The Vision (4.18.25): Stewards of the Mysteries of God

 

Image: Laying on of hands and prayer during Elder ordination at CRBC (4.13.25)

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, which included an Elder ordination and installation.

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1).

What did Paul mean when he declared that ministers of Christ (referring both to extraordinary ministers, like apostles, and ordinary ministers, like elders) are “stewards of the mysteries of God”? What are these mysteries?

There is no doubt as to what our Particular Baptist forefathers thought. They cite this passage as a key prooftext in Confession 28:2 “Of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper,” where it teaches who should administer these ordinances: “These holy appointments are to be administered by those only who are qualified and thereunto called, according to the commission of Christ.”

Stewardship of the mysteries of Christ means stewardship of the ordinances (sacraments) of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. But when the old men spoke of ordinance they also spoke first of the ordinance of preaching and teaching the Word.

Paul ordered Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2).

The old Puritan exegete Matthew Poole (1624-1679) explains in his commentary:

“The apostle here gives us the right notion of the preachers of the gospel; they are but ministers, that is servants, so as the honour that is proper to the Master… belongeth not to them.” Their “primary obligation [is] to preach Christ and his gospel unto the people.”

“They are also stewards of the mysteries of God, such to whom God has committed his word and sacraments to dispense to his church.” The term mystery signifies that which is secret, “represented by signs and figures.”

Poole’s commentary concludes, “Ministers are the stewards of the mysterious doctrines and institutions of Christ, which are usually comprehended under the terms word and sacrament.”

Paul told Timothy that he was to be “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

And in 1 Corinthians 14:40 he told the church (especially her officers), “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

The first thing our church should expect from its Elders is that we rightly preach Christ and the gospel to you and that we rightly administer baptism and the Lord’s Supper so that the things that are secret or hidden in them are made known.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Thirty Years Ago Today

 

From my twitter @Riddle1689:

Thirty years ago today I was ordained to the gospel ministry at age 27 by the first church I served as Pastor, Beulah Baptist Church in Lyells, Virginia. The deacons gave me this Cambridge KJV Bible.

My father J. C. Riddle preached the ordination sermon. We sang this hymn I had written to the ST. ANNE tune in the service. My mother-in-law later created this calligraphy work of the lyrics and gave it to me as a gift. It hangs in my bedroom, so I see it every day.

At this point, I had just come back from two years in Hungary. Before that there had been four years of summer ministry as a college student and three years of seminary where I served in chaplaincy and teaching in my local church.

Over these 30 years I have served three churches as pastor, moving from SBC to RB life, and planting the church I now pastor, 12 years ago.

Ministry is hard. I've seen both the best and worst of myself and others. There have been many Mondays when I wanted to quit and have a normal job. I'll never forget the man I met at the DMV counter one day who told me through tears how he used to be in the ministry.

Through it all, Christ has constantly proved himself faithful and worthy of the greatest admiration. I love him and want to serve him with my life so much more than I did 30 years ago. SDG.

JTR

Book Review posted: Will Willimon, Accidental Preacher

My review of Will Willimon, Accidental Preacher: A Memoir, appeared in Midwestern Journal of Theology, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Fall 2020): 94-96.

The review is now posted to my academia.edu page (read it here).

I also covered the material in this review back in WM 165.

JTR

The Vision (12.11.20): Is any sick among you?

 

Note Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 5:13-20.

Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up (James 5:14-15a).

There are several things to be noted here:

First, notice that it is the duty of the person who is sick and in need to call upon the elders of the church to pray for him. The elders are not clairvoyants who know without being told what the spiritual needs of the flock are. It is something of a stereotype in some churches with immature or even unconverted “members” that they get upset if the pastor does not initiate visiting them or calling upon them if they are sick. But James says the duty here is upon the sick to make their need known to the elders.

Second, it assumes that in the church there will be a plurality of elders.

Third, it assumes that a special part of the elders’ work will be prayer. This follows the pattern of the apostles in Jerusalem who set apart seven men to wait on the tables of the widows so that they might give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4).

Fourth, it suggests the manner of prayer. That the elders pray over the sick and that they anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord (v. 14).

The emphasis here should not be upon the use of oil. This kind of reading leads to ungodly superstition. There were those who have twisted this verse to teach the doctrine of so-called extreme unction, that there must be special prayers for those who are sick unto death.

