What is a Biblical Pastor?
Pastor: Someone with the authority to lead religious services and help others worship. A term used mostly in Protestant churches. The leader who has been ordained.
That’s what the Google definition of a pastor lists. Would you agree? I’d venture to say most would, since it is the way that this word is used in most church bodies, and in our culture. And why, I’d guess, that Google defines it that way. But is it the Bible’s definition of a pastor?
I grew up in the independent Christian Church, part of the Restoration Movement, a movement to restore biblical truth and practice. I remember one of the slogans that came out of this movement. It went, “We call Bible things by Bible names, and we do Bible things in Bible ways.” One example: we preach to those considering Christ to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, rather than to invite Jesus into their heart (the first is biblical, the 2nd is not). As any group of Christians seeks biblical Christianity, that would seem to make sense: Bible things, Bible ways, done biblically. How does that apply to the word pastor?
When I look up what the Hebrew word for pastor means, it lists “ro’eh” and says it is a noun that means “shepherd” and can be used as a verb that means “to tend a flock.” The word “pastor” actually comes from the Greek (poimen) and I find it is a verb used to describe the function of pastoring or shepherding, with the noun meaning “one who shepherds” or “one who serves as guardian.”
That gives us what the word means as it is used in the Bible, and that agrees with what I was taught and saw practiced in the Christian Churches of the past. In other words, pastor is equal to what the Bible also calls “elder” in both the Old and New Testament. The terms often used synonymously. Men called to shepherd, to oversee, either the people of Israel in a particular location, or today, a local church body.
Many in the independent Christian Churches of the past were very guarded about this word. It did not apply to the “preacher,” or evangelist, whose job was to proclaim the Word, but to the local elders, who did the shepherding, typically plural as used in both testaments. Back in my younger days the Baptist Church called their preacher the pastor, but they didn’t have elders (plural). They thought the preacher was THE elder. Not in the Christian Church, not back in my younger days. But with time more and more people started referring to the preacher as the pastor, even in Christian Churches.
There certainly is a sense that the preaching minister does some pastoring (shepherding), and at SHCC we allow for that, as the Senior Minister has been included as an elder (not THE elder). Usually that person is older and not only does shepherding within the congregation, but mentor’s younger members of the staff. Yet we’ve reached a point where we commonly call staff members pastors regardless, whatever the age or role, and not considering Ist Timothy 3. Might seem like a small thing, but it certainly doesn’t “call Bible things by Bible names.” Of course, the modern staff of preaching minister, student minister, children’s minister, etc. is unique in church history. That confuses things too.
I don’t expect to see a big change in practice just because I’ve written an article about this, but I do think it’s worth contemplating. How important is it to call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways, if we claim to be a church that has the Bible as our authority?
Cross Point: A subject hard to fit into this one-page article, but worthy of your study. “Are any of you sick? Let them call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over the person, anointing with oil” (James 5:14).
That’s what the Google definition of a pastor lists. Would you agree? I’d venture to say most would, since it is the way that this word is used in most church bodies, and in our culture. And why, I’d guess, that Google defines it that way. But is it the Bible’s definition of a pastor?
I grew up in the independent Christian Church, part of the Restoration Movement, a movement to restore biblical truth and practice. I remember one of the slogans that came out of this movement. It went, “We call Bible things by Bible names, and we do Bible things in Bible ways.” One example: we preach to those considering Christ to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, rather than to invite Jesus into their heart (the first is biblical, the 2nd is not). As any group of Christians seeks biblical Christianity, that would seem to make sense: Bible things, Bible ways, done biblically. How does that apply to the word pastor?
When I look up what the Hebrew word for pastor means, it lists “ro’eh” and says it is a noun that means “shepherd” and can be used as a verb that means “to tend a flock.” The word “pastor” actually comes from the Greek (poimen) and I find it is a verb used to describe the function of pastoring or shepherding, with the noun meaning “one who shepherds” or “one who serves as guardian.”
That gives us what the word means as it is used in the Bible, and that agrees with what I was taught and saw practiced in the Christian Churches of the past. In other words, pastor is equal to what the Bible also calls “elder” in both the Old and New Testament. The terms often used synonymously. Men called to shepherd, to oversee, either the people of Israel in a particular location, or today, a local church body.
Many in the independent Christian Churches of the past were very guarded about this word. It did not apply to the “preacher,” or evangelist, whose job was to proclaim the Word, but to the local elders, who did the shepherding, typically plural as used in both testaments. Back in my younger days the Baptist Church called their preacher the pastor, but they didn’t have elders (plural). They thought the preacher was THE elder. Not in the Christian Church, not back in my younger days. But with time more and more people started referring to the preacher as the pastor, even in Christian Churches.
There certainly is a sense that the preaching minister does some pastoring (shepherding), and at SHCC we allow for that, as the Senior Minister has been included as an elder (not THE elder). Usually that person is older and not only does shepherding within the congregation, but mentor’s younger members of the staff. Yet we’ve reached a point where we commonly call staff members pastors regardless, whatever the age or role, and not considering Ist Timothy 3. Might seem like a small thing, but it certainly doesn’t “call Bible things by Bible names.” Of course, the modern staff of preaching minister, student minister, children’s minister, etc. is unique in church history. That confuses things too.
I don’t expect to see a big change in practice just because I’ve written an article about this, but I do think it’s worth contemplating. How important is it to call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways, if we claim to be a church that has the Bible as our authority?
Cross Point: A subject hard to fit into this one-page article, but worthy of your study. “Are any of you sick? Let them call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over the person, anointing with oil” (James 5:14).
Posted in Cross Points