Minister, Christian
The Christian minister, in the New Testament letters that survive in the UPDV, is not a profession but a stewardship. He is called by God, entrusted with the good news, set in the church to teach, exhort, and watch over souls, formed by sound doctrine and a consistent life, supported by the affection of those he serves, exposed to hardship, and held to a final accounting before the Chief Shepherd. The Pastoral Epistles carry most of the weight in this picture, with corroboration from Paul's earlier letters, the Petrine letters, Hebrews, and the Johannine correspondence. Old Testament shadows of the office — the herald of good news, the watchman, the unfaithful shepherd — stand behind the New Testament shape.
The Holy Calling
The minister begins where every Christian begins, in a calling that is God's act before it is the man's. "Who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before eternal times" (2 Timothy 1:9). The calling is not earned and is not impressive on its surface: "For look at your⁺ calling, brothers, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]" (1 Corinthians 1:26). It is "a heavenly calling" (Hebrews 3:1) and "the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14), and the gospel itself is the instrument by which it is issued: "to which he also called you⁺ through our good news, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 2:14).
For the minister this calling is not a private vocation but the standing he asks his hearers to honor in their own lives — "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you⁺ to walk worthily of the calling with which you⁺ were called" (Ephesians 4:1) — and which he labors to make visible in them: "exhorting you⁺, and encouraging, and testifying, to the end that you⁺ should walk worthily of God, who calls you⁺ into his own kingdom and glory" (1 Thessalonians 2:12). Knowledge of "the hope of his calling" is itself a thing he prays his hearers will see (Ephesians 1:18), and confirmation of it a thing he urges them to pursue: "Therefore, brothers, be the more diligent to make your⁺ calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10).
Offices and Gifts in the Church
The minister is not a freelancer; he stands inside an order of gifts that God himself has set. "And God has set some in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, [diverse] kinds of tongues" (1 Corinthians 12:28). The Ephesian list is parallel: "And he gave some [to be] apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers" (Ephesians 4:11). Within that order Timothy is told to "do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your service" (2 Timothy 4:5), and Titus is reminded that the elder must hold "to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers" (Titus 1:9).
The gift that fits a man for that work is not self-generated. It comes through prophecy and the laying on of hands: "Don't neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the group of elders" (1 Timothy 4:14); "stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands" (2 Timothy 1:6). The hand of the elder is to be set upon a candidate cautiously — "Lay hands hastily on no man, neither share in other men's sins: keep yourself pure" (1 Timothy 5:22) — and the man so commissioned is told to keep training: "exercise yourself to godliness" (1 Timothy 4:7), in concert with the gift already given.
The Stewardship of the Good News
The minister's job has a name: stewardship. "For if I participate in this of my own will, I have a reward: but if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me" (1 Corinthians 9:17). What he stewards is the gospel itself: "according to the good news of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust" (1 Timothy 1:11); "but even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who proves our hearts" (1 Thessalonians 2:4); "but on the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the good news of the uncircumcision" (Galatians 2:7); "but in his own seasons manifested his word in the message, with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior" (Titus 1:3); "of which I was made a servant, according to the dispensation of God which was given me toward you⁺, to fulfill the word of God" (Colossians 1:25).
The trust runs back into the prophet's older mandate. "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good [things], who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7); "The Spirit of the Sovereign Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening [of the prison] to those who are bound" (Isaiah 61:1). The reach is universal: "And the good news must first be preached to all the nations" (Mark 13:10); "And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having eternal good news to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people" (Revelation 14:6). The Christian minister inherits both the herald's beauty and the herald's range.
Channels of Truth
When the minister speaks, what he speaks is not his own. "Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Spirit teaches; combining spiritual things with spiritual [words]" (1 Corinthians 2:13). "If any man speaks, [speaking] as it were oracles of God; if any man serves, [serving] as of the strength which God supplies: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:11). The same arrangement underlies prophecy itself: "For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). When the minister is dragged into court, the same Spirit takes over: "And when they lead you⁺ [to judgment], and deliver you⁺ up, don't be anxious beforehand what you⁺ will speak: but whatever will be given you⁺ in that hour, that speak⁺; for it is not you⁺ who speak, but the Holy Spirit" (Mark 13:11).
What the minister hands on, then, is "the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 1:13). Among those words a few stand off as fixed: "Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15); "Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptance" (1 Timothy 4:9); "Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we will also live with him" (2 Timothy 2:11); "Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently" (Titus 3:8). The good minister is "nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which you have followed [until now]" (1 Timothy 4:6).
The Work: Preaching, Teaching, Exhorting, Watching
The minister's labor falls into a small set of recurring verbs. He preaches: "preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching" (2 Timothy 4:2). He teaches and exhorts: "Until I come, give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching" (1 Timothy 4:13); "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise you" (Titus 2:15). He admonishes a mixed flock with measured patience: "And we exhort you⁺, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all" (1 Thessalonians 5:14). He bears the church's "word of exhortation" in writing as well as speech (Hebrews 13:22).
