experience of preaching in the towns of Montana.  Jon uses this reference in that, in the memoir, Eugene points out certain difficulties with being a pastor, which correspond to the basic problems all pastors have today, and shows how the main problems tie to traditions that are not based on anything scriptural.

            The rest of the book builds a theological argument.  If one isn’t into reading theology, and Zens’ writing is not nearly as complicated to read as much of the writing today in the field, these first 70 pages are worth getting the whole book. For persons in a pastoral position, I wish I could buy a copy of this for each believer occupying such a position (and I say believer in that, for persons holding church office who are not believers in Jesus, this whole argument is irrelevant to them).  If one has the mental wherewithal to read theology, the conclusion Jon draws at the end I will say is surprising enough to keep everyone who cares about living to glorify Jesus .reading to the end. 

            Other writers have pointed out that the word “pastor” comes from a Greek word meaning “shepherd” and of which is translated “shepherd” the other 17 times it appears in the New Testament, which questions whether its appearance in an English Bible is even appropriate. Surprisingly, to me, Jon never brings up this point either in the general reading or the theological argument part of the book.  He does discuss what the Greek word ekklesia, commonly translated “church”, meant to the early church, and what its clearest, not tradition-distorted, equivalent would be today.  To me, that fact was worth the price and time of buying and reading this.

            In buying my copy, I am aware than many Christian bookstores will not carry this title due to Zens’ reputation for challenging the status quo (www.cbd.com included, as of last week), but www.amazon.com has it, and, given that Jon runs a bookstore in Wisconsin, I’m sure his website, www.jonzens.com has it.

2013--from Felicity Dale 070111

           

            My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute, Today, a reading from Felicity Dale, from her blog, www.simplychurch.com, from July 1, 2011:

(www.simplychurch.com/, July 1 entry in its entirety except for the last sentence that is a tie in to the next blog. You will have to scan down to the month of July, 2011 to see article, as it appears that page number within address line changes each month. )

(what I said afterward:)

In the Bible, only those believers who were going to communicate the message of Jesus where it has not been heard were supported.  This isn’t a problem that just began with the New Covenant.  The reason that Paul learned tentmaking was that Old Testament priests at times had a difficult time making ends meet when large amounts of the children of Israel fell away to follow other gods, and then didn’t give the tithes the priests were to live on, so the Pharisees demanded their students to learn a trade, which was why Paul could do tentmaking while on his missionary journeys.  Some of us today know former pastors who struggle today when something happens such that they can’t get a church job. 

That western culture has created a system that is contrary to the example we have in the New Testament has been a problem for our leaders for generations, albeit oftentimes not spoken of within earshot of those of us not on a church corporation’s payroll.   More on this tomorrow.

You can contact me at simplechurchminute@yahoo.com or by phone at 757-735-xxxx.

A transcript of this is posted at tevyebird.blogspot.com, dated July 23, 2011. 

For more information about simple, being the church in this area, visit www.hrscn.org. 

Studying the Bible in Cultural Context

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a group of believers who are in some way involved in house church in my area, and one person (I no longer remember who), who asked (as I recall) about whether others had found any ways of telling others about what we had learned about simple worship that was effective. There was no overtly positive answer. To this, the phrase, "a bad plan is better than no plan" comes to mind. The outline, below, is one I have come up with for the basis of a discussion, as opposed to a speech, on a subject that brings up various topics that support the propriety of simple worship. I will say that this is a second draft that I have not personally used, but print this as a basis for discussion.

STUDYING THE BIBLE IN CULTURAL CONTEXT

1.  Ephesians 4:28 NKJV

            a.  “He who has been stealing must steal…”

            b.  “He who has been stealing must steal no more”

            c.  The first is out of literary context

            d.  This is obvious; the problem is that some things are not so obvious.

2.  What is being out of cultural context?

            a.  The gospel as told in the play/movie Godspell

                        1.  Intentional removal of story from it cultural context to make a point

                        2.  Makes some ideas more obvious

                        3.  Many ideas are totally obscured

            b.  It is taking an idea or story that was in one culture and time, and sticking into

                 a different one.

                        1.  Some pieces of the story come up missing

                        2.  Some things that weren’t there get added (intentionally or un-)

                        3.  This can happen due to a sufficient separation of time.

                        4.  How long is enough time—two full generations

                                    a.  Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II became head as a mid-teen, and

                                         lived to 93, when average lifespan was 35.

