“It was [Christ] who gave some to be … pastors and teachers, to prepare  God’s people  for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all…become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
– Eph. 4:11-13^[1]All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Introduction^[2]My aim in a February 1992 Doctor of Ministry seminar was to help students apply principles of educational psychology to the pastor’s role as teacher in a local church. The class consisted of pastors Robert Carter, John Brady, David Hixon, Steve Washburn, Dennis Suhling, Rick Atkinson, and missionaries David Borgan, Alvin Gary, and Virgil Suttles. After a careful analysis of educational psychology in the class, each wrote an exegesis of Ephesians 4:11-16. While the outline of this article is mine, their insights concerning the “pastor as teacher” were invaluable and are referenced throughout. this material comes from William R. Yount, “The Pastor as Teacher” in The Teaching Ministry of the Church: Integrating Biblical Truth with Contemporary Application, Ed. Daryl Eldridge Copyright 1995 Broadman and Holman Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

What is the role of the pastor? Some say the pastor is primarily a prophet, proclaiming the Word of God. Others say a shepherd, nurturing and protecting  the church. Still others  say a leader, managing and administrating the work of the church. Each has its importance, but church leaders must balance all three if congregations are to grow in a healthy way. Yet underlying all these roles is the fundamental calling of the pastor: to “equip the saints for works of service.” that is, to teach.

But the random noise of secular success models threatens to drown out the steady heartbeat of teaching. John Brady stated the problem well:

In North Carolina 70 percent of the Baptist churches have been declining for ten years.^[3]Bobby Stafford, Memo to Associational Missions Development Directors, March 29, 1992. The problem is the result of a failure to do what the church was designed to do. The church must actively bring the truth of God’s Word and the needs of people together, so that God’s Spirit may bring the new life needed. This sounds simple. So, what’s the problem?

The church is sick. This results from what  Dallas Willard calls the “Great Omission from the Great Commission.”^[4]Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988), 15. The third command of the Great Commission “teaching them all things what­ soever I have commanded you” has been omitted from serious application by the modern church. There are grand plans for evangelization and stewardship but rarely is anything but lip service paid  to discipleship ….

The Great Commission calls the church to make disciples. Disciples cannot be disciples unless they are taught the disciplines of the Christian life. The great omission leaves the Great Commission task half done. John Wesley saw this problem. “It was a common saying among Christians of the primitive church ‘The soul and body make a man; the spirit and discipline make a Christian;’ implying that none could be real Christians without the help  of Christian discipline.”

In recent years the church has done what it seems to do best-follow the world’s  lead. The pastor may be more directed by a business suit than a shepherd’s heart. The CEO’s power may be more the goal than the teacher’s vision of changed lives. The models we are following seem drastically out of balance with the biblical model for church life. In Ephesians 4:11-16 we find a clear statement of the biblical model for church life.^[5]John Brady, “The Pastor as Teacher,” D.Min. Seminar in Educa­tional Psychology, April 5, 1992.

It is this biblical model of the pastor-teacher  that we seek to develop here, but this material is  not for pastors only. Any minister who teaches in a Christian context must also be a pastor to those he teaches. Every staff minister is called to be a pastor­ teacher. Every lay leader who is called of God to teach others serves best as pastor-teacher. Paul, an excellent teacher himself, wrote that Christ gives gifts to the church with pastor-teachers  who prepare others for kingdom service. First, will follow Paul’s emphasis on teaching. Then the  article will tum to his emphasis on teaching as a primary task for ministers.

 

Paul’s View of Teaching

Paul was a teacher at heart. The great teacher Gamaliel thoroughly trained Paul in Rabbinic Law (Acts 22:3).^[6]Not only did Paul know the Old Testament as a devout Jew might know it, he was a trained Rabbi and he knew the Old Testament as a Rabbi knew it. He knew not only the Old Testament; he also knew the special traditions of the Rabbis. William Barclay, The Mind of St. Paul (London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1958), 13-14. After Paul was converted, but while he was still a virtual unknown, Barnabas brought Paul to Antioch from Tarsus. There they “met with the church and taught great numbers of people” (Acts 11:25- 26).