He watches. "Obey those who have the rule over you⁺, and submit [to them]: for they watch in behalf of your⁺ souls, as those who will give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief" (Hebrews 13:17). The Old Testament's complaint about pastoral failure stands as the dark counter-image: "Therefore this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You⁺ have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them" (Jeremiah 23:2); and Yahweh himself describes the pedagogue's frustration: "though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they haven't listened to receive instruction" (Jeremiah 32:33).
The good minister is also marked by what he is not. He is not the hireling, who "flees because he is a hired worker, and does not care for the sheep" (John 10:13). He is not a partisan: "but, the ones [that] proclaim Christ insincerely from faction, think to raise up affliction for me in my bonds" (Philippians 1:17). He is the one who "puts the brothers in mind of these things" and is so titled "a good servant of Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 4:6).
Witness
Underneath his preaching is testimony. Peter writes "as a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ" (1 Peter 5:1), and rejects the charge of fabrication: "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you⁺ the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16). The Old Testament shape of clean ministerial testimony is Samuel's deathbed scene: "He called Yahweh and his anointed to witness: 'From whom have I taken a bribe, or a pair of shoes?' And no man accused him. And also to the time of his end he was found upright In the eyes of Yahweh, and in the eyes of all living" (Sirach 46:19) — the minister whose hands are clean enough to call God himself as auditor.
Character and Example
The minister teaches by what he is. "Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). "In all things showing yourself an example of good works; in your doctrine [showing] uncorruptness, gravity" (Titus 2:7). The pattern is open enough to be imitated: "I urge you⁺ therefore, be⁺ imitators of me" (1 Corinthians 4:16); "Be⁺ imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1); "Brothers, be⁺ imitators together of me, and observe those who so walk even as you⁺ have us for an example" (Philippians 3:17); "The things which you⁺ both learned and received and heard and saw in me, participate in these things: and the God of peace will be with you⁺" (Philippians 4:9); "not because we don't have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you⁺, that you⁺ should imitate us" (2 Thessalonians 3:9).
The minister's life outside the assembly bears its own weight: "Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil" (1 Timothy 3:7). His public conduct is to match his message: "Only live⁺ as citizens worthy of the good news of Christ" (Philippians 1:27). And the boldness that develops in faithful service is itself a credential: "For they having served well gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 3:13).
Affection for the Flock
The Christian minister is not detached. Paul tells the Thessalonians "even so, being affectionately desirous of you⁺, we were well pleased to impart to you⁺, not the good news of God only, but also our own souls, because you⁺ became very dear to us" (1 Thessalonians 2:8). To the Corinthians: "I don't say it to condemn [you⁺]: for I have said before, that you⁺ are in our hearts to die together and live together" (2 Corinthians 7:3). To the Philippians: "Therefore, my brothers beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my beloved" (Philippians 4:1). And John, near the end: "I rejoice greatly that I have found [certain] of your children walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the Father" (2 John 1:4). The proof of the gospel's arrival is bound up with the manner of the man who brings it: "our good news did not come to you⁺ in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; even as you⁺ know what manner of men we showed ourselves among you⁺ for your⁺ sake" (1 Thessalonians 1:5).
Support and Honor
The minister is owed support, though he may forgo it. "If others partake of [this] right over you⁺, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the good news of Christ" (1 Corinthians 9:12). The standing congregational rule, however, is honor: "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching" (1 Timothy 5:17). The wisdom tradition states the bare minimum negatively: "With all your might, love him who made you. And do not forsake his ministers" (Sirach 7:30). The minister who is forsaken by his people is a minister whose people have first forsaken something else.
Hardship and Boldness
The work is taxing. "But be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your service" (2 Timothy 4:5). The gospel itself can be misunderstood — "And even if our good news is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish" (2 Corinthians 4:3) — and resistance to it has a final shape: "rendering vengeance to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the good news of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Continuance is a condition of the very stewardship: "if indeed you⁺ continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the good news which you⁺ heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; of which I Paul was made a servant" (Colossians 1:23).
Boldness is asked for and prayed for. Paul asks the Ephesians to pray "that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the good news" (Ephesians 6:19). Boldness in the faith is also one of the rewards of patient service (1 Timothy 3:13).
Reward and Final Account
The minister is on a wage that pays at the end. He has "a stewardship entrusted to me" (1 Corinthians 9:17) and is told to "look to yourselves, that you⁺ don't lose the things which we have worked for, but that you⁺ receive a full reward" (2 John 1:8). The God who called also closes the loop: "And the God of all grace, who called you⁺ to his eternal glory in Christ, after you⁺ have suffered a little while, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, [and] firmly set [you⁺]" (1 Peter 5:10). And those who watch for souls "will give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief" (Hebrews 13:17). Paul's closing benediction over a minister-bearing church catches the tone: "Finally, brothers, farewell. Be restored; be comforted; be of the same mind; live in peace: and the God of love and peace will be with you⁺" (2 Corinthians 13:11).