of Jesus |
I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. |
Edition No. 42
WE ARE HERE TO LISTEN TO
February 1, 2005 The Voice of Jesus This is my Son, my Chosen; Listen to Him! |
False Doctrines
of Christendom #11 - The Office of Pastor and Teacher |
As
is often the case, this false doctrine
of the pastor and teacher
started with Paul of Tarsus, and the churchmen preserve it by use of
another false
doctrine, that of biblical inerrancy. Paul wrote: And his gifts were that some should be
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers.. (Eph.4:11).
So there it stands, with other illegitimate offices and titles. But
here we speak only of the office of pastor
and teacher.
From the Southern Baptists: Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. It scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture. From Catholics: Pastor - This term denotes a priest who has the cure of souls (cura animarum), that is, who is bound in virtue of his office to promote the spiritual welfare of the faithful by preaching, administering the sacraments, and exercising certain powers of external government, e.g., the right of supervision, giving precepts, imposing light corrections -- powers rather paternal in their nature, and differing from those of a bishop, which are legislative, judicial, and coactive. |
Churchmen
often think of pastor and teacher
as a single office, with teaching being a function of the pastor. What
we say here applies to both. Every
church has its pastor, who teaches. It is an old and time honored
office that is seldom questioned. One who believes
in biblical inerrancy never sees the error, for there it
is, in Eph. 4:11. Churches have formed and called pastors due to Paul's
doctrine. We must go to Jesus to expose this error, and there the
typical Christian will miss the exposure because the word, pastor, does not appear in most
translations. But pastor
is from the Latin, pastor, which
means a herdsman (shepherd), and this is equivalent to the NT
Greek word, poimhn (poinēn), which also means shepherd or pastor. Therefore,
the real significance of the word, when
uttered by Jesus and rendered shepherd
from the Greek, fails to be associated with
the office of pastor and teacher. The result? Both laymen and pastors
are blind to the error and continue in good conscience to honor the
office. They never question this erroneous doctrine that puts a
pastor/teacher in every church. The pastor has a mercenary motive also
for failing to see that the Lord has never sanctioned his office or
called anyone to fill it. Therefore these two things,
belief in biblical inerrancy and the veiled translations combine to
hide the error of the doctrine that places a pastor in every
church. Go here
to read more of biblical inerrancy, then see the Truth concerning the
pastor and teacher in the next column.
|
What of the many teachers? Hear Jesus again: But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren (Mat.23:8). Who is that one teacher? Listen to Jesus yet again: You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am (Jn.13:13).The one flock consists of those from every fold who heed my voice. Thus heeding his voice, they know only one pastor / teacher, and so Jesus is their one Lord, pastor, and teacher. Jesus defined all others (Jn.10:1,5,8,12) as thieves, robbers, strangers and hirelings. Sadly, the churchmen are excluding themselves from the one flock by not heeding his voice. Who do they heed? The "scripture" with its voice of Paul. It is Paul who is their Lord, for it is his voice they heed. There is a word for this, claiming the Lordship of Christ while ignoring his voice. And Jesus asks: Why do you call me `Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? (Lk.6:46) |