Paul Was Interested in Converts

Though Paul taught large crowds (Acts 13:42- 45; 17:12-13), he was interested in converts. Paul’s personal notes at the end of his letter to the  Romans show the concern and care he had for  those he brought to the Lord. His missionary jour­ neys were much more than traveling gospel shows. As F. B. Meyer wrote, “All the fruit [Paul] gathered was hand-picked. He was more fond of the hand­ net than the sieve.”^[7]F. B. Meyer, Paul: Servant of Jesus Christ (London: Lakeland Press, 1968), 131. His aim was to draw, to win,  to establish, to equip, and to mature converts one by one.

Paul Discipled New Converts

Paul selected a few men to train more exten­ sively for the ministry. John Mark, Silas, Titus, and Timothy are all prominent examples of Paul’s personal touch. Other co-workers with Paul  include Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Justus, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas (Col. 4:7-14).

Paul’s Emphasis on “Living in Christ”

One can find the key to Paul’s teaching in his thoughts concerning Jesus Christ, aptly expressed by his frequently repeated phrase “in Christ.”^[8]Richard Longnecker, The Ministry and Message of Paul (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1971), 89. Jesus taught that true life grows from living in union with him (John 15:1-8). Paul expressed the same truth: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Teaching  that is Christian must have Christ at its center.

Paul Taught by Personal Example

Paul did far more than tell converts how to live. He showed them how to live a Christ-centered life and encouraged them to imitate him. To the Corinthians he said, “I urge you to imitate me” ( 1 Cor. 4:16). To the Philippians, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you” (Phil 3:17).

Paul Taught in a Variety of Situations

Paul taught in the synagogue, by the riverside, in prisons,  in the marketplace,  on a hilltop, in a school, from a staircase, in a council chamber, in the courtroom, on shipboard, and in a public dwelling in Rome. He taught in public and private and from house to house. In the groups he taught were Hebrews, Greek, Romans, barbarians, friends, enemies, and strangers; there were philosophers, soothsayers, orators, jailers, prisoners, slaves, the sick; soldiers and sailors; women, devout, honor­ able and industrious; rulers, magistrates, governors; a king and a queen. His life was one teaching experience.^[9]Carl Collins, Jr., Paul as a Leader (New York: Exposition Press, 1955), 104.

Paul Established Churches as Teaching Stations

He expected believers to reach and  teach others. Paul wrote to Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” ( 2 Tim. 2:2).

Paul  Sent “Teaching Letters” to Churches

Paul’s letters discussed the current situations in the churches, and gave specific advice. Particularly, his last letters contained specific directions for organization, government, and worship.^[10]Arthur Leacock, Studies in the Life of St. Paul (New York: Interna­tional Committee, 1964), 6-12.

Paul Was a Deep Thinker and Philosopher

Before being trained by Gamaliel in Rabbinical Law, it is probable that Paul attended what one would call the university in his home town of Tar­sus (Acts 9:11). This school surpassed all others of its day in the study of philosophy and educational literature.^[11]Rohen E. Speer, Studies of the Man Paul (New York: Fleming H. Revel Company, 1947), 19-20. His writings certainly reflect his depth of thought, so much so that even the apostle  Peter admits that some of Paul’s writing is hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:15-16).

Paul Was a Practical Problem-Solver

Though Paul was a philosopher, he was no abstract theoretician, weaving an obscure, intangi­ble, religious philosophy. His teaching and his writings provided specific, practical, realistic, func­tional advice for living “in Christ.” His topics covered a large number of subjects: unity in the church, reliance on the Spirit, serving Christ, renouncing immorality, advice on marriage and family relationships, the proper use of liberty and spiritual gifts, bearing one another’s burdens, Christian stewardship, living like Christ, deacons, widows, apostasy, and discipline.

Paul Emphasized the Work and Power of Holy Spirit

Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit sets us free from sin and death (Rom. 8:2); gives us righteousness, peace and joy (Rom. 14:17); sets us apart for God’s use  (Rom. 15:16); justifies  us in the name of Jesus (1 Cor. 6:11); brands us as God’s own (Eph. 1:3); helps us know God better (Eph. 1:17); reveals the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4-6; Col.  1:27); gives joy (1 Thess. 1:6); helps  to guard  sound teaching  (1 Tim. 1:13-14); and is the agent by which God washes  and renews us (Titus 3:3-6).

Paul Emphasized Prayer

Because of Paul’s conviction concerning the power and work of Holy Spirit, he believed any training program would be incomplete without prayer. He prayed for his trainees (Phil. 1:3-8; 1 Thess. 3:9-10).