                                    b.  Outlived his 5 sons who were designated as successors.

c.  His people knew no other pharaoh, and his length of days                                     seemed supernatural

d.  Possibly the idea of king as a god came from him.

            c.  David & Goliath—1 Samuel 17 & 18

                        1.  We hear a simplified version of this story in Sunday School.

                        2.  Why was David there?

                                    a.  David (ch. 16) had already been anointed king by Samuel,

and had been found to play the harp such that it soothed King Saul (16:18).

b. Therefore, King Saul knew this boy.  David still went back to      his father’s place to feed sheep (17:15).

                                    c.  In our culture, does anyone drive over to the base to bring relatives food?  Since 9/11, a civilian can’t even get on a base without paperwork filed from inside, and due to how our country moves persons to different areas, few have local relatives. 

                                    d.  to bring his brothers bread and grain (17:17).  For what its worth, one could make beer from grain.

                                    e.  to bring their 10 cheeses to their captain (17:18)

                                    f.  “to bring back news of them”—as much as it doesn’t sound like it in English, in Hebrew it comes across as an order not to forget to bring home a receipt that shows that Jesse has paid, with the cheeses and grain, a war tax (17:18).

                                                                                                                                              3.  Zechariah 12:10-14

            a.  This is obviously a prophecy of Jesus’ death

            b.  Who or what is Haddad Rimmon?

                        1.  To us, sounds like a name of a town or area.

                        2.  Haddad—Caananite storm god

                        3.  Rimmon—its title, thunder

                        4.  corroborating evidence—2 Kings 5:18

                        5.  Note:  So far, I don’t believe I have said anything to upset anyone’s status quo.  I can’t promise that for the balance of what I will say.  On the rest of what I say, you will not only need to search the scripture, but also history.

For example:

4.  Why didn’t Jesus, the disciples, those they taught, even the leaders of the Reformation, use phones, fax machines, personal computers?

            a.  Obviously, they weren’t invented

            b.  Jesus, as God, had, in some sense we cannot understand, ability to understand all that, but chose not to affect the universe in that way.

            c.  The rule is that, overtly or not, we can assume that those in the latter days understand what those previously has said or done, and not vice versa.

            d.  There are places in the Middle Ages in which this rule is not valid.

5.  Luke 1:26 to 2:52 (read 1:26 to 1:38)

            a.  How old was Mary when this happened.

            b.  It is frequently taught in our culture (David Jeremiah, for example) that she was 16, which, in our culture seems shockingly young.

            c.  In both Jewish and Gentile culture at that time, arrainged marriages for girls happened at age 12 to 16, but usually 12 to 14.  Therefore, 16 isn’t totally wrong, but unlikely.  Usually this is a factoid that is avoided.

            d.  Yes, this is not healthy for mothers and babies.

            e.  Yes, that was a male-dominated society, and this was a convenience for adult men.

            f.  Unlike Gentile arrainged marriages, there is a place in the betrothal ritual which demands the girl’s approval—Jesus parodized it in his introduction of communion.

6.  1 Corinthians 11:17-34—Jesus at the Last Supper

            a.  What were they doing? Celebrating Passover

            b.  What was a Passover ceremony? A ritual meal, featuring lamb, bitter herbs, roasted egg, bread, wine, other foods.

            c. Verse 21 warns the church in Corinth not to overeat or get drunk while celebrating.  Have you ever seen this as a problem?

            d.  Communion means fellowship

            e.  Communion as a ritual was not introduced to the world until the Roman Empire legalized Christianity, forcing organization, paid personnel, buildings, and other rituals, like Roman paganism had, into the faith, and many pagan orators “converted” to get speaking jobs.

            f.  Therefore, that 3^rd century and on debate over whether communion represented Jesus’ body and blood, or whether it supernaturally turned into his body and blood could not have happened until the Roman Empire legalized and in a sense took over Christian leadership, because communion was a meal over which believers communion was a practical thing with other believers.

7.   Word study—“ekklesia”  church

            a.  Five meanings of church, today, developed after Christianity’s legalization by Rome.  That is important in that none of these were in the mind of the writers of the New Testament, the churches who received those books, or would be recognized by unbelievers of that day as a definition of the word.

            b.  Those five are:

                        1.  Roman Catholic Church

                        2.  a denomination

                        3.  a building

                        4.  a special type of not for profit corporation

                        5.  the people who make the policies of the not for profit corporation

            c.  Five definitions of ekklesia that the writers and readers of the NT would recognize:

                        1.  All believers over history.  Heb. 12:1.

                        2.  All believers in a city or area.

                        3. A group of believers who meet to worship Jesus.  Acts 2:41-47

                        4. A group of believers who meet to edify (build up) each other.  1 Thessalonians 5:11.

                        5.  A group.  Acts 19:32, 39, 41.  In this example, the “ekklesia” is a group formed by pagan idol makers to protest Paul’s being in Ephasus, as his teaching was turning enough persons away from the temple of Diana (fertility/sex cult) that they were feeling an effect on their profits.