I agree with Matthew Poole that anointing with oil was an “outward rite” used by some in those times (cf. Mark 6:13), while many other healings took place under the ministry of Christ and the apostles only at a word or with the touch of the hand. This was not “an institution of a sacrament” but a command to the elders of apostolic times.

Again, the emphasis here should not be upon the mention of oil, for God is surely not dependent upon any outward means and can do as he pleases, but the emphasis should be upon prayer being offered in the name of the Lord, that is, according to his will (cf. John 14:13-14).

Fifth, it suggests the outcome of prayer (v. 15a): “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” The prayer of faith means the prayer offered up in faith (trust) in God, and with resignation to his will. The verb “to save” has a double meaning. It can refer both to saving the body from sickness and death, at least temporarily, but, more importantly, it refers to saving a man from the second death, the saving of his soul, and the granting of eternal life.

We were talking about Job last week and the temporal reversal of Job chapter 42 so that “the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12), but even Job did eventually die.

Consider John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Even if the Lord does not raise his servant from the sick bed, he will surely, in the end, raise him from the grave!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Festschrift for Pastor Albert N. Martin Forthcoming: A Workman Not Ashamed

 

I was pleased to be able to contribute an essay on pastoral theology, "The Administration and Administrators of Baptism", to the forthcoming festschrift for Pastor Albert N. Martin, edited by David Charles and Rob Ventura.

The book titled A Workman Not Ashamed: Essays in Honor of Albert N. Martin is being published by Free Grace Press and can be pre-ordered here.

Here is the forward to the work from Dr. Joel Beeke:

Al Martin’s ministry has had a profound impact on hundreds of faithful ministers and thousands of people for several decades, such that it is high time that a festschrift—that is, a book of essays reflecting his interests and passions written by friends, be written in his honor. I am grateful to David Charles and Rob Ventura who served as the organizers and editors for this festschrift, and wish to testify my gratitude to them and their fellow contributors that this book passes muster for what it is designed to do. I am confident that its honoree will be delighted with its contents.

To profit from this festschrift, one does not have to agree with every detail of each chapter of this book. A wonderful variety of subjects is presented to the reader, reaching the whole man: head, heart, and hands. Good scholarship, edifying soul-enriching food, and experiential and practical applications abound in these pages—all of which reflects Al Martin’s own ministry of the Word.

This book opens with a sketch of Al Martin’s life by John Reuther, who has known him for more than four decades, beginning when he first sat under Al’s preaching at Trinity Baptist Church in New Jersey.

Sam Waldron draws several encouraging points about preaching from Luke’s account of one of the most fruitful sermons in all history: Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Here we are reminded that preaching is the authoritative proclamation of Christ from the Scriptures with a call to practical action.

Conrad Mbewe presents a plea that pastors mentor future pastors in the context of the local church, just as Trinity Baptist Church for many years sponsored its own academy for pastoral training. Pastors need to study books, but they also need to be with people to learn how godly pastors relate to their families and church members in a variety of settings.

Richard Barcellos provides a detailed exegetical study of the Greek text of Ephesians 4:12 to support the old translation that Paul uses all three phrases to describe the results of the ministry of the word (as in “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” KJV), not the newer translation that joins the first two to suggest that the ministry of the Word equips others to build up the body.

Alan Dunn writes an essay exploring how the church overcomes the world in its witness through suffering and martyrdom. Dunn strikingly calls this “the strategy of slaughtered lambs.”

Jim Savastio exhorts pastors to “feed the flock of God which is among you” (1 Pet. 5:2), that is, to preach to address the needs of the people whom God has entrusted to them. Toward that end, preachers must know their Bibles and know their flocks.

The core of the message that we preach is the gospel of justification by faith, and D. Scott Meadows opens Galatians 2:15–19 to proclaim that we can never be justified by works of obedience to God’s law. Our righteousness is Christ alone received by faith alone.

Rob Ventura touches upon a key theme in Al Martin’s life: the Holy Spirit and the preacher. Without the prevailing power of the Spirit to convict, convert, and comfort hearers, the preacher would be wise never to enter the pulpit.

Michael Haykin offers a chapter on the life of one of the earliest Reformed (or Particular) Baptist ministers, William Kiffen or Kiffin (1616–1701). Kiffen was a signatory and probably an author of the First London Baptist Confession of Faith (1644), and in 1689 he also signed the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith.