Paul Stressed Spiritual Growth

Finally, Paul was more interested in the spiritual growth, or maturity, of the church than he was in mere numbers. This article’s focal passage rein­ forces repeatedly the importance of maturity over mere size. This is the essence of Paul’s Ephesian treatise on church growth. The remainder of the material analyzes the role of pastor-teachers in promoting spiritual growth in congregations.

 

The Pastor-Teacher

General Qualifications

Paul expected believers to “live a life worthy of the calling” they had received (Eph. 4:1; see also Col. 1:10). Their faith was not some appendage to add to their own system of values and lifestyle. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:.19-20). Believers are to be “completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Eph. 4:2). Not arrogant, not mean-spirited, not hot-tempered. Believers are to bear with, or in today’s language, “put up with” other believers in love.

Believers  are to “make every  effort  to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3 ). Struggle to keep peace. Wrestle with the forces that would divide believers into camps. Warfare among believers never comes from Holy Spirit, but  is always of the flesh  (Gal. 5:19-23).  This unity belongs to the body, or the community of believers (Eph. 4:4), and is based on our unified hope in Christ: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph.  4:5-6).

What is the purpose of our unity? So that we can each one use our personal (“to each one of us” v.7) gifts together, so that we will no longer live like Gentiles or hardhearted, sensuous, ignorant pagans (see vv. 17-19).

Since believers are expected to live worthy of the Lord, to be humble, gentle, patient, forbearing, loving, peaceful and united, then their leaders should reflect these characteristics even more.  “Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:3).

The Pastor-Teacher is a Member of a Team

Paul says that Christ gave four kinds of gifted leaders to the church: apostles, prophets, evange­lists, and pastors and teachers.

Apostle means “one sent out.” Originally, Jesus sent out  the Twelve-eleven  of whom  were eye-witnesses of the resurrection. But the New Testament recorded others who were also sent out into pioneer work. Paul first gives “some apos­tles”-not the Twelve, but apostles like “the apos­tles” Barnabas and Paul (Acts 14:14) who are sent forth to plant the Gospel for the first time in a place.^[12]Dale Moody, Christ and the Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1963), 93. The modem term from the Latin transla­tion of apostolos is “missionaries,” ones who are sent out with the specific purpose of establishing new churches ….

Prophet means “Speakers for God and Christ.” This involves not only foretelling but forthtelling the truth of the Gospel. Robertson writes, “Prophets are needed today if men will let God’s Spirit use them, men moved to utter the deep things of God.”^[13]A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament Vol 5 (Nash­ville: Broadman Press, 1931), 174.

Evangelist  means  “Bearers of the Good  News” those who have the gift of calling others to Christ. “These men traveled from place to place to preach the Gospel and win the lost (Acts 8:26-40; 21:28) …. The apostles and prophets laid the foundation of the church, and the evangelists built upon it by winning the lost to Christ.”^[14]Warren Wiersbe, Be Rich: Are You Losing the Things that Money Can’t Buy? (Wheaton, IL: SP Publications), 101.

The term “pastors and teachers,” focused upon here, requires more analysis. Are “pastors and · teachers” one group or two? Guthrie and Motyer wrote,

The construction of the phrase pastors  and teachers with one definite article covering both words suggests that there were two functions shared by the same individuals whose chief task is described in Acts 20:28. These men would be local congregational leaders in charge of established churches brought into existence by the preaching of the apostles and others.^[15]Guthrie, D. and Motyer, J. A. The New Bible Commentary, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970).

Curtis Vaughan wrote that “pastors and  teach­ers” constitute one office with a dual function. The two functions are combined in one person.^[16]W. Curtis Vaughan, The Letter to the Ephesians (Nashville: Con­vention Press, 1963), 91. Marcus Barth noted that “Often the word [‘and’]  has the meaning ‘that is’ or ‘in particular’ and indicates that the ‘shepherds’ and ‘teachers’ are viewed as one common group, i.e., ‘teaching shepherds.”^[17]As quoted by Fritz Rienecker, Linguistic Key to the Greek New Tes­tament , trans. and ed. Cleon L. Rogers, Jr. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1980), 531. John Brady adds:

This connects Paul’s teaching with the instructive God of the Old Testament who David called my Shepherd. Our Lord’s exam­ple gave Paul a key to the health of the church, a teaching shepherd. Therefore the biblical model for leadership in each congre­gation is the pastor/teacher.^[18]Brady, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

Steve Washburn noted the term  “pastor” (poimen, “to protect”)^[19]Robertson, 537. refers to the shepherding role of the minister. Jesus is the Model (John 10:11). “As shepherds of Jesus’ flocks, pastors are to love and nurture and meet the needs of their congregations.”^[20]Steve Washburn, “The Pastor as Teacher,” D. Min. Seminar in Educational Psychology, April 5, 1992.

