Something I think is important on this issue is to frame our thinking in the Bible and Biblical thought.
In the KJV, 'pastors' shows up in one verse in Ephesians 4:11, where it mentions 'apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers' that were given as gifts that Christ gave when or after He ascended on high.
The word translated 'shepherd', poimen, in the New Testament is typically the same word (or grammatically inflected form thereof.) There is also a verb form related to poimen can be translated 'tend' or 'feed', and it refers to herding or tending a flock.
Jesus is the Good Pastor. The Good Pastor lays down His life for His sheep. Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him and told him to pastor His sheep. Paul told the elders of the church of Ephesus to pastor the church of God over whom the Holy Ghost had made them overseers/bishops (Acts 20:28). Peter told the elders of the church to pastor the flock of God and take the oversight there of, and when the Chief Pastor shall appear, they shall obtain a crown of glory that does not fade away.
Paul asked of his own ministry who pastors a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock.
So the act of pastoring is associated with the ministry of apostles and elders.
We can also look at the Old Testament about how David was a pastor of sheet and the Lord set him over His people Israel. There were also prophets, priests, and kings who served as bad pastors of the people later on.
If actually look at 'church governmental' roles in the New Testament, it is important to pay attention to the words 'elders' and 'bishop' or 'overseers', depending on your translation. After the sent ones-- the apostles, Paul and Barnabas, were sent out by the Spirit, they traveled from city to city preaching the gospel. New believers would meet and form churches. They, no doubt 'pastored'-- or cared for the souls of the Lord's lambs-- while they were with them. But they soon left, and churches had to meet together and mature without ordained ministers.
They could probably do this because they did not have Protestant-style church meetings back then. They had meetings where 'every one of you' (I Corinthians 14:26, Hebrews 10:24-25) could use their gifts to edify each other, meetings where they exhorted one another. They would also break bread together. They would have eaten a meal of bread and wine together to remember the Lord's death called the Lord's Supper.
The apostles returned after a while, maybe several months or up to two years, and they would identify men in the congregation who met certain criteria and appoint them as elders or bishops of the flock of God. Later, Paul instructed Titus and also Timothy to appoint elders and gave the qualifications for ministering this bishop/overseer role. There was more than one elder in each church. In Philippians, we see there was more than one bishop in a church. Paul calls elders bishops (Acts 20:28.) Titus 1 and I Timothy 3 show us the characteristics for this role. Most of them are lifestyle type characteristics like ruling one's house well, not being given to much wine, being the husband of one wife/ a one-woman man, etc.
The Bible does not emphasize 'pastors' nearly as much as Protestant churches do. The Protestant role barely exists in scripture. What I mean is there are aspects of the role that have no real basis in the Bible. Some of these are culture, and I would argue not necessarily wrong, and some aspects of the role may actually detract from a church functioning Biblically.
There are different traditions, but in Protestantism, it seems like denominations have two ways to qualify 'pastors'-- one would be that he has to complete certain educational requirements, like a four year master's of divinity from a seminary. Other denominations emphasize a 'call', and have this idea that someone becomes a 'pastor' because he is called by God. Many of these denominations have been influenced by some developments in the early Reformed movement that invented a separate role of 'elder' which evolved into a 'board elder.' So they think the Biblical requirements apply to this less important role of board elder which isn't really Biblical, and ignore the Biblical requirements for actually overseeing the church.
Some differences between Protestant tradition and the Bible in regard to bishop/elder/pastoral type ministry qualifications:
Qualifications:
--Tradition: education or 'call to pastor' or a combination of the two.
--Bible: Meet the qualifications of I Timothy 3 or Titus 1.
Number of elders:
--Tradition: one pastor per church, or else a 'senior pastor' with other pastors reporting to him. Churches independent or part of a denominational franchise.
--Bible: multiple elders or bishops per church/city. Jesus is the 'chief Pastor'.
Ministry duties:
--Tradition:
---Must preach one long 20 to 60 minute sermon, preferrably 3-points.
---Marries people.
---Performs funerals.
--Bible:
---Elder must be 'apt to teach' and those who give themselves to preaching and teaching are worthy of double honor. In the Bible 'every one of you' minister to edify spiritual gifts (I Cor 14:26), and we are to 'exhort one another' when we meet (Heb. 10:24-25.)
---No scripture teaches that elders or one 'senior pastor' must MC the church meeting or give a long discourse every time.
---In scripture, arranging weddings is handled by parents or the man wanting to marry with the father of the bride. There is reference to parties. Elders in the Old Testament were once a witness to a land transaction that involved Boaz taking Ruth as wife. But the modern 'Christian wedding' appears to be a cultural adaptation that resembles pagan Roman weddings and Roman cultural practices before their cultural practices were adapted to Christianity. There is no indication in scripture that God gave the elders sacramental power to 'join together' couples.
---Church officials performing funerals is a cultural practice, not a particularly Biblical one.
We should also note that the word 'priest' comes from the Greek word for 'elder.' English and German had the problem of the same word being used for Old Testament kohen as for the New Testament elder role, which created some theological confusion. The Reformed Movement in Geneva dropped the term 'priests', and started calling their ordained ministers the equivalent of 'pastors'. They created a new city government role of 'elders.' The Scottish Presbyterians modeled their national church on the Geneva city model, copying the newly-created 'elder' role from the city government and adapting it to a church office. And they used the word 'pastors' for their ordained ministry. Early on, the Scottish Presbyterian applied Biblical 'elder' verses to pastors, but God confused over time. From their influence, many Protestants call their leaders 'pastors' and have an 'board elder' role that does not exist in scripture. Here is an article by a Presbyterian scholar that touches on some of these issues:
http://eldership.org/resources/elders_sjt.html
In the KJV, 'pastors' shows up in one verse in Ephesians 4:11, where it mentions 'apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers' that were given as gifts that Christ gave when or after He ascended on high.