                                    a.  This tells us that church was non-organizational, informal, was totally based on faith, not ritual, and able to be spread by any believer when the group was forced to be scattered, as both Rome and the Jewish status quo occasionally did.

            d.  From Acts 2:5-12, a) Jews in Jerusalem from all over, in town for Passover.      b) Gentiles from many places because Jerusalem was on a trade route.

 Those that came to faith in Jesus dropped what they were doing to learn from the apostles and others taught by Jesus how to live to honor Him.  The travelers may have had less than they owned with them.  Those that came to faith in Jesus dropped what they were doing to learn from the apostles and others taught by Jesus how to live to honor Him.  The travelers may have had less than they owned with them.  Many who were residents were poor.

8.  “poimen”—word study

            a.  This word appears 18 times in NT.  17 of them, it is translated “shepherd”, meaning:

                        1. a sheep herder

                        2. Jesus is to us as a sheep herder is to his sheep

            b. One time, Ephesians 4:11, it is translated “pastor”

                        1.  Pastor is a transliteration of the Latin word for shepherd.  Clearly, in this instance, it does not mean either of the definitions above.

                        2.  Many include this in the “fivefold ministries”, an idea that only dates back to the mid-1800’s.

                        3.  Before the Reformation, there is no record of any leader being titled pastor.

                        4.  In the Bible, the other four “ministries” are used to describe a believer’s giftings.

                        5.  The word “some” breaks this phrase into four parts, so “shepherd/pastor” may easily be a modifier for “teacher.”

            c.  In the Bible, the only one of these ministries that even has the appearance of being supported financially by other believers are “workers”, which appear to be apostles and their helpers who were going to areas so culturally different that they might not be able to support themselves.  Even so, God chose Paul, who had a largely societally transferrable skill, as an apostle who is the example we see the most of in scripture.

9.  The concept of the tithe

            a.  In the Old Testament there were clearly two tithes.

                        1. One supported the Levites

                        2. One supported the temple, and when Israel was a country, the government.

                        3. Some scholars say that Dt. 14:27-29, 26:12-15 is speaking of a third voluntary one-third of a tithe or a tithe every third year for the poor.

                        4. All this adds to 20 to 30% off the top of income, which in an agrarian society was crops or livestock.

            b.  In the early church, it was understood that Jesus fulfilled the Law, and the only aspects of the Law believers were to obey was what the leaders agreed about in Ac. 15:24-29.  There is nothing about tithe in there.

            c.  Believers were notable by their generosity.  Ac. 2:45

            d.  The early church did not have buildings or salaries to pay for; the NT shows Paul collecting for the special problems of the church in Jerusalem (many elderly Jewish persons wished to die in Jerusalem, and there were many widows in need) and to send apostles to unreached areas.

            e.   Roman Empire forced buildings, officials onto the church, and collecting gifts to offset costs, as Roman paganism did.

            f.   In 8^th century northern Europe, typical land rent was 10% of crop.  Catholic church started owning land.

            g.  Over 100 years, Church went from collecting rent, to confusing OT Scriptures, and forcing all to pay 10%.

   

There are some excellent books on cultural context I wish to mention:

*Robert Banks, “Paul’s Idea of Community”

*George Barna & Frank Viola, “Pagan Christianity”

*Craig Keeener, IVP Bible Background Commentary—New Testament

*John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, IVP Bible Commentary—Old Testament

Potential ideas that may fit into this presentation:

Matthew 5:3  That while this verse is commonly taken as a condemnation of poverty in general, Jesus is specifically speaking that for his followers, as a consequence of their faith and how it will disturb those who choose not to believe, they will suffer poverty for his sake.  At that time, the Jews were already a group out of favor by the Empire.

I Sam. 8:16  Because of a lack of contact the translators of the KJV had with the culture of the time of the writing, the word “cattle” appears in the KJV, whereas later versions translate this “young men.”  Notably, a current defender of this error has his defense come up first on

Simple Church Minute 95--"pastor" word study

95—“pastor” word study

THIS IS NOT ON FIRST RECORDING

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 sheepherder, 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 simplechurchminute@gmail.com. For more info on organic worship, visit http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website).

