Ask the Pastor 137

What is a Pastor?

This seems like a simple question that should have a simple answer, it’s the guy up front who preaches the sermon and is in charge of things. In large churches there might be more than one with each one being responsible for a specific area of the ministry. In this event, there is usually a senior pastor or a lead pastor, who is thought of as the leader of the staff. But what does the Bible say? A key verse on this subject is in Ephesians 4:11, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” It is argued, that in Greek grammar, that pastors and teachers can be together as one person. That is not necessarily true because there is a Greek conjunction between them, kai translated and. At the same time, it is true that the person who is called a pastor will teach. A pastor is one who shepherds, which is another word for pastor. It is in line with our Lord as the great shepherd and then the Holy Spirit gives to the local church one who is spiritually gifted as an under shepherd to the Lord. What we learn at this point is that the pastor is given as a gift to the church by the Holy Spirit (God). As a gift from the Lord, he should be well received by the church. We know from other Scriptures that he will spiritually protect, care for and feed the flock of God (see Acts 20:28-31). The manner in which he will do these things is through the teaching of the Word of God, hence he is also a teacher. To understand the teaching of the Scriptures one must have the Holy Spirit within to guide them and to have this, one must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord willing, we will examine this subject further in our next edition.

Have questions about the Bible? Send them to Dr. Greg Koehn at gak4850@gmail.com and read the answer here in this article.