May I Speak to the Pastor?

(If you have been reading Trending Topics for very long, you have probably noticed references from denominational sources that use the term “pastor” to refer to the minister or preacher in the local congregation. As a discerning reader, you know that the general meaning behind such use in articles from sources outside the brotherhood are referring to the preacher and not an elder.  A preacher can serve as an elder if qualified and if the congregation supports that arrangement, but in general, the preacher is not a “pastor” in the biblical sense).


     It would be considered an unusual week for the church office not to receive a call from someone asking to speak to a “pastor.”  The titles of “reverend” and “pastor” are liberally applied when someone speaks to a preacher.  What's the problem?  Most people seem to believe that they are showing respect to those who minister on a full-time basis.  Is it being too critical to call attention to the fact that the terms “reverend” and “pastor” are misused and misapplied (Matthew 23:8-10)?  Where is the New Testament passage authorizing use of the term “pastor” or “reverend” being applied to preachers of the gospel?  We should be interested in calling Bible things by Bible names and that includes using the appropriate, Scriptural designations.  
     Three passages contribute to a clarification on the use of the term “pastor.” “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28, NASB).  “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11, NKJV). “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly” (1 Peter 5:1-2, ESV).

• A shepherd, one who tends herds or flocks (not merely one who feeds them), is used metaphorically of Christian ‘pastors,’ Ephesians 4:11.  Pastors guide as well as feed the flock; Acts 20:28, which, with verse 17, indicates that this was the service committed to elders (overseers or bishops); so also in 1 Peter 5:1, 2, ‘tend the flock...exercising the oversight,’ this involves tender care and vigilant superintendence.(1)  

     The noun poimen (pastor) has a corresponding verb, poimaino (shepherd) in Acts 20:28. The one who does the work of feeding/shepherding is a poimen (i.e., the one who does the work of shepherding is a shepherd or pastor).  Who is it that does the work of “shepherding the flock”?   The elders, shepherds/overseers in the local congregation of the church of Christ.
     J. W. McGarvey addressed this misunderstanding back in 1870.  

• The evidence that this term designates the overseers or elders is conclusive and may be briefly stated. The Greek term for shepherd is poimeen, and the verb poimaino means to do the work of a shepherd. Now, he to whom this verb applies is a shepherd, just as he who sows is a sower, he who reaps is a reaper, he who speaks is a speaker, he who sings is a singer, etc., etc. But Paul exhorts the overseers in Ephesus “to be shepherds to the church” Acts 20:28, and Peter exhorts the elders of the churches to which he writes, “Be shepherds to the flock of God which is among you, and promises that when the 'chief Shepherd' shall appear, they shall receive a crown of glory. They then, were shepherds and Christ the Chief Shepherd.”  The term pastor, the Latin for shepherd, has come into common use from the influence of the Latin version of the Scriptures. There is one all-sufficient reason for preferring our own Anglo-Saxon term 'shepherd'. It is found in the fact that 'pastor' has become perverted by sectarian usage, and designates in popular phraseology, an entirely different office from the one to whom it is applied in the Scriptures. It has become a synonym for a settled preacher, and is often used for the purpose of distinguishing the preacher from those who are scripturally called the 'pastors' of the church. It will perhaps be impossible to recover the term from this abuse, and therefore, it is better to throw it away. Another good reason for preferring 'shepherd' is, that its primary meaning is familiar to the most illiterate reader, and the metaphor by which the overseer is thus styled is perfectly intelligible to every one; whereas, the term 'pastor' is known to the masses only in its appropriated sense (2) 

     It is one thing for individuals who are ignorant or indifferent to the teaching of the Scriptures on the meanings of words as meant to be used by God to call a preacher “reverend” or “pastor” and quite another when members of the church who should know better than to utter these titles when referring to a preacher of the gospel.
   
Steve Miller

1.  Vine, W.E.  Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.
2.  McGarvey, John William. A Treatise on the Eldership: A Series of Editorial Articles Originally Published in the Apostolic Times. Cincinnati: Bosworth, 1870. Repr., Murfreesboro, TN: DeHoff, 1956, 14-15