Also, pastors are to be “able to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2). Again, Jesus is the Model. Washburn further wrote,

It is enormously significant that the only time the term pastor is used to describe the spiritual gifts given to undershepherds of the churches, it is directly connected to the gift of teaching: pastors and teachers.^[21]Ibid.

David Hixon reflected his understanding of Paul when he remarked  that the

…pastor’s primary role according to Eph­esians 4 is not to be preacher, or an evange­list, or a counselor. His primary responsibility is to equip or to prepare God’s people to do the work. The church needs to grow and mature through the ministry of the laity and not primarily through,the works of the paid staff.^[22]David Hixon, “The Pastor as Teacher” D. Min. Seminar in Educational Psychology, April 5, 1992.

Richard Atkinson wrote, ‘”Feeding the  sheep’ means teaching them, nurturing them, equipping them. The very nature of the pastor’s role is that of  a teacher.”^[23]Richard Atkinson, “The Pastor as Teacher,” D. Min. Seminar in Educational Psychology, April 5, 1992. Alvin Gary summarized the role of the minister, the pastor-teacher, as one who “protects and instructs” the flock under his care.^[24]Alvin Gary, “The Pastor as Teacher,” D.Min. Seminar in Educational Psychology, April 5, 1992. Robertson adds his exclamation point: “It is a calamity when the preacher is no longer a teacher, but only an exhorter.”^[25]Robertson, 174.

 

The Goal of the Pastor-Teacher

What do pastor-teachers do?

Why does Jesus give pastor-teachers to the church? Paul says the pastor-teachers are to “prepare God’s people for works of service” (Eph. 4:12a). Or, as the King James expresses it: to “equip the saints.” The word “pre­pare” means “to mend, to complete, to fit out, to make one what he ought to be.”^[26]E. Y. Mullins, Studies in Ephesians (Nashville: Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1935), 96. This term is used in Matthew 4:21 to refer to mending nets. Robert Carter wrote “the pastor-teacher sees the goal of his ministry to be, not teaching a great lesson to people, but teaching people to be great.”^[27]Robert Carter, “The Pastor as Teacher,” D. Min. Seminar in Educational Psychology, April 5, 1992.

Teaching people to be great in what way?

The focus of equipping is “works of service [diakonia].” Literally, the word means “waiting at tables.” The term came to mean any discharge of service in genuine love for the Christian commu­nity’s benefit.^[28]Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, eds. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, Vol 2, trans. and ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964), 87. The Lord’s call to every believer  is  to serve him and others. Each believer has gifts given by the Lord to enhance the work of the Church. Human nature’s call, however, is to personal convenience and personal comfort. The pastor-teacher lives in the gulf between the Lord’s will and individual human wills in the church. He calls out the called and equips them to use their gifts effectively. As Smart said, “The pastor who refuses to get involved in the personal aspects of teaching is like a farmer who simply scatters seed and refuses to do anything else to encourage a successful harvest.”^[29]James Smart, Teaching Ministry of the Church (Philadelphia: West­ minster Press, 1954).

The Result?

And what is the result of preparing or equipping God’s people for works of service? “…so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Eph. 4:12b). The body of Christ is the church (Col. 1:18, 24). What does “may be built up” mean? Does this mean numerical growth, helping the church to get big­ ger? Not primarily, for the term has the meaning of edifying (Rom. 14:19; 1Cor. 14:5), or strengthen­ing (Rom. 15:2; 1Car. 14:26), or benefiting (Eph. 4:29). The result of this may certainly include numerical growth, but the emphasis is on strengthening, benefiting, edifying the church body. Washburn remarked, “If this one simple truth were embraced by many struggling pastors, it would transform their ministries.”^[30]Washburn, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

One major stumbling block for contemporary pastors is the fear of losing control over the congre­gation. As one pastor remarked, “Someone has to be in charge. It might as well be me!” Following society’s values, pastors may seek, like powerful corporate executives, to pull to themselves all the power they can in order to effect their wills over their congregations. Brady wrote,

The model of the teaching shepherd seeks to empower the disciple to follow Christ and to be involved in discipling others. Often power has been carefully guarded as something that cannot be shared. “If you share, then you have less.” This is a false assumption. Empowering another enhances the one who empowers.^[31]Brady, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

How long?