At the heart of Christ’s purpose to build His kingdom is the church, with its ordinances of worship. Jeffrey Riddle makes an argument that the ordinance of baptism should be done in the assembly of the church by its designated officers—not just by an informal gathering of believers.

Nothing is more important for the church to do than the worship of God. Scott Aniol explains the Reformed regulative principle of worship and its particular applications by Baptist churches in their practice of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, singing, and church polity.

The goal of preaching the gospel is to restore fallen men and women to fellowship with God—deep and rich communion, as is explored in the chapter by Jeffrey Waddington. He draws particularly from Geerhardus Vos’s insights into the purpose for which God created us.

Few Calvinistic Baptists have attained to the stature of the Bible commentator and systematic theologian John Gill (1697–1771). Gill’s sermon, “The Duty of a Pastor to His People,” originally given at the ordination of George Braithwaite in 1734, rounds out the book with a call to faithful pastoral ministry.

Here, then, you will find a book that honors a veteran minister and teacher of the Word by exhorting other ministers to preach the Word, shepherd the flock, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill the commission placed upon them by the Lord. May God use the contributions of these authors to raise up preachers who fit the words of Francis Wayland (1796–1865): “From the manner in which our ministers have entered upon the work, it is evident that it must have been the prominent object of their lives to convert men to God.”

JTR

CRBC: Thankful for Ten Years of Ministry with Sermonaudio.com!

CRBC got a nice gift in the mail recently from sermonaudio.com: A mug marking ten years of our church's broadcasting sermons, teaching, book reviews, podcasts, etc. on this platform.

As I post this, we have 1,487 messages archived at our sermonaudio.com site. As of the end of 2019, over 203,000 of our messages had been downloaded from this site. Last month, December 2019, for example, 3,751 messages were downloaded from our site by listeners in 47 US states and 49 other countries (from the UK to Kenya to Vietnam, among others). 

Rarely does a week pass without us hearing from someone in the world who is a regular listener to our site. Last Saturday, for example, a brother living in Chicago, a former nominal RC and a refugee from Iraq who came to the US via Syria, and who is now involved in Christian ministry, called to offer encouragement for the resources he found on our site (on what else especially, but text criticism).

Thanks to sermonaudio.com founder Steven Lee, whom I met a few years back in Greenville, SC, when I attended Greenville Presbyterian Seminary's annual theology conference, and his staff, for creating and maintaining this platform to help our small congregation, and many others, to reach a wider audience with our preaching and teaching ministry.

JTR

Image: Here's a pic with me (beardless and younger) and sermonaudio.com founder Steven Lee in March 2011.

WM 143: Devotion for Ministers on 1 Corinthians 4

I have posted WM 143: Devotion for Ministers on 1 Corinthians 4. Listen here.

I was asked to give this devotion at a Reformed Baptist Pastoral Fraternal that met on Tuesday, December 3, 2019 in a pastor's home in Staunton, Virginia.

The devotion drew upon three points from 1 Corinthians 4:

1. Ministers as "stewards of the mysteries of God" (vv. 1-2);

2. The universality of the ministry as Paul taught "every where in every church" (v. 17);

3. The authority of the ministry ("shall I come unto you with a rod?") (v. 21).

Good time of discussion, fellowship, and prayer after the devotion, plus an excellent lunch provided by our host.

This fraternal yesterday was in the western part of Virginia (Staunton). Today I also had the pleasure of attending another fraternal of Reformed Baptist pastors that met in the eastern part of the state (in Sandston). Thankful for fellowship among ministers.

JTR

WM 104: D. Scott Meadows on Al Martin's Pastoral Theology

Image: Al Martin with his new book on Pastoral Theology.

Image: D. Scott Meadows preaching at the 1689 Conference in Indianapolis (9.14.18)

I have uploaded WM 104: D. Scott Meadows on Al Martin's Pastoral Theology.

Pastor Meadows and I both were speaking last week at the 1689 Conference in Indianapolis. I was able to get in a short interview with him last Friday evening (9.14.18). In the interview Pastor Meadows discusses his call to the ministry and his 27 years of pastoral service at Calvary Baptist Church (Reformed) in Exeter, New Hampshire. He also shares about his labors in editing the writings of influential RB pastor Albert N. Martin. Scott shares, in particular, about a new book by Al Martin titled Pastoral Theology: The Man of God: His Calling and Godly Life (Trinity Pulpit Press, 2018) (the first in a projected three volume series). We end the talk with a brief conversation on the beauty of the King James Version as an English Bible translation.

