The Subordination and
Authority of the PT; 1 Corinthians 4:1
The problem in
the church at
The way Paul addresses this
problem in Corinth is not to start at a superficial level with the problem
itself, but he goes to the core issue which is understanding who and what we
are as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; that every single believer has the
same problem: we are all sinners, we are born with a sin nature, Adam’s
original sin has been imputed to that sin nature, and we have committed
personal sins. The bottom line from the Scriptures is that we are born
condemned because of that inheritance of the sin nature and Adam’s original
sin. We are not condemned because we commit personal sins, that is a consequence of the first two problems. We are not
sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners.
We are born sinners, we are born corrupt, we are born
with a sin nature and Adam’s original sin imputed to that at the instant of our
physical birth. Consequently, every one of us is brought down to the same level
at salvation. We all have to recognize that Jesus did everything; we do
nothing. It is not based on who we are or on our talents, abilities or IQ, or
anything else. The problem is with the spiritual life. Often we forget that
point of humility at the cross, recognizing that Jesus did everything for us
and we do nothing, and then after salvation we start thinking we can help God
out or that somehow God should be impressed with our own talents and abilities;
and this is a problem that the Greeks faced.
As a result of that Paul is
going to focus their attention to everything at the point of salvation in terms
of positional truth, that everything they have,
spiritually speaking, was given to them at salvation. We all have the same
assets, we all have the same relationship to the Holy Spirit, we all have the
same position in Christ, the same priesthood, the same inheritance; all these
things were given to us at the instant of salvation. From that point on the
issue is, what are you going to do with that which God supplies? So he starts
at the basics and then in chapter two he
goes through the description of how we come to Learn God’s Word and it is based
upon first, regeneration, and secondly, right relationship to God the Holy
Spirit. In the third chapter he covered the judgment seat of Christ, that the
issue isn’t just being saved, it has to do with spirituality and spiritual
growth, and those who do not grow spiritually, who do not advance to spiritual
maturity, who do not recognize the fact that they have been set apart as a
temple for the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Shekinah
glory of Jesus Christ, will suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ. Then in
chapter four he comes back to the issue of applying all of this doctrine. So
often people get the idea that doctrine is just abstract, that is has nothing
to do with everyday thought, everyday realities, and they don’t see that it is
related to everyday life. All doctrine, all theology at some point is
applicable and affects at some level how you think. It may not be the kind of
thing that you go home and use this afternoon or use this next week, but it is
important for building your frame of reference so that in the future you can
look at and approach life, and evaluate life, and think critically about life
and decisions in life from the divine viewpoint. So all theology at some level
is applicable or it is not biblical because all theology reflects God’s view of
reality. So if we are divorced from doctrine and we are not paying attention to
doctrine we are not going to understand reality the way God has made the
creation.
Now in chapter four Paul is
going to apply this to the relationship of the Corinthians to their teacher. He
has established these doctrines in chapters two and three and now he is going
to bring it home in terms of how the congregation relates to its teachers. The
application for this, even though the teacher in terms of strict interpretation
has to do with the apostle Paul, is also applicable to a congregation
relationship to its pastor-teacher.
1 Corinthians 4:1 NASB
“Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries of God.” Paul begins in v. 1 with an imperative. It doesn’t appear to
be an imperative in the English but it is in the Greek. “Let a man regard us in
this manner” – the verb is LOGIZOMAI [logizomai],
translated regard or consider. It really has the idea of thinking. It was a
word that was used in accounting and it had to do with rational thinking and an
orderly presentation of information. The verb is a present middle imperative.
Whenever there is a verb in the Greek that ends with this suffix, OMAI, that is what is called a
deponent verb. That means that it has a middle or passive ending but it has an
active voice meaning. The reason is that in the development of the language for
some reason in this particular class of verb the active voice form just dropped
out of use. It is always translated as an active voice verb. So LOGIZOMAI means
to think, and as a third person singular. “Let a man/person think.” This is a
command, not an option. The present imperative indicates something that is a
standard practice for the believer, that we are to
think in a certain way about pastors. The word translated “in this manner” is
the Greek word HOUTOS [o(utwj], a demonstrative adverb that is used here to
emphasize a degree or manner or extent, and should be translated “in this
manner, in this way, to this degree, think.” So we are to think a certain way
about the pastor, or in this case the Corinthians were to think of Paul in a certain way in terms
of his particular ministry.
