Romans 5:18 reads, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”

Romans 10:9-10 reads, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Romans 14:11 read, “For it is written, ‘As I live, says the lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.’”

Philippians 2:9-11 reads, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

I dunno… I know there are many ways to interpret these verses, but I think I may be following C.S. Lewis’ footsteps towards Ultimate Reconciliation or Christian Universalism (depending on how you define those terms).

What are Ordinances?

It’s been a while since I’ve written a Words Not Found in Scripture post… but I still have a list of words that I want to get through. Today’s word is Ordinance. You may have heard this word from time to time while listening to a preacher or perhaps in a business meeting. It is usually coupled with the word “Church” as in “Church Ordinance”.

There are several different ways to define Church Ordinance and the differences largely depend on your religious views. I would say the most global way to define Church Ordinance is a command or ritual that was given to the Church and must be obeyed. The list of ordinances will grow or shrink depending on your religious views. For instance, Baptist commonly hold two church ordinances

1. Believer’s Baptism
2. The Lord’s Supper

From my understanding of Church Ordinances, they are tasks that are given to the church to perform and only by the church can they be performed. So, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism must be administered to the church, by the church. Some might argue that their validity lies in the who is doing it and who is receiving it.

In Catholic circles, Church Ordinances are synonymous with their Sacraments, which are:

1. Baptism
2. Penance (Confession)
3. Holy Eucharist (The Lord’s Supper)
4. Confirmation
5. Matrimony
6. Anointing of the Sick
7. Holy Orders (“Ordination” or recognition of people as “ministers”)

Usually in practice Baptists believe that “Ordination” can only be administered to the church, by the church — but I would doubt they would say it is an Church Ordinance (in the scripture sense). I have also heard of some Baptist theologians who believe that Matrimony is indeed a Church Ordinance.

In practice, we generally look for a single professional to administer these ordinances. In Catholicism, they have Priests who perform these deeds; Baptists usually look toward their Pastor to perform them. Sometimes this changes the definition of Church Ordinance, from “tasks that are given to the church to perform and only by the church can they be performed” to “tasks that are given to the church to perform and only by leaders of the church can they be performed.” I contend that this change can be somewhat detrimental to the heal of the church.

Church Ordinances Are Not Found in Scripture

Of course, most of the things we usually call Church Ordinances or Sacraments can be found in scripture. The Lord’s Supper is very good to recognize, to remember the sacrifice made for us by Jesus. Baptism is a great ritual, as a recognition of the accepting of God’s freely given gift. But these rituals are not commanded, nor are they prescribed, and they are barely even described. Their lack of description is mainly why Catholics believe the Lord’s Supper turns into the physical blood and body of Christ (transubstantiation) and Baptists believe the Lord’s Supper is merely a symbol or memorial to Christ himself. Or why Catholics believe that Infant Baptism is the proper mode and method of Baptism, while Baptists believe that Believers Baptism is the proper mode and method.

One could say that a devout non-believer performing the Lord’s Supper ritual is meaningless and essentially I would agree. However, the examples we have in scripture of the Church performing this ritual does not mean that it was an Ordinance given to the church to perform. It is merely an example of what the Church did to recognize and remember their savior.

Church Ordinances, Are They Found in Scripture?

Ok, so maybe I lied… there is not an official lists of Church Ordinances, but there are some rituals and commands that were given to the church and would be beneficial if we followed them today. I am just not sure that Believer’s Baptism or the Lord’s Supper are them. How about these?

1. Consider One Another (Hebrews 10)
2. Imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11)
3. Rejoice in Jesus (Philippians 3)

What about you, can you think of some Church Ordinances that we ignore?

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?

A couple weeks ago Arthur Sido posted about Academic Responsibility. His post was about a popular Christian History textbook’s misuse of Scripture regarding the description of a “Deacon”. I spent a few moments gathering some data for a comment on his post and felt like “Deacon” should be my next, “Words Not Found in Scripture.”

Deacon is a really good word for this series because it is more than just a meaningless word. In Christendom we have whole theologies built around the idea of the deacon office. But do we really understand what a deacon is? The word “deacon” occurs five times in the NKJV (Philemon 1:1 & 1 Timothy 3:8,10,12,13). However, the word itself is a transliteration of the Greek word, “διακονος”. διακονος (and it’s verb version διακονεω) occur in the New Testament a total of 66 times. Basically, around 7% of the time, the word is transliterated (or added to the translation)… obfuscating the true definition of the word. According to BDAG the meaning of διακονος is:

1. one who serves as an intermediary in a transaction, agent, intermediary, courier
2. one who gets somethign done, at the behest of a superior, assistant

and the meaning of διακονεω (the verb form) is:

1. to function as an intermediary, act as go-between/agent, be at one’s service
2. to perform obligations,
2a. perform duties, render assistance, serve
2b. wait on someone at table
3. to meet an immediate need, help
4. to carry out official duties, minister
5. care for, take care of

The Facts

1. διακονος (n.) occurs in the Greek New Testament 29 times
   • Translated “servant” (and it’s derivatives) 18 times – NKJV.
   • Translated “minister” (and it’s derivatives) 8 times – NKJV.
   • Transliterated “deacon” (and it’s derivatives) 3 times – NKJV.
2. διακονεω (v.) occurs in the Greek New Testament 37 times.
   • Translated “serve” (and it’s derivatives) 20 times – NKJV.
   • Translated “ministered” (and its derivatives) 14 times – NKJV.
   • Translated “administered” twice (2 Corinthians 8:19,20) – NKJV.
   • Translated “provided” once (Luke 8:3) – NKJV.
3. 1 Timothy 3 has the word διακονος twice, in 3:8 and 3:12.
   • Both times it is transliterated as “deacon”, but in 4:6, it is translated as “servant” or “minister”.
4. 1 Timothy 3 has the word διακονεω twice, in 3:10, 3:13.
   • In 3:10, the word διακονος is not in the Greek at all, yet the translators felt it was necessary to add “as deacons” after “let them serve”. Where “serve” is the actual translation of the word διακονεω.
   • Similarly with 3:13, the word διακονος is not in the Greek at all. The translators add “as deacons” after the “for those who served.”
5. Jesus was called a διακονος (Romans 15:8).
6. Paul was called a διακονος (1 Corinthians 3:5, 6; Ephesians 3:7; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:23,25).
7. Jesus came to διακονεω (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:27).

Conclusion

Based on my research and studies, I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a “deacon” in the traditional sense of the word. A “deacon” is merely a servant, not an office to hold. The noun and verb in the Greek is translated “serve” 38 times, “minister” at least 22 times (25 if you count “administered” and “provided”). Only 3 times is it transliterated as “deacon” and twice it is added to the English text. So why did the translators believe that they should not translate the word in those places? Frankly, I find this very disturbing.

So, for all of you churchers who argue about deacons during business meetings. I’m sorry to tell you, you’ve wasted a lot of time. A “deacon” is not an office, it’s not someone who is voted on, a deacon is the person next to you who has been serving you and ministering to your needs. A deacon is the person who does not care about the title “deacon” as much as they care about the needs of those around them.