The word translated 'shepherd', poimen, in the New Testament is typically the same word (or grammatically inflected form thereof.) There is also a verb form related to poimen can be translated 'tend' or 'feed', and it refers to herding or tending a flock.
Jesus is the Good Pastor. The Good Pastor lays down His life for His sheep. Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him and told him to pastor His sheep. Paul told the elders of the church of Ephesus to pastor the church of God over whom the Holy Ghost had made them overseers/bishops (Acts 20:28). Peter told the elders of the church to pastor the flock of God and take the oversight there of, and when the Chief Pastor shall appear, they shall obtain a crown of glory that does not fade away.
Paul asked of his own ministry who pastors a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock.
So the act of pastoring is associated with the ministry of apostles and elders.
We can also look at the Old Testament about how David was a pastor of sheet and the Lord set him over His people Israel. There were also prophets, priests, and kings who served as bad pastors of the people later on.
If actually look at 'church governmental' roles in the New Testament, it is important to pay attention to the words 'elders' and 'bishop' or 'overseers', depending on your translation. After the sent ones-- the apostles, Paul and Barnabas, were sent out by the Spirit, they traveled from city to city preaching the gospel. New believers would meet and form churches. They, no doubt 'pastored'-- or cared for the souls of the Lord's lambs-- while they were with them. But they soon left, and churches had to meet together and mature without ordained ministers.
They could probably do this because they did not have Protestant-style church meetings back then. They had meetings where 'every one of you' (I Corinthians 14:26, Hebrews 10:24-25) could use their gifts to edify each other, meetings where they exhorted one another. They would also break bread together. They would have eaten a meal of bread and wine together to remember the Lord's death called the Lord's Supper.
The apostles returned after a while, maybe several months or up to two years, and they would identify men in the congregation who met certain criteria and appoint them as elders or bishops of the flock of God. Later, Paul instructed Titus and also Timothy to appoint elders and gave the qualifications for ministering this bishop/overseer role. There was more than one elder in each church. In Philippians, we see there was more than one bishop in a church. Paul calls elders bishops (Acts 20:28.) Titus 1 and I Timothy 3 show us the characteristics for this role. Most of them are lifestyle type characteristics like ruling one's house well, not being given to much wine, being the husband of one wife/ a one-woman man, etc.
The Bible does not emphasize 'pastors' nearly as much as Protestant churches do. The Protestant role barely exists in scripture. What I mean is there are aspects of the role that have no real basis in the Bible. Some of these are culture, and I would argue not necessarily wrong, and some aspects of the role may actually detract from a church functioning Biblically.
There are different traditions, but in Protestantism, it seems like denominations have two ways to qualify 'pastors'-- one would be that he has to complete certain educational requirements, like a four year master's of divinity from a seminary. Other denominations emphasize a 'call', and have this idea that someone becomes a 'pastor' because he is called by God. Many of these denominations have been influenced by some developments in the early Reformed movement that invented a separate role of 'elder' which evolved into a 'board elder.' So they think the Biblical requirements apply to this less important role of board elder which isn't really Biblical, and ignore the Biblical requirements for actually overseeing the church.
Some differences between Protestant tradition and the Bible in regard to bishop/elder/pastoral type ministry qualifications:
Qualifications:
--Tradition: education or 'call to pastor' or a combination of the two.
--Bible: Meet the qualifications of I Timothy 3 or Titus 1.
Number of elders:
--Tradition: one pastor per church, or else a 'senior pastor' with other pastors reporting to him. Churches independent or part of a denominational franchise.
--Bible: multiple elders or bishops per church/city. Jesus is the 'chief Pastor'.
Ministry duties:
--Tradition:
---Must preach one long 20 to 60 minute sermon, preferrably 3-points.
---Marries people.
---Performs funerals.
--Bible:
---Elder must be 'apt to teach' and those who give themselves to preaching and teaching are worthy of double honor. In the Bible 'every one of you' minister to edify spiritual gifts (I Cor 14:26), and we are to 'exhort one another' when we meet (Heb. 10:24-25.)
---No scripture teaches that elders or one 'senior pastor' must MC the church meeting or give a long discourse every time.
---In scripture, arranging weddings is handled by parents or the man wanting to marry with the father of the bride. There is reference to parties. Elders in the Old Testament were once a witness to a land transaction that involved Boaz taking Ruth as wife. But the modern 'Christian wedding' appears to be a cultural adaptation that resembles pagan Roman weddings and Roman cultural practices before their cultural practices were adapted to Christianity. There is no indication in scripture that God gave the elders sacramental power to 'join together' couples.
---Church officials performing funerals is a cultural practice, not a particularly Biblical one.
We should also note that the word 'priest' comes from the Greek word for 'elder.' English and German had the problem of the same word being used for Old Testament kohen as for the New Testament elder role, which created some theological confusion. The Reformed Movement in Geneva dropped the term 'priests', and started calling their ordained ministers the equivalent of 'pastors'. They created a new city government role of 'elders.' The Scottish Presbyterians modeled their national church on the Geneva city model, copying the newly-created 'elder' role from the city government and adapting it to a church office. And they used the word 'pastors' for their ordained ministry. Early on, the Scottish Presbyterian applied Biblical 'elder' verses to pastors, but God confused over time. From their influence, many Protestants call their leaders 'pastors' and have an 'board elder' role that does not exist in scripture. Here is an article by a Presbyterian scholar that touches on some of these issues:
http://eldership.org/resources/elders_sjt.html
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