I'M
NOT THE PASTOR
Paul's
thankfulness for his role in the preaching of the gospel is evident
in his words to young Timothy; "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord
who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into
the ministry." (1 Tim. 1:12) Paul had been a mentor to Timothy
(2 Tim. 3:10-11) and was therefore qualified to warn this young man
of the dangers of error and the assurance of suffering that awaited
him as a preacher of the gospel. Therefore, in his last letter to
Timothy, Paul urged him to "...be watchful in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
(2 Tim. 4:5) That ministry was to "preach (kerusso)
the word" (vs. 2).
In
calling Timothy an "evangelist," he was referring to his
responsibility as a "messenger of good," which is actually
the definition of the Greek word, euangelistes.
This
was not a title, but a description of the work that he was engaged
in. This word, appears in only two other places in the New
Testament. On Paul's return from his third missionary journey, he
and his party had a layover for several days during which they stayed
at "...the house of Philip the evangelist."
The other occurrence of this word is found in Paul's letter to the
Ephesians where he enumerated those offices that Christ had
established within His church for the "...equipping of the
saints for the work of ministry, [and] for the edifying of the body
of Christ." (Eph. 4:12) Regarding these offices, he said that
Christ "...Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers." (vs.11)
It
should be noted that in listing these various offices that Christ
placed within His church, there was a distinction between each one as
being uniquely suited to a specific work that each one performed.
Some of these, such as apostles and prophets, would be limited in
their duration due to the nature of their qualifications. For
example, the apostles were eyewitnesses of Christ and His
resurrection (Acts 1:20-26, 2 Cor. 12:12, 1 Jn. 1:1-4), chosen by
Christ for that purpose (Acts 10:39-42; 22:14-15). Once they all
died there would be no one remaining who met their qualifications.
The prophets would also eventually pass away as the gift of prophecy
ended (1 Cor. 13:8-10). Paul included among those offices
"evangelists, pastors and teachers." These too are each
distinctive from each other in their design and purpose. An
evangelist (euangelistes)
is defined as "a messenger of good", pastors (poimen)
are "shepherds" and teachers (didaskalos)
are "instructors" or "educators."
There
is much error being taught in the religious world today regarding the
organization of the church. As a result, there is a great deal of
misunderstanding about what a pastor is and what his work entails. I
see this all the time. People, in an effort to be polite, often
refer to me as pastor
Womack. Quite honestly, it causes me to cringe for two reasons.
First, I know that pastor
has become a "title" that is used to elevate one above
another. Jesus dealt with this problem in Matthew 23 when He rebuked
the scribes and Pharisees who were using titles as a means of
exalting themselves. The result of this kind of thinking is what has
led to the unscriptural (albeit nonexistent) distinction of "clergy"
and "laity." In Jesus' day, "father, teacher and
rabbi" had become titles in the same way that "pastor"
has become such in our
day. Jesus said, "But you, do not be called 'Rabbi;'
for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do
not call anyone on earth your father;
for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called
teachers;
for One is your Teacher, the Christ, But he who is greatest among
you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Mt.
23:8-12) According to 1 Cor. 12:12-31 we are all equals in God's
kingdom, only with differing responsibilities.
The
second reason for my concern in being referred to as pastor
is
the fact that I am not
a pastor because I do not hold that office within the Lord's church.
As already pointed out, a pastor is a "shepherd" by
definition. In fact, every time you find the word "shepherd"
as a noun in the New Testament, it is translated from the same Greek
word (poimen)
as is "pastor." The only
time this word (poimen)
is translated "pastor" in the bible is in Eph. 4:11,
everywhere else it is translated "shepherd."
Paul
gave the qualifications for this office in 1 Tim. 3:1-7 and also in
Tit. 1:5-9. When he wrote to Titus regarding this he said, "For
this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the
things that are lacking, and appoint elders
in every city as I commanded you." (Tit. 1:5) Referring to
these same "elders" he said, "For a bishop
must be blameless, as a steward of God..." (vs. 7) The word
"elder" is translated from the Greek word presbuteros
and has reference to the maturity
of those who hold that responsibility. The word "bishop"
is translated from the Greek word (episkopos),
and emphasizes the oversight
of one who is to be a "steward of God." A "steward"
(oikonomos)
by definition was "the manager of a household."
When
Paul stopped at Miletus, "...he sent to Ephesus and called for
the elders
(presbuteros)
of the church." (Acts 20:17) While there, he spoke to these men
saying, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock,
among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers
(episkopos),
to shepherd
the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (vs.
28) Notice that the word "overseers" is translated from
the same Greek word as is "bishop" (See Tit 1:5)
and
that their responsibility as "overseers" required them to
"shepherd" (poimaino),
or "feed" (kjv)
the church. Their work was that of "shepherds" (poimen)
and it should be noted that in every example, there was never only
one
pastor but always a plurality of these overseers in each
congregation. This all harmonizes with what Peter said; "The
elders
(episkopos)
who are among you I exhort...Shepherd
(poimaino)
the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers
(episkopos)..."
(1 Pet. 5:1-2)
When
all of these passages are taken into consideration it becomes clear
that the terms elder, overseer, bishop, and pastor all refer to the
same office which differs from that of an evangelist. While both of
these offices differ in their purpose and design, they do have in
common the fact that they are all servants
of
the Lord - an honor I do
accept.
-
Gary V. Womack - March 2005