How long do we focus on church maturity? Do we focus on preparing God’s people in ministry at the beginning, and then use our equipped members to do what’s really important: big crowds, budgets, staffs’ and prestige? No we do not. Paul said we are to focus on equipping the saints “Until we all reach unity  in the faith and  in the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph. 4:13a).  The pastor-teacher’s  goal is for “the whole congregation [to] believe the same thing in and about the Son of God.”^[32]David Suhling, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992. Paul’s term “knowledge” [epignosis] does not refer to mere infor­mation about Jesus. The term stresses the experien­tial knowledge of knowing Christ by being yoked with him (“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” Matt. 11:29) and living in union with him (John 15:4-5). This was Paul’s passion for himself (Phil. 3:12-14), and as we see here, the church  at large.

Notice that a significant part of this experiential knowledge comes to individuals by participating in the body, living in community with each other. The focus of this entire passage is the unity and community of the church. Believers will not develop fully as long as individuals hold to a “me and Jesus” piety. Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father,” not “My Father.”

The focus of this development is spiritual  maturity: “and become  mature.” Paul used this same term to mean “full-grown” in his letter to the Colossians: “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect (teleios) in Christ” (Col. 1:28). Paul had no thought of church size or numerical growth rate in his plea for the Ephesian church to grow. His emphasis was the maturity of  the body which comes as believers are equipped in ministry and united in their faith and knowledge of Christ.

How mature?

How mature must the church become? How long do pastor-teachers  teach and equip? When can pastor-teachers move on to other matters “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13b)? Paul’s goal for the church  was nothing short of the maturity of Jesus Christ. When the body is united and as mature as the Lord Jesus, then the work of pastor-teachers is complete.

Our present obsession with numerical growth rates and “ten more next Sunday” has dangerous implications for church maturity. When evange­lism outruns discipleship, converts’ growth in the Lord is stunted. A church filled with carnal Chris­tians cannot fulfill its mission.

This is not to denigrate evangelism, or retreat from the task of reaching the whole world for Christ. The fact is, though, that the world will be reached only by equipped and mature churches. Paul’s emphasis was maturity, not numerical growth. The result of Paul’s personal teaching in Ephesus was missionary activity throughout its region which established churches in Hierapolis, Colossae, and Laodecia.^[33]”[In the synagogue in Ephesus], in the cool and shadowed interior, [Paul’s] congregation sits on little stone benches. Timotheus and Titus and Priscilla have brought them hither. Most of the listeners are Jews, such as have not been frightened away by his strange doctrine, but have, on the contrary, found in it consolation and strength and hope. Some of them have already accepted baptism. There are Ephesians among the lis­teners, but there are also visitors from towns nearby, merchants who, having heard strange reports of a wonderful message, have come to hear for themselves. They come from Colossae, from Laodecia, and from Hieropolis. What they have heard they will carry forth from Ephesus, even as they carry their merchandise; and as they sell the latter, they will distribute the former. They will found new congregations and churches of believers, which will grow into one great organization with the church of Ephesus as its center.” Sholem Asch, The Apostle (New York: G. P. Put­ man’s Sons, 1934), 515-16. And Paul’s emphasis of maturity so changed Asia Minor that some two hundred years later, the pagan temples were largely empty. The pagans had become Christians. The emphasis is growing up in Christ; the effect is healthy numerical growth. To reverse this order, to place emphasis more on numerical growth than the maturing of the church, is to open the church to strife, division, and ruin.^[34]Even a cursory reading of Joel Gregory’s book Too Great a Temptation: The Seductive Power of America’ s Super Church (Fort Worth, The Summit Group, 1994)-particularly his discussion of “The Pastor as Mas­ter” (319ff) and his comparison/contrast of the Church and the Kingdom of God (324ff)-underscores the Golden Calf of Pastor Power.

