Eric Carpenter from A Pilgrim’s Progress thinks something is missing from Scripture and I agree.

When we read the bible, it’s fascinating to find that something is missing that we probably would not expect. What’s missing? The answer is that when the church gathers together, preaching is missing.

His writing is probably much better, much softer, much more humble than I could write about the same topic. You can tell he has put a lot of thought into this idea. The idea that there is no model for “preaching” when the Church gathers together.

As I do, Eric, rejects the belief that Acts 2-4, 20:7, Timothy 4:2 or even the Old Testament can be used to support our modern tradition.

So, what does this mean? How should we respond to this idea?

I have not done a Words Not Found in Scripture post in a while, so I decided to pull out a quick one for everyone. Today I would like to talk a little bit about the word “pastor”. In the modern Evangelical Christian Church the Pastor is basically the CEO. He runs the show, his vision is cast and the people are expected to follow. We as Christians put a lot of faith in our pastors… which is a little scary, considering the word only occurs in our English translations one time – and probably should not occur at all!

According to Merriam-Webster the word “pastor” is defined as…

A spiritual overseer; especially : a clergyman serving a local church or parish

The English word is dated to around 14th century and is used once in the entire Bible (NASB). The Greek word it is translating is ποιμην (poimen). According to BDAG ποιμην means:

1. one who herds sheep, shepherd, sheep-herder
2. one who serves as guardian or leader, shepherd

The Greek word actually occurs 18 times in the New Testament. The majority of those times is in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In these books the word is used to refer to actual shepherds, sometimes the word is used in a parable spoken by Jesus, and sometimes the word is used to refer to Jesus himself (as the shepherd gathering his sheep).

The word occurs three times outside of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John:

1. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers… – Ephesians 4:11
2. Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant… – Hebrews 13:20
3. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. – 1 Peter 2:25

As you can see two of the three times are referring to Jesus (once as the “great” Shepherd).

What do we do with Ephesians 4:11?

I think the word in Ephesians 4:11 would be better translated as “shepherds”. Especially since it is translated as “shepherd” every other place in the New Testament. I find it interesting that Paul mentions a few types of people God has put in our lives to help equip us to serve — Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds (Pastors), and Teachers. Ephesians 4:11 is the only time that we see ποιμην being used to describe a type of Christian. Regardless, we seem to ignore several of these types and focus on the one we know (and understand) the least about — Pastors.

If pastors are the shepherds of Jesus’ church, then they should be the ones who reflect Jesus’ shepherding the most. Jesus was a far cry from the CEO’s of today’s churches.

What do you think a Christian shepherd should look like?

What is said and done behind a pulpit is serious business to the average churcher. Sometimes you might hear someone say, “Can you believe what he said behind the pulpit?” [1] Another may believe that the pulpit is a ministry that is “absolutely essential to the vitality and health of the church as a whole. ” [2] Some even believe that a pulpit shows our dependence on God and his Scriptures. [3, 4] I could go on and on about what people see the pulpit as; or believe what the pulpit means.

Usually at this point on this series, I would discuss the various mistranslations from the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures or the obvious transliterations. However, I cannot do this for the word “pulpit.” Why? Because there is no word in Scripture, whether old or new, that equates to pulpit. Not a single word, either translated or transliterated, will bring you to our current practice of using a pulpit.

Believe it or not, I have actually heard a “biblical” defense of the pulpit before. There is a single verse in  Scripture, Nehemiah 8:4-8, which reads:

Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. . . . Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. . . . Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with {their} faces to the ground. . . . They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.

I do not believe this is a biblical defense for pulpits though… that’s like saying that we should all use nets because in scripture John used a net.

I’m going to ask you; how did a piece of furniture get so highly elevated in our faith that we frown upon people who misuse (or don’t use) it?

I’ve decided to start a series of some of the theological words and terms that we use in our everyday Christian lives that are not found in Scripture. The first word I want to talk about is “church”. Right now you’re probably screaming that the word “church” (and it’s derivatives) appear 112 times in the New Testament (NASB). Well, many of the words that I am going to talk about are actually all over our English translations. This may sound contradictory, but I assure you it isn’t. Just follow along and you will see what I am talking about.

Because there are words in our Bibles that are not valid translations, it causes confusion and goes against the very nature of scripture. Our Old Testament scriptures were written in Hebrew (and some Aramaic), the language of the Israelites. Our New Testament scriptures were written in what is called “Common Greek”. In other words, our scriptures were written in the languages of the people. Remove ourselves from those languages, put in 2000 years of mixed up Christian history and you get translations and other doctrine that is full of words and terms written for professionally trained or educated individuals.

So, back to the word “church”. What does it mean? Where does it come from? Well, the English word for ‘church’ actually comes from the German word “Kirche” which is a translation of the Greek word “kuriakon”. Kuriakon means “belonging to the Lord” but was eventually used to designate buildings.

So, what’s the problem? Well, I’m not finished yet. You see, the word “church” in the Bible is never being used to translate the word “Kuriakon”. Instead, it’s being used to translate the Greek word “ekklesia”. The word “ekklesia” does not mean “belonging to the Lord” it means “assembly” or “congregation” — that’s it. You see, King James told the translators to use “church” to translate “ekklesia” instead of using “congregation” or “assembly” which was used by some of the earlier translation. Oh, if anyone tells you “ekklesia” means “called out ones” punch them square in the mouth.