Enjoy!

JTR

Gleanings from Charles Bridges' "The Christian Ministry"

Gleanings from Charles Bridges’ The Christian Ministry (original 1830; abridged edition, 1849; Banner of Truth reprint, 1967):

Our plain and cheering duty is therefore to go forward—to scatter seed—to believe and wait (p. 76).

Ours is the care of service—His is the care of success. “The Lord of the harvest must determine, when, and what, and where the harvest shall be” (p. 76).

Cowper’s line—‘If parsons fiddle, why may’nt laymen dance?’ –has at least as much truth as wit in it (p. 121).

…and who knoweth, but that we shall find that our most successful efforts for our people were the hours—not when we were speaking to them from God, but when we were speaking for them to God? (p. 149).

Believe—wait—work—are the watchwords of the Ministry (p. 179).

So true is it, that we must preach the Gospel, in order to reform the world (p. 242).

No souls, therefore, can be won to him, except by setting forth his name, work, and glory (p. 245).

Indeed, we are bound to explain to our people, according to the light afforded us, every part of the book, which was designed for general instruction, and of which we are the ordained interpreters (p. 249).

If some poison their people, others may be in danger of starving them (p. 254).

Let Christ be the diamond to shine in the bosom of all your sermons (p. 258).

Christian experience is the influence of doctrinal truth upon the affections (p. 259).

Our doctrine must be as a garment, fitted for the body it is made for; a garment that is fit for every body, is fit for nobody (p. 270).

The Minister, that does not manifestly put his heart into his sermon, will never put his sermon into the heart of his people…. A painted fire may glare, but will not warm (p. 320).

How gently we handle those sins, which will so cruelly handle our people’s souls (p. 323)!

The constant repetition,—not the weight—of the heavenly showers, makes impressions on the hardest substances (p. 326).

Favoritism in Scripture is the grand parent of both heresy and instability of profession (p. 378).

Experience shows us, that often the most difficult work remains when we have come down from the pulpit, needing special direction of prayer, study, and careful regard to our Master’s ministration for its effectual discharge. On one particular, however, we cannot mistake; that to all, of every class and at every stage, the attractions of the cross must be unfolded, and its heavenly glory made intelligible…. (p. 383).

Five Books on Ministry

I enjoyed lunch and conversation this week with a new friend (a friend of friends), a student of theology, who was passing through the area. He asked me to suggest five books to read related to ministry and the call to the ministry. I thought this would be good fodder for a blog post, so here are five books I would suggest on these topics (in no particular order):

1.    Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry (original 1830; Banner of Truth reprint, 1976).

I’ve been making liberal use of Bridges’ Ecclesiastes commentary in my current sermon series. This work on ministry is also a gem, filled with many a helpful insight and admonition, like this one: “Ours is the care of service—His is the care of success” (p. 76).

2.    Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students (original 1875; Zondervan reprint, 1954).

This is the classic collection of Spurgeon’s addresses to students at his pastors’ college. Among the memorable must-read addresses: “The Minister’s Self-Watch,” “The Call to the Ministry,” “The Minister’s Fainting Fits,” “The Blind Eye and the Deaf Ear.”

3.    William Still, Dying to Live (Christian Focus, 1991).

Still wrote this brief memoir while in his 80s reflecting on 45 years as pastor of Gilcomston South Church in Aberdeen, Scotland. I read this several years ago while going through a difficult time and found it to be very encouraging. See this post.

4.    Courtney Anderson, To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson (Zondervan, 1956).

This inspiring biography tells the compelling story of the patience, suffering, sacrifice, and eventual fruit in the ministry of the pioneer missionary to Burma. In a ministers’ conference in Malaysia in 2015 I met men from Myanmar (Burma) who still use the Bible Judson translated into their language.

5.    John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress [Part One] (original 1677; multiple reprints).

Before a man is a minister he is a “Christian” and a “Pilgrim” on the road to the celestial city.

John Brown on the trials of the ministry

Note:  Below is one of the points of application from my sermon on Galatians 4:12-20.

"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16) 

 

Application: This passage reminds ministers, and all those engaged in personal ministry as well, that the exercise of the ministry is very often painful and discouraging.
 

John Brown in