Today’s emphasis on giving the babyboomer worship consumer what he wants would invite a rebuke from Paul, who wrote pastor Timothy, (with this author’s emphasis  noted),

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encour­age-with great patience and careful instruc­tion. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to  say what their itching ears want to  hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Tim. 4:2-4 ).

The Results of the Work of the Pastor-Teacher

What happens in a congregation that grows according to Paul’s pattern? “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning  and  craftiness  of men in their deceitful scheming” (Eph 4:14). Believers will put away the instability, fickleness, and gullibility that mark the immature. When  Paul says we will “no longer be infants,” he is attacking the “fickleness of children’s volatile moods, shifting like a kaleidoscope, dazzled by the first glittering bauble or flimsy distraction that catches their eye.”^[35]E. K. Simpson, “Commentary on the Epistle of the Ephesians,” in Ephesians and Colossians, 11-157, New International Commentary on the New Testament, Vol. 9 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980), 98.  Such infants are “tossed back and forth by the waves,” unstable in their thinking and believ­ing. They are “blown here and there by every wind of teaching,” fickle in their convictions and confused by false teaching. They are gullible, swallowing fraudulent claims and deceptive promises by the “cunning and craftiness of men in deceitful scheming.” The term “cunning” [kubia] refers to playing with dice, trickery, or fraud. This deception is intentional and designed by evil men.^[36]Hixon, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992. “Craftiness” [panougria] literally means “readiness to do anything”^[37]Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Chris­tian Literature, 2d English ed., revised and augmented by F. Wilbur Gin­ grich and Frederick W. Danker from Walter Bauer’s 5th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press), 613. and implies a trap (“unable to trap him,” Luke 20:26) or being “led astray” (2 Cor.  11:3). “Deceitful scheming” [methodeia] has the positive meaning of “handling according to plan,” but came to mean “handling craftily, overreaching, deceiving.”^[38]TDNT, Vol. 5, 102. Paul used the same term in chapter six when he wrote, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Eph. 6:11).

Gary wrote,

Pastors who use their gift for instructing the flock in truth and who emphasize disciple­ ship in their ministries will provide protec­tion from heretical teaching. They will help church members examine truth, become settled in the truth, and hold fast to the truth.^[39]Gary, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

Hixon wrote, “Many of our people are seduced by false teachers because we, as pastors, have not done our job in growing them up in Christ Jesus. Discipleship is the key to avoiding an infantile ministry.”^[40]Hixon, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

Suhling remarked that

…the goal of the teacher is spiritual  maturity in the believer. If this is not achieved, then the result will be that the believer will be like one who is foolish and inexperienced when it comes to doctrine and practice. Indeed, the immature believer will be like a cork tossed about on rough water^[41]James Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sources (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), 332. or a weathervane at the mercy of a hard uncer­tain wind^[42]Greek-English Lexicon, 659. when it comes to believing the right teaching.^[43]Suhling, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

Washburn summarized Paul’s thrust this way:

[There is a] popular new approach to church­manship that strives to appeal to the baby­ boomer church-shoppers by offering the most exciting and joyous worship product in the community market. Laboring to tickle the fancy of the worship experience consumer may fill a pastor’s church with warm bodies, but it does little to foster commitment, involvement, and true discipleship.^[44]Washburn, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

So what alternative did Paul offer? What is the option? “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ (Eph. 4:15). Here is the clincher. Here is the definitive word from Paul on church growth: to “grow up into Him.” Leonard Griffith explained the difference between growing and growing up like this:

Academic learning leads to knowledge, but not necessarily to maturity. Some adults with high IQs remain psychologically children. This is the difference between “growing” and “growing up.” Is the church seeking only to grow or is it growing up?^[45]Leonard Griffith, Ephesians: A Positive Affirmation (Waco: Word Books, 1975), 87.

Gary warned that spiritual growth in the church is hindered if the pastor-teacher is too crowd oriented. “The pastor should follow Jesus’ example of focusing on small groups, and giving in-depth training. Jesus never took pride in huge crowds that followed him. He emphasized quality over numbers.”^[46]Gary, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

Churches grow up in Christ by “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15a). The truth Paul referred to is the gospel, but “speaking the truth” involves much more than saying religious words. Believers cannot speak the truth until they know the truth experientially ( epignosis ). Believers cannot speak the truth effectively until they exercise it in daily living, solving problems biblically. The writer of Hebrews chided his readers on this very point (Heb. 5:11-14).

