Let’s return for a moment to the Old Testament term “pastor.” The word came from the Hebrew word: RA’AH rendered "to tend a flock, to 'pasture' it; to associate with as a friend." The Greek is a verb, and some confusion has entered in because it has been translated into English as a noun, when in reality “pastoring” or “shepherding” is a duty of the elders, plural, not a position or office.
So now we go to find the New Testament usage of the term “pastor;” there is ONE, only ONE.
Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
The terms used above “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers" (the last two appearing to be combined or in combination with each other), are not speaking about local governing offices, but are speaking about ministries or the workings of the gifts. In fact, the 16th verse of the same chapter in Ephesians continues with: “From whom [Christ] the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
“For the work of the ministry” and for “the effectual working in the measure of every part” indicates action, not title or position; it indicates ministering one to another, all for the edification of the body.
But now that we’ve seen the “usage” of the term “pastor,” as well as its definition in the OT Hebrew, let’s look at its definition in the New Testament Greek. The word in Greek is: POIMEN (verb) – "to tend as a shepherd, to tend the flocks, to feed;" same meaning as that of the OT usage. In fact, the term “shepherd” is the same as the word pastor, and is not a noun, but a verb. So, pastor, shepherd, overseer, are all works or ministries, not positions of title or offices in the church.
So, again (I apologize for the redundancy, but want to make the point very clear), If there was an “office” of pastor, then why was it not included with the elders and deacons list in First Timothy? Surely Timothy would have needed that information. But if “pastoring” is a duty of the elders, and if elders are to be plural only, then why do so many churches have an office or position of a pastor (one man) instead of a plurality of elders? Answer: I don’t know! Unless, something went awry between the time of the apostles and now.
And I think it did. Paul’s biggest fear for the new church was that of wolves coming in, false teachers carrying contradicting messages and instructions to the new church. And indeed it has, until in this century, churches seldom resemble anything like the early apostolic church.
But then again, all churches do not use the term pastor; some use the term “priest”. So let’s explore that a bit.
Priest: Greek word is HIEREUS. Strong’s Concordance: “Hiereus refers to one who offers sacrifice and has the charge of things pertaining thereto. The term is used for priests of pagan gods, of Jewish priests, and of believers. As referring to believers, it is not a special sacerdotal class in contrast to the laity for all believers are commanded to offer the sacrifices.”
Priesthood: Greek word is HIERATEUMA. Strong’s Concordance: “This word means a body of priests consisting of all believers, the whole church (not a special order from among them), called “a holy priesthood”, “a royal priesthood” the former term is associated with offering spiritual sacrifices, the latter with the royal dignity of showing forth the Lord’s excellencies."
Why would we want to use the term “priest” when it is used biblically only for those who serve pagan gods, or of Jews (which we are not), or of believers, that which certain denominations call the “laity”, thus separating the laity (some believers) from the priesthood (other believers). There is no such distinction in the Word of God.
And if “Hiereus refers to one who offers sacrifice and has the charge of things pertaining thereto”, then who gave the priest of the local church the charge of those things? It wasn’t the Bible. The Bible tells us we have only one High Priest to offer sacrifices, and He has already done it, once and for all: Jesus!
It was the hierarchical governing body of the particular churches who began the unbiblical practice of installing priests as governing sub-heads of churches giving them complete power over the laity (the believers); not any different than those other churches who installed single pastors as the governing head over local churches.
But in terms of the priest, add the verse that says “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9), and what we end up with is believers in a local church who are given unbiblically the title of “Father” (and this IS meant in a spiritual sense, of course) and are then given the further unbiblical governing “office” of singular head of the local church, and even further compounded by the unbiblical decree (in only one denomination that I am aware of) that they are forbidden to marry, the latter being warned against in I Timothy 4:1-3.
Paul says, in I Corinthians 7, that to be single is better than being married, in the sense that one can devote more of one’s life to God and not be distracted from the Lord’s work by the duties of being a spouse and having a family. But he never forbids anyone to marry, other than when speaking of a woman who has left her husband which is a different matter altogether. In fact, Paul says in that same chapter: “it is better to marry than to burn;” excellent advice that many have not heeded, to their own demise and the harm of many innocents. One must be “called” to that way of life, not obligated to it; thus the terrible sexual abuse problems that have arisen in that denomination from this unbiblical decree. Again “a little leaven leavens the whole bunch.”
Why is it that we just won’t heed the words of God? It seems so simple. But instead we do things contrary to the Word, for which many end up suffering.
One final definition: Bishop (NT) – Greek: Episkopos – “superintendent or overseer”. The term bishop is used in place of the term elder in the KJV only; the NIV never uses bishop, but only “elder”. So they are one and the same. Even in the KJV, Paul interchanges the term bishop with the term elder in I Timothy. Episkopeo (the verb form of the word Episkopos) is rendered “to exercise the oversight of, to visit, to care for." There you have the duties of the elders, alongside of which is also teaching and ruling.
I Peter 5:2 – “Feed (teach – elders are to be able to teach) the flock of God which is among you (local church family) taking the oversight thereof (responsibility of elders); not by constraint but willingly (as gifted to do, not as a paid job).” [My paraphrasing added in parentheses.]
To recap what is biblical and what is not:
-pastor as a governing office or head of the local church (unbiblical);
-pastor, teacher, evangelist, apostle, prophet, etc., which might be used to describe someone (i.e., one who teaches might be called a teacher) are not “offices” but are “works” or “workings” of the spiritual gifts or giftings (biblical);
-offices of the church are only two: elders (or bishops if that term is preferred) and deacons, with only the elders (or bishops) governing (biblical)
-elders as plurality only, never a singular governing entity of the local church (unbiblical);
-elders as the “head” of the local church (unbiblical) – Jesus Christ alone is the “head” of the local church;
-hiring someone from outside the local church family to become the elder (unbiblical) - John 10:13 – “the hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep”;
-raising up elders from within the body of the local church family (biblical);
-priest as the head of or governing office of the local church (unbiblical);
- priests or priesthood refers to all believers (biblical);
-division of the laity and the clergy (unbiblical);
-office of pope as the governing “head” or “high priest” (unbiblical) - [see future posting titled “Dogma” for the origins of “apostolic succession”] – Jesus Christ alone is our “Head” and our “High Priest”.
Next we will look at how some of this confusion came about. Here’s a clue:
MAN.
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