The doctrine of the ministry

1. Greek synonyms of service.

a) Douleuw which means to serve as a slave.

b) Qerapeuw, which means to serve in a medical sense, medical practice. This is where we get the word “therapy.”

c) Latreuw, which means to serve for wages. A bona fide system of service.

d) Leitourgew, which refers to public service — police, military, government administration, etc.

e) U(perterew, means to be helpful to someone.

f) Diakonew, the verb. The noun is diakonia. One other is diakonoj. Sometimes this word is transliterated “deacon.” Sometimes it is translated “minister” and that is a good translation.

2. The usage of diakonoj and diakonia. There are five different uses in the Bible:

a) The political use. This is for the head of a state in Romans 13:14. The word diakonoj is used once in the Bible for those who are in charge of a country.

b) A general use. It is the universal ministry of every believer in the Church Age as a royal priest — 2 Corinthians 3:6; 4:1; 6:3,18.

c) It is used of church administrators or deacons — Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Deacons administer the activities of the church, so it connotes administration.

d) It is used in a specialised way for the pastor-teacher of the local church. It is used in the sense of his authority, his communication of the Word of God, and his policy-making — 1 Corinthians 3:5; Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:7, 23; 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; 1 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 6:10; Acts 6:4.

e) There is also an evil usage of the word in 2 Corinthians 11:15 where it is used for Satan’s ministers. This is a counterfeit of the local church concept and Satan uses his ministers in religion.

3. There are other words which identify the pastor-teacher or the minister of the local church. The function of the pastor-teacher is not religious, he is the teacher of the Word of God. It is his objective to so communicate doctrine that the royal priesthood under his jurisdiction in the local church will move to supergrace status which is the normal function of the priesthood and at which point the believer becomes spiritually self-sustaining.

So we have three different words in addition. These three Bible words all indicate something different in the pastor-teacher.

a) The first is the authority of his person. The Greek word is presbuteroj, often translated “elder.” It is found in 1 Timothy 5:17,19; Titus 1:5; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1. It always refers to the pastor, it does not refer to a church officer in the Bible. The distortion of this is to utilise this for a church officer. There is only one elder in a local church. The word means originally, “old man,” not in the sense of age but in the sense of title. It is a title of authority, it means the one in command of the local church. So this is the authority of his person.

b) The authority of his policy. The Greek word for this is e)piskopoj. Unfortunately this is translated “bishop.” The reason for that is because of the Church of England and the translators being related to the Church of England who saw fit to translate this word (which means “inspector”) “bishop.” But actually it refers to the one who is an overseer, the one who has charge of observing what is going on, the one who sets up the policy for the workers on the plantation. So it comes to means the authority of his policy. Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7.

c) The authority of his message is found in two words: pastor-teacher of Ephesians 4:11. The first word, poimhn, means shepherd. So shepherd-teacher would be a better translation. This had the connotation that the sheep need feeding and need to be led properly and the shepherd has to find food for them. This is the first part of it. Secondly, we have his function, didaskaloj which means to teach a group. This means that a pastor doesn’t have to run around and personally spend time with members of his congregation.

4. We also have some synonymous identification with these words. In Acts 20:17,28 we discover that all of these words are synonymous, referring to one person. In verse 17 the elders of Ephesus are called pastors in Acts 20:28. In this same context we have presbuteroj, e)piskopoj, and poimainw; they are told to feed the sheep, and all three of them are words used in the previous point.

5. The appointment of the pastor is described in 1 Corinthians 12:11,28. God the Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows this gift on the pastor-teacher apart from human merit. The appointment of the pastor has nothing to do with the people. No congregation makes a pastor, a pastor makes a congregation. A pastor makes a great congregation by sticking to his job of teaching the Word of God and not allowing any portion or any individual in the congregation to run over him. Ephesians 4:11 — the gift of the pastor-teacher is strictly a gift of the Holy Spirit, not of the individual involved.

6. The principle of the right pastor-teacher, right congregation is taught in 1 Peter 5:2. Every believer has a right pastor. Geography is usually the issue but there has to be a right pastor, your right pastor, the one who gets to you with doctrine, the one who causes you to be occupied with the person of Christ because you see who and what He is.

7. The authority of the right pastor is given in Hebrews 13:7,17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12. His authority is absolute.

8. The concept of the pastor as the total product of God’s grace is taught in 1 Corinthians 15:10; Ephesians 3:7; 1 Timothy 1:12-16.

9. The reward of the pastor — Hebrews 6:10; 1 Peter 5:4.

10. The biblical documentation for the existence of pastors: Colossians 1:23-29; 1 Timothy 2:24-26; 3:1-9; Titus 1:6-9; Ephesians 3:7-13.

A minister is a male believer in a local congregation. As he grows spiritually he becomes aware of the existence inside of him of the residence of a spiritual gift. The spiritual gift was received at salvation. His awareness of the gift is based upon his daily intake of doctrine, the daily function of GAP causes him to become aware of this gift. It is not an emotional thing although certainly he has the right to get emotional about it if he is enjoying what he is doing in life.