Simple Church Minute 80--Simson's Thesis #6

80—WS#6

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            Recently, these blips have been discussing Wolfgang Simson’s 15 Theses towards a Re-Incarnation of Church.  Thesis #6 is “No church is led by a pastor alone.”  On this idea, Simson says, The local church is not led by a pastor, but fathered by an elder, a man of wisdom and engaged with reality.  The local house churches are then networked into a movement by the combination of elders and members of the so-called fivefold ministries (apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers) circulating from ‘house to house’, like the circulation of blood.  Here there is a special foundational role to play for the apostolic and prophetic ministries (Eph. 2:20, 4:11,12).  A pastor (shepherd) is an important member of the whole team, but he cannot fulfill more than a part of the whole task of ‘equipping the saints for the ministry’, and he has to be complimented synergistically by the other four ministries in order to function properly.” (unquote)

            The whole idea that a healthy church has a balance of ministry from the five ministries mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 and 12 and with more than one person with each of these giftings is an idea that I, personally, have not heard of being examined, period, but there it is in scripture as a direction for the church.  Much of the church in the west is stuck on one person given the title pastor, without regard to his or her actual gifting, if any, as the end all in ministry and a title within a hierarchy which has words found in scripture as an excuse for the hierarchy’s existence.  Leadership in the church is not to be militaristic, but a structure for the purpose of helping everyone higher up and further into Jesus.

            You can read back and ahead about Simson’s 15 Theses at www.simsonwolfgang.de. You can make a comment or ask a question of me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com , and you can find out more about simple church at http://www.simplechurch.com/ and locally at (local website).

Simple Church Minute 66--pastor doing counseling

66—pastor doing counseling

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            In our culture, to be a high school guidance counselor, one need a masters degree. To be in psychological counseling, one needs a doctorate.  Most of both groups have come from institutions which have a very negative attitude toward Christians, and really resent, if not outright attempt to influence regulation against, traditional pastors doing the type of counseling appropriate to the church.  Clearly, the Bible does not use the word “counsel” in the modern technological sense of the word.  Where, though, did we get the idea that a traditional pastor, in addition to preaching, heading the organization, and all his other duties, was to do counseling?

            In the early church, all believers were equally responsible before God to do the work of Jesus continuing, only greater.  That would have included befriending one’s neighbor, helping him, and pointing to Jesus as the truth.  That, broadly, would get into what we might call counseling today.  That’s just what being a witness of Jesus’ work in us is.  As covered on many other days, over the next few centuries, things changed greatly.  In the 5^th century, Gregory of Nazianzus came up with the idea of “the cure of souls” and referred to a pastor as one who diagnoses and prescribes cures for spiritual ills.  After the Reformation, Martin Bucer and John Calvin developed an understanding of a pastor’s role as preaching, celebrating, communion, and providing for the spiritual care and health of the congregation.  Bucer wrote about it; Calvin raised it to an art form.

            Today, in some large churches, counseling is closer to the professional type, and passed to an assistant pastor, or counseling pastor, or even having a staff psychologist.  I imagine some is good, and some isn’t, as we are imperfect people.  There is no specific scriptural command, but the general principle is helping others, while every believer is to seek wisdom and maturity.

            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 48--on the modern pastoral position

48—why the modern pastoral position is wrong

THIS IS SPOKEN AT A REALLY FAST PACE

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            Today, 16 reasons why the modern concept of the pastoral office is scripturally and ethically wrong.

1.  The distinction between clergy and laity is unscriptural.

2.  One man ministry prevents mutual edification

3.  It contradicts scripture on the priesthood of all believers.

4.  It prevents Jesus from being Head of the Church, directing worship

5.  If all the above, then God’s eternal purpose for everyone is hampered

6.  The pastor is expected to be corporation CEO, director of strategic planning, the one who identifies and trains leaders, head fundraiser, manager of staff and volunteers, mediator of conflicts, in charge of discipline, casting of corporate vision, speaker, counselor, head administrator, and public face of the organization.  This person, therefore, is a high candidate for burnout, depression, stress, emotional breakdown.

7 & 8.  They are under pressure to have a perfect family and perfect marriage.

9.  Most work the long hours of an executive.

10.  Most don’t have a close friend, and many are under orders to not make one within the church.

11.  Half feel inadequate for the job.

12.  The position demands a higher ethical standard of ethics than doctors, lawyers, politicians, and teachers.

13.  It is expected that one is entertaining, friendly, well-dressed, of good behavior, and the person and his family are popular.

14.  The pastor is expected to shoulder the “one another” exhortations by himself for the whole church

15.  Denominational pastors have to maneuver with organizational politics, run in many organizations by officials who are not believers.