In this chapter we will talk
about evaluating a pastor, and too often people aren’t evaluating pastors, they
are criticizing, gossiping, running him down, and it is a very subtle attack on
the authority of the pastor. Unfortunately we live in an era when the prestige,
the respectability, the honor that has been typically
given to pastors over the last two or three hundred years of this nation’s
history has been solely because of the behaviour of some nationally-known
pastor, some of whom have been involved in television ministries, and in the
last few years the trust level, especially in some denominations where there
have been those who have been guilty of criminal activity, has been seriously
reduced.
Two principles to always keep
in mind in relationship to a pastor-teacher: 1) We
have to recognize that every pastor-teacher is growing spiritually, just like
we are. He is to be dealt with in grace, just as we are. 2) Pastor-teacher is a
spiritual gift, it is not a personality type. Don’t
make the mistake of confusing a certain personality with the gift of
pastor-teacher.
So how are we to think about
pastor-teachers—and it would apply to evangelists as well—and those who are in
professional Christian ministry. Paul goes on to say,
“Let a man think about us [those in professional teaching Christian ministry]
as servants of Christ.” The word for servant here is not the standard word DIAKONOS [diakonoj] which emphasizes the function and operation of that
person in his relationship to other believers. The word is used in three
different senses in the New Testament. It is used for the leader of a state or
national identity. E.g. Romans 13:4 NASB “for it is a minister of
God to you for good.” That is, the authority in the national entity. He is
there to serve the citizenry. It is also used of every believer, e.g. 2
Corinthians 3:6 NASB “who also made us adequate {as} servants of a
new covenant…,” also 6:4 and
The idea of subordination to
authority is a central principle in leadership. You don’t start at the top in
life, you start at the bottom. You can’t be a good leader unless you are a good
follower. You can’t exercise authority well unless first of all you have
learned humility. Every good leader recognizes that he is under authority.
The principle here is that
the pastor-teacher in any congregation is under the authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So we must ask the question: How is the pastor-teacher to relate in
terms of authority and accountability to a local congregation and the local
church board? There are historically, in terms of the history of Christianity,
three forms of church government which have been developed. The first is called
an episcopal form of government. It was formed early
in the church when in the Roman empire one bishop [EPISKOPOS] out
of a group of local churches rose to the top and became first among equals.
Before long that developed into a hierarchical system where there were pastors,
and then over the pastors one person who would then would be called the bishop.
That eventually developed into the system seen in the Roman Catholic church, and it is basically the system seen in the Episcopal
church, and to some degree in the Methodist church. The second form of
government is usually referred to as simply elder rule of Presbyterian
government, from the Greek word PRESBUTEROS [presbuteroj] which is another word used to refer to the pastor. In 1 Timothy 3:1
Paul uses the term EPISKOPOS [e)piskopoj], which emphasises his function as an overseer. In
Titus he uses the term PRESBUTEROS, a term which means older in age but also refers to
somebody who is more mature spiritually. So there is another group of people
who take this word out and translate it as “elder,” and they emphasize this
role of the pastor. The problem with the way many elder governments are set up
is that the other elders think that they have more authority than the pastor,
and he becomes not first among equals but one among equals, just another “one
of the guys.” He is no longer the elder, you don’t have any one person leading
the congregation, it is basically leadership by committee.
The third governmental approach is congregational government. As the word
indicates it is where the congregation tends to have a larger role in decision making
than in an elder government.
What is the relationship of the pastor
to the authority of the congregation?
1)
The
pastor-teacher is the leader of the congregation. That is the emphasis in POIMAINOS [poimhnoj] as a pastor—a shepherd. A shepherd leads the sheep. He
leads the congregation in the teaching of the Word of God. As such he is under the
authority of the local board only in a sort of secondary or derivative way.
2)
He is not to be
viewed as an employee of the board or the congregation. Along with this same
point we must realize that a church doesn’t pay a pastor in the same sense that
a person is paid for the jobs he does. A pastor is serving the Lord Jesus
Christ and a congregation is giving financially to support the pastor so that
he can spend his time studying and teaching and not be distracted by other
events in life. When that money leaves the hand and hits the offering plate or
box, it is no longer yours or the pastors, it is the Lord’s.
3)
That brings us to
the third part of verse 1: “stewards of the mysteries of God.” That has to do
with the teaching of doctrine. A pastor teacher is an administrator of the
mystery doctrine of the church age.