The Facts

1. The word “kuriakon” which again means “belonging to the Lord” occurs twice in the New Testament. It is not translated “church” in either case (1 Corinthians 11:20 & Revelation 1:10).
2. The word “church” occurs 112 times in the NASB. It is never a translation of the word “kuriakon” (from which is it derived).
3. The word “ekklesia” occurs 115 times in the New Testament. It is translated “church” 112 times, “congregation” 2 times, and 1 time it is translated “assembly”.

Conclusion

I hope you see where I am going with this. The word “church” does not actually exist, it is meaningless. In fact, it was originally used as a form of deception! We held onto the word because of tradition (and maybe because of more deception). We have used the word “church” to mean the building, the time, pretty much everything except what the Scriptures actually intended. The rest of this series will be about these nonsensical words. Hopefully we will all to stop using them and replace them with words that actually mean what God intended when he inspired these writings.

To launch Dave Black’s new book, Christian Archy, Energion Publications is sponsoring an essay contest. The question at hand: What should a congregation following Jesus Christ in ministry look like?

What a congregation following Jesus Christ in ministry should look like can be a pretty complicated discussion. We have to realize that even the early church had difficulty with this. Many of the letters in the New Testament are corrective in nature. So we should not be surprised to discover that our modern day practices (which are 2000 years removed) may not be as Scriptural as we think. For the sake of simplicity, in this essay I will refer to the “congregation following Jesus Christ in ministry” as the Assembly of Christ. When I envision the Assembly of Christ, what comes to mind is much different than our current practices.

The passage that I think sums up the Assembling of the Church the most is 1 Corinthians 14:26 “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” (ESV) In this letter to the Corinthian Church, Paul is correcting a few misunderstandings that the Corinthians had about their gathering. According to Paul, when the Church assembled they were to have one goal, to build each other up. Paul expected everyone to bring something to the meeting. His non-exhaustive list includes things like, hymns, lessons, revelations, tongues, and interpretations. Today, the Assembly of Christ should also include these same things. Each person in the Assembly should be concerned about building the others up.

In 1 Corinthians 1:12-13, Paul writes, “What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” I believe this passage had multiple applications in our world today. As Christ followers, the Assembly of Christ should not be emphatic about their leaders or their specific teachings. I believe there is a multiple threads weaving through this letter. Paul is telling the Corinthian believers that they should be concerned about building one another up more than dividing over different leaders. Today, the Assembly of Christ should not be worried about worldly qualifications for their leaders, they should also not show concern for differing denominations. The Assembly of Christ will love their brother and sisters in Christ, regardless of who their pastor is, what their denomination is, or any other extra-Biblical qualifications. In fact, I would say that any specific pastor or denomination is merely happen-stance to the Assembly of Christ.

This leads me to 1 Timothy 3:1-7, which is normally referred to as the Pastor Qualifications. The Assembly of Christ will realize that this list does not have anything on it at every Christ follower should not be following. Instead of choosing their leaders based on seminary degrees, previous experience, or any other worldly qualifications. The Assembly of Christ will recognize their leaders internally. Those Christ followers who are already meeting these qualifications (or most of them) will be the ones who are recognized as leaders:

• Above reproach
• The husband of one wife
• Sober-minded
• Self-controlled
• Respectable
• Hospitable
• Able to teach
• Not a drunkard
• Not violent but gentle
• Not quarrelsome
• Not a lover of money

Basically the Assembly of Christ’s leaders are those people who are imitating Christ in their daily walk and lives. Those of us who meet these qualifications are people who can be recognized as leaders. But that does not mean that other Christians should not have characteristics on this list. More importantly, the Assembly of Christ will recognize that Jesus is their true pastor or their “senior pastor”. For he is the only one who can completely fulfill these qualifications and only through him are we able to fulfill any of these qualifications.

When it comes to the Assembly of Christ, it is not all about our meetings, our leaders, our denominations, or our qualifications. A big part of the ministry of Christ is reaching out to our neighbors with the Good News. Although I believe Matthew 28:18-20 is often times over-used or even misused. I believe it is appropriate at this juncture of the discussion. In Matthew 28, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)

When the Assembly of Christ is about building one another up, not dividing over leaders or denominations, focused on recognizing their own leaders, they will inherently be about fulfilling the Great Commission. In fact, I believe following Jesus’ command here may be like second nature to them. They will see the world through His eyes instead of their own. As the Assembly of Christ, reaching our neighbors will not be based on a program, chant, or weekly exercise… it will be according to Christ’s example. Each member in the assembly will recognize their responsibilities, although different, each one has an extremely important role.

The only thing I might add is that the Assembly of Christ should not be defined by a specific group of people (other than Christ followers) or a specific location. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus said “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (ESV) I believe that anytime Christians meet in His name, whether it is a weekly meeting or a casual meeting, they are the Assembly of Christ. The Assembly of Christ can morph and grow and shrink as people come and go, but the Assembly of Christ will always remain the same. When two or three are gathered, it is the Assembly of Christ, when 50-60 are gathered, it is still the Assembly of Christ.

Well, I’ve officially reached over 1000 words in this post. I know I could write much, much more and probably could have organized my thoughts a little better.

There were five requirements for this essay:

1. Biblically rooted
2. Historically aware
3. Complete
4. Clear and Concise
5. Overall impression, including appearance, discussion generated, and anything one of the judges wants to include

I believe I at least met the 1st requirement :).

I hope you enjoyed this essay. Let me know what you think.