What’s My Pastor’s Job? - 4

In my past several posts, I have endeavored to build an exegetical case for a biblical job description for the local church pastor. I want to finish my examination of the biblical data by looking at the epistolary literature of the New Testament.

New Testament epistolary literature is designed to instruct the Church how to function in relation to itself and the outside world. The overwhelming majority of truth contained in this portion of the New Testament involves the church’s mutuality of function, or better its internal interdependence. In order to illustrate this truth, varied imagery is employed. For example, the shepherding motif is related to the pastoral office by direct allusion in texts I’ve previously explored. Several other key metaphors are used throughout the epistolary literature with regard to the church and how it should function. Each of these metaphors presupposes an organic interrelatedness among the individual members of the Church. These metaphors, though not directly attributed to the pastoral office, have bearing on the primary role the pastoral office exercises in relation to the church as a whole.

Spiritual Gifts and the Body Metaphor

The most extensively used and helpful metaphor in ascertaining the primary biblical role of the pastoral office is the body metaphor found in Pauline theology. The Pauline texts relative to spiritual gifts are helpful in understanding the interrelatedness of the church and how that interrelatedness impacts the pastoral office role.

 

An examination of Pauline teaching regarding spiritual gifts reveals a clearly defined purpose underlying God’s gifting the individuals which comprise Christ’s Body-Church. Romans 12:5-6 opens with a declaration of the unity and interrelatedness of the Body of Christ. Every member of the Body is part of a unified whole, while at the same time inseparably and organically connected to every other member of the Body (v. 5). These unified members also possess a purposeful diversity of function, designed to meet our individual and corporate needs (v. 6). This same theme of Body unity, derived from a functional diversity, is echoed in Ephesians 4:4, 12. Paul begins by advocating the unity of the Body and calling for its maintenance; concluding with a statement of purpose, “so that the Body of Christ might be built up.” The intervening verses, in part, describe the various gifted individuals given to the Body to equip it for self-edification (Eph. 4:11).

Nowhere in Pauline theology is the purpose of spiritual gifts more clearly delineated than in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul clearly states that the Holy Spirit has given gifts to every member of the Body for the purpose of benefiting the whole (1 Cor. 12:7). Thus, the point underlying the Spirit’s giving of the gifts in the first place. Every member of the Body has been given gifts for the common good, to be used for the mutual edification of the whole. Paul concludes his discussion of the purpose and function of spiritual gifts by stating that the purpose underlying spiritual gifts is twofold. The first is the promotion of unity over division, “so that there should be no division in the body.” Within the Church, the possibility of division is real. Therefore, Paul reminds the Corinthian church that God has tied all believers together both spiritually and organically. He further reminds them that the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s diverse gifting of individual members is to prevent the formation of schisms. Furthermore, Paul informs the Corinthians of the second, and coequal, purpose of spiritual gifts, “but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” The term translated “have equal concern” is merimna,w (merimnao) and means “to care for, show concern for”. The second, and equally important purpose for the Spirit’s gifting individual members of the Body is to tie them together organically in the mutual fulfillment of one another’s physical, emotional, spiritual, etc. needs. The organic interrelatedness and interdependence produced among the members of the Body allows the employment of spiritual gifts in a way that meets the Body’s need for pastoral care, just as the physical body nourishes and cares for itself.

Paul delineates the spiritual gifts in three separate lists (1 Cor. 12:8-10, 28-30; Rom. 12:6-8; Eph. 4:8, 11), none of which is exhaustive. Drawing upon these lists of spiritual gifts, almost an endless number of observations can be made. For the purpose of understanding the relationship of spiritual gifts to pastoral care and the pastoral office, it is helpful to divide the gifts into several logical categories. The pedagogical gifts - prophecy/prophets, teaching/teachers, evangelists, word of wisdom, and word of prophecy – emphasize the instruction and equipment of the Body. Supernatural, or sign, gifts – miracles, healing, tongues, and interpreting tongues – were designed to validate the gospel message and organism of the church to unbelievers. The revelatory gifts – prophecy, tongues, and interpreting tongues – functioned to provide the fledgling church with new revelation from God until the close of the Canon. Administrative gifts – ruling, apostles, pastor-teachers, governing, and discerning of spirits – were gifts exercised in the oversight and leadership of the Church {101}. The pastoral care gifts – ministry, exhortation, giving, showing mercy, helping, and faith – seem to be those gifts used in loving response to one another’s physical, material, emotional, and spiritual needs; i.e., providing pastoral care to one another. While scholars disagree regarding the permanence of many of the gifts listed in the New Testament, little disagreement exists in relation to the purpose and exercise of the pastoral care gifts. Whether certain gifts remain in the modern Church or not is irrelevant to the truth that many gifts do remain, and many of those have a pastoral care nature; to be used by those within the Body who have been so gifted to minister in such a way. Certain of the positional gifts seem to have functional gifts aligned near them in the biblical text; logically associating the function with the position. The pastoral care gifts have no such positional alignment; indicating they were not segregated to those holding designated positions. Therefore, the pastoral care gifts are not limited to a certain group within the Body, but are for use by the wider cast of Body members for the meeting of the entire Body’s needs.

The Family Metaphor

Paul has extensively used the body metaphor to explain how the church is to promote its own unity and meet its own needs as the Holy Spirit gifts individuals to that end. The New Testament goes deeper in its advocacy of church members’ interdependence. Two lesser used, but no less powerful, metaphors are used to describe how the church ought to relate to itself. Combined with the explicit references instructing Christians in the exercise of their interdependence, and a system of Church functionality emerges that can be related to the primary role of the pastoral office.