16.  Because of all of the above, the position creates pressure toward dishonesty and private destructive behaviors.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com. For more info on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (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 31--youth pastor

31—youth pastor                               

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Where did the idea of youth pastors come from?  On other days, I’ve discussed that, in the early church, believers all held the responsibility for edifying each other, and edify is like teaching one’s spirit.  At that time, apostles went to a city or town, taught about Jesus, some came to believe on Him, a gathering or church was established, and the apostle moved on.  Over the centuries, the church sometimes imposed the world’s ideas on itself, and at other times, others imposed ideas on the church.  One of those ideas was the formal, and sometimes governmentally supported leader, at times known as bishop, priest, minister, preacher, or pastor.  The 1800’s in the U.S., saw the frontier evangelist, and the beginning or radio stations saw the evangelist, pastor, or teacher begin to use that medium.        

            In the world, the 1940’s was the term teenager develop—a person somewhere between a child and an adult, fitting the English language’s  structure of the numbers 13 through 19 ending with the suffix –teen.  In the 1930’s and 40’s, special Christian rallies were developed, sometimes by large churches with the idea of speaking specifically to that group.  From there came the idea that large churches in urban areas needed and could financially afford a specialist.  It also made a transition position for young bible school or seminary graduates from studies to a more senior position.  Later came other specialist pastors.

            Plato and Socrates taught that knowledge is virtue, which brings about moral character.  Our educational system, particularly the public college system, stands as evidence of the exact opposite.  A centuries old clergy question is, “How do we prepare the laity?”  The New Testament teaches that all believers teach each other.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, visit  http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (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--pastor's chair, stained glass windows

30—pastor’s chair and stained glass windows

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Today, I mention two traditions in some traditional church organizations, but cannot be found in the Bible.   The first is a special chair for the pastor or priest to sit in, sometimes plain, but usually ornate.  How’d it happen?  Back in the Roman Empire, a judge had a special chair, robe, and music in the courtroom.  As Roman pagan priests rose in influence, their temples copied the majesty of the court, including the special ornate chair.  When Rome legalized Christianity, the ornate chair was copied for the bishop, who over time became the priest.  The Reformation brought the word pastor for the person officiating over the congregation, the chair was made less fancy, but in many churches, the special chair exists today.

            The second tradition is stained-glass windows.  After Rome got church building started, the architectural style went from basilica to Byzantine to Romanesque.  At that style, which is about the 6^th century, Gregory of Tours introduced stain glass to the church building.  Sugar, abbot of St. Denis, took it to another level by having sacred stained glass paintings made for Gothic cathedrals.  This style is to this day renowned for their beauty and quality.  The architects were influenced by Plato, who taught that sound, light, and color had mystical meanings, and could induce moods to create a sense of splendor and transcendence.  Gothic architecture, with its excessively high ceilings, combined with the colorful windows, was made to create a sense of awe.  During that time, though, priests were mainly taught how to do ceremonies, the common person had no access to the Bible, and there was a great lack of spiritual light, which we now call the Dark Ages.

            You…

Simple Church Minute 29--leaders and shepherds

29—leaders and shepherds

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Why are there so many analogies between leaders and shepherds in the Bible?

We humans cannot read the mind of God to say why he chose to use that idea so often, but it is clear that He did.  Moses, the adopted son of Pharaoh, after the murder of the field manager, hid for 40 years as a shepherd.  There is clearly the contrast of his being born low status, raised to high status, only to flee and hide in a job of low status, to have the humility to be placed by God in the position of the leader of God’s people at a time they would need direction and protection.  David, in Psalm 23, shows how God is the ultimate shepherd to his people.  In John chapter 10, Jesus told us that he is the Good Shepherd, the shepherd knows his sheep by name and defends them.  In the New Covenant, a type of ministry is called pastor, a synonym for shepherd.

            I’ve heard some traditional church pastors say, in sermons on Psalm 23, that sheep are dumb.  We humans are dumb in comparison to an all-knowing God.  If you want a sheep to do a human’s job, they are dumb, and no good at public speaking, either. Sheep are appropriately intelligent for what they are to do—eat, sleep, reproduce, get sheared and butchered, and put up with being around humans.  Wild sheep can hide in steep mountainous areas people and most of their predetors cannot get around well in.  Modern shepherds, like other farmers, differentiate large numbers with ear tags.

            How can spiritual shepherds know a large amount of people?  Farther, Son, and Holy Spirit have no problem.  Humans gifted for a leadership position are a different story.  Ear tags? No. A church phone list?  That’s not what I mean, either.  You, nor I, can lead another much further in faith than where we have already walked, and we can do so better when we know each other.  One person can only know so many people, and it isn’t measured in hundreds.  Jesus intensely mentored 12, and Luke 10 seems to indicate, at a less intense level, another 58 or 70. And that was Jesus!

            You…