Those who know the Lord, and have applied his Word as they live are well qualified to speak the truth. But how should the truth  be spoken? What shall be the manner of our speaking? Paul says believers are to “speak the truth in love_” Suhling commented  “Teaching the believer  is not a matter of teaching facts in a cold manner. The truth must be modeled and bathed in the warm embrace of Christ-like love.”^[47]Suhling, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

There are some who know the truth, but have  no love. They tend to be mean-spirited, dogmatic, angry people who use “the truth” like a weapon to intimidate others. They have confused personal arrogance with confidence in the Lord. There are others who love, but have little appreciation for “the truth” as objective reality. They tend to be happy-go-lucky, compliant people who just want everyone to be happy and contented. They cannot understand why anyone would want to fight over something as cold and inflexible as “objective truth.” They have confused fleshly compromise with the Lord’s harmony.

Paul wrote the truly mature in the Lord speak the truth in love. They speak the truth warmly, carefully, patiently, and kindly. They love with integrity, honesty, and sincerity. They are warm, not harsh; caring, not hurting; lifting, not condemning. This was the manner of Jesus’ teach­ ing, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Isa. 42:3; Matt. 12:17-20). Jesus spoke the truth with love, and so should all those who carry his name. The result, as we have noted already, is that “we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).

Paul concluded, “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:16). The body grows because of Christ  (“From him”). The body strengthens itself (“grows and builds itself up”) by being held together-unified. This is an ongoing process. How is this accomplished? This is accom­plished by having “each part of the body function properly in its own sphere.”^[48]Robertson, 539.

The pastor-teacher must focus on building relationships among the members of his congrega­tion. These relationships, wrote Brady, “must be genuine relationships built on honest loving communication that builds a team that works together.”^[49]Brady, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992. Washburn added, “As the pastor­ teacher focuses himself on preparing God’s people individually, lovingly, encouragingly, the body of Christ that he serves will build ‘itself’ up into the fullness of Christ our Lord.”^[50]Steve Washburn, “The Pastor as Teacher,” April 5, 1992.

The Challenge of the Pastor-Teacher

Paul finally described the challenge that pastor­ teachers face as they endeavor to fulfill their task: hardened Gentiles. These pagans had hardened  their hearts toward God, and this had caused them to be separated from life in him. They could not fathom what life in the Lord might mean, because they had been darkened in their understanding (Eph. 4:18). Because they had lost all sensitivity for spiritual things, they indulged themselves in every kind of sensual impurity. But their indulging did not satisfy them, so they became lost in an ever­ increasing cycle of continual lust for more (Eph. 4:19). “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do” (Eph. 4:17).

The community where you serve as pastor­ teacher is populated with some of the same kind of sensual, self-serving Gentiles that lived in Ephesus. Because of a Hellenistic bent deep within Western culture, Americans tend to compartmentalize their lives into separate areas. Home and family, work, school, recreation, friends. American Christians add the compartment of “church,” but many fail to see the connection between what they say and do  at church and the other compartments of  life.

These carnal Christians have not yet grown into a biblical mindset in which the Lord is at the center of life-where all of life revolves around him. So, just as in Corinth and Ephesus, sexual perversion, violence, abuse, and petty power plays face pastor-teachers at every turn. False teachers, magicians, and mesmerizers feed on the church, often from within the body itself.  Hellenistic compartmentalization is common in churches, dividing the body into self-serving blocks of power-Sunday School, missions, music, age groups, deacons, committees, and special interests. Pastor-teachers who empha­size unity of the whole body can be perceived as self-serving. The logic of turf protectors^[51]Turf protectors are leaders who use whatever power they have to promote their agenda, their organization, their committee, their class­ to the detriment of others and the fragmentation of the church. Some do this unintentionally and may consider themselves nothing more than committed workers. Others use their organizations as a means of promoting their own ego and widening their influence. goes like this: “leaders who will not promote my interests over the interests of other groups are really acting against me.” If many lay leaders fall prey to this  line of reasoning, there is no way pastor-teachers can succeed. They are always seen as self-serving by one group or another. This fragmentation pulls at leaders as each part demands attention and promo­tion over the others, and attack leaders when their demands are not satisfied. The church grows increasingly unteachable as Satan builds a wedge between pastor-teachers and the body. This is why the writer of Hebrews cautioned the  church:

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be no advantage to you (Heb. 13:17).

This is in no way a license for pastor-teachers to lord it over the body.^[52]Gregory described a meeting of some of the SBC’s inner circle of pastors (whom he names) like this: “These pastors were not in the habit of interference from laymen in their churches. They ruled like kings” (p. 230). One can have difficulty understanding this in light of Jesus’s com­mand and Baptist congregational authority. But Gregory lays the problem at the feet of the mega-church, a crossroads “where the Way of the Cross intersects the American dream-Via Delarosa at Wall Street” (p. 1). Jesus’ directive stands:

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with  you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and who­ ever wants to be first must be your slave (Matt. 20:25-27).

Peter underscored it: “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care…not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:2-3). When leaders function as biblical pastor-teachers  (rather than self-serving tyrants) and when the congregation submits to the leader­ ship of the pastor-teacher (rather than assuming ill motives behind every move) then the body is free  to progress. But such an ideal state is seldom achieved for very long. Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” ( 1 Pet. 5:8b). Misunderstandings, rumors, and malicious perceptions persist even under the best pastor­ teachers. Therefore, Peter warns us to be “self­ controlled and alert” (1 Pet. 5:8a). Paul told us, as well as the Ephesians, to “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything,  to stand” (Eph. 6:13).

 

Are All Ministers Pastor-Teachers?

We have focused on those called by God to be undershepherd, or pastor, of a local congregation. There are lessons here also

for any who are called to lead or teach in the church-whether they be vocational or lay minis­ ters, ordained or not.

Ministers of education are called to work with church educational programs. But the effective minister of education will serve as a pastor-teacher, protecting his educational flock and teaching workers at all levels of leadership how to use their gifts more effectively. Ministers of music, youth, children, counseling, or recreation can all benefit from Paul’s view of the pastor-teacher. Our first calling is to be ministers: to protect and instruct. Then comes our area of specialization.

Every leader in the church—deacon, Sunday School teacher, committee chair, or program direc­tor would serve more effectively if they saw themselves as pastor-teachers of the groups they lead. The church grows stronger as these lay pastor­ teachers learn how to give and take with other leaders in the church. As each leader emphasizes the whole above their own small area, they become a “supporting ligament” helping the whole to be built up (Eph. 4:16). Turf protectors care only for their own areas and use whatever means to build them up, even to the detriment of other areas and   of the whole. This is the work of the flesh (“selfish ambition, dissensions, factions,” Gal. 5:20) born in the heart of Satan to hinder the Lord’s work  through his churches. In light of the rampant “me­ first” philosophy in our society, the greatest chal­lenge facing pastor-teachers today is helping lay leaders understand the destructiveness of self­ serving turf, and leading believers to love one another in the practical day-to-day life of the church.

 

Conclusion

Note that Paul laid out in this passage the character, the work, and the fruit of the pastor-teacher: as to character, becoming like Christ; as to work, enabling believers to be ministers by winning them, protecting them and instructing them; as to fruit, cultivating spiritual maturity in learners particularly and in the church at large.

Thus this selected treatise from Paul on healthy church growth and the work of the pastor-teacher provides wonderful word pictures for our own day: believers equipped and equipping to work together in the ministry, carrying out the Great Commis­sion, reaching their world for Christ, and “teaching them to obey everything” Jesus commanded us (Matt. 28:20); churches living out the truth of the gospel in loving ministry; being devoid of petty strife or division because of growing in Christ.

A navigator guides an ocean liner to a distant port and back again by taking bearings from the North star. The ship never reaches the star, but it does reach home safely. So Paul has given us a North Star for pastor-teachers to navigate congre­gations toward healthy church growth. We may never reach the ideal he has given us. By properly charting our course, however,we  can avoid the shallow reefs of immaturity, the storms of sensuality, and the tidal waves of conflict and divi­sion. Thus, we can make our way safely home, becoming congregations which possess the qualities of Jesus, sharing those qualities in ministry to one another, the local community, and the world at large. Oh, Lord Jesus, make it sol