The family of God metaphor is a significant contribution to the understanding of how the church ought to function. Furthermore, it impacts the identification of the primary role of the pastoral office. One of the most commonly used terms for believers in the New Testament epistolary literature is avdelfo,i (adelphoi); appearing 98 times, always with reference to believers in a local church. Paul, the author of Hebrews, James, Peter, and John use the term identically; establishing the concept that Christians share a familial bond. Jesus identified the first person of the Godhead as the father to both himself and believers (Matt. 6:9; Lk. 11:2). Paul echoed the concept in Ephesians 3:14 when he stated that he bowed his knee in prayer before the Father. John further substantiates the family metaphor when he refers to God as “the Father” in 2 John 4.

Since Christians share a familial bond with God, Christ, and one another, it is expected that the Church function, in part, as a family functions. The familial unity that exists among Christians aids in the fulfillment of several needs common to all human beings. The removal of the negative influences of fear, bigotry, loneliness and the provision of a positive trajectory for partnership, fellowship, and accountability are all integral to family life resulting from the familial bond that exists among Christians. Healthy families function within a community of interdependence and mutual responsibility; fulfilling for one another the needs inherent in the pastoral care concept. The family of God motif enhances the idea that Christians are expected to provide pastoral care to one another in a community of trustworthy interdependence.

The One Another Passages

Some of the most extensive instruction related to Church interdependence is found in what has anecdotally been called the “one-another passages” within New Testament epistolary literature. No less than 36 one-another passages exist in epistolary literature. They can be listed as follows:

prefer one another (Rom. 12:10)

be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10)

be of the same mind toward one another (Rom. 12:16)

don’t judge one another (Rom. 14:13)

build one another up (Rom. 14:19)

accept one another (Rom. 15:7)

admonish one another (Rom. 15:14)

don’t sue one another (1 Cor. 6:7)

care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25)

don’t challenge one another (Gal. 5:26)

don’t envy one another (Gal. 5:26)

speak truthfully to one another (Eph. 4:25; 5:19)

be kind to one another (Eph. 4:32)

be subject to one another (Eph. 5:21)

regard one another (Phil. 2:3)

don’t lie to one another (Col. 3:9)

bear with one another (Col. 3:13)

teach one another (Col. 3:16)

love one another (1 Thess. 3:12)

comfort one another (1 Thess. 4:18)

encourage one another (1 Thess. 5:11)

be at peace with one another (1 Thess. 5:13)

seek one another’s good (1 Thess. 5:15)

pray for one another (1 Tim. 2:1)

stimulate one another (Heb. 10:24)

don’t speak against one another (Jas. 4:11)

don’t complain about one another (Jas. 5:9)

confess to one another (Jas. 5:16)

be hospitable to one another (1 Pet. 4:9)

serve one another (1 Pet. 4:10)

be humble toward one another (1 Pet. 5:5)

greet one another (1 Pet. 5:14)

fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7)

wait for one another (1 Cor. 11:33)

bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2)

forgive one another (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13)

       

Obviously apparent from these texts is the truth that God intends the church to function as much as a community as a body. American culture is marked by a narcissistic individualism that tends toward self-isolationism and the attempt to meet one’s own emotional, psychological, physical, economic, and spiritual needs apart from a larger community. The church is intended by God to be a community through which man’s basic needs may be met in the context of a common faith relationship with Jesus Christ. The church is intended to function in an interdependent relationship.

An examination of the one-another passages reveals certain truths applicable to determining the primary role of the pastoral office. First, it should be noted that these one-another mandates bear a universal imperative. Each of them is given in a context and manner that makes them equally applicable of every Christian. None of these imperatives have been given to a unique sect within the Church. That being true, it is safe to state none of the one-another commands is particular to the pastoral office, but all are to be equally obeyed by all believers. Secondly, the one-another commands are nowhere tied directly to the spiritual gifts. The possession of a particular spiritual gift is not necessary to the function of the one-another imperatives. Thirdly, each of the one-another passages addresses a specific emotional, spiritual, physical, or psychological need. The ministering to these needs is, by definition, pastoral care. Therefore, pastoral care is incumbent upon every believer as he relates to his fellow believers in an interdependent community of faith.

Conclusion

As the various metaphors specific to the New Testament are factored into the exegetical data, a well-rounded job description for the pastoral office emerges. Paul explicitly uses the metaphor of the body to emphasize the expected interdependence within the church in meeting its own pastoral care needs. The nature and purpose of spiritual gifts highlights the truth that the church, as a body, is to be meeting its own pastoral care needs. Additionally, the application of the family metaphor throughout New Testament theology supports the thought that church members are to meet one another’s pastoral care needs in a community of interdependence, much the way a healthy family would function. The specific outline for what needs and how those needs are to be met is determined by understanding the one-another imperatives of the epistolary literature. That none of those imperatives is given specifically to the pastoral office, nor even closely associated with the office, is significant. The New Testament makes it clear that God expects a pastor in every pew, so to speak. Church members are to relate to one another in such a way that they are meeting their own pastoral care needs.

The local church pastor, then, is first and foremost a leader, a visionary, an overseer, and an agent of change within the matrix of the church. When pastors and people understand the primary job description for the local church pastor, it will help both to work together for God’s greater glory and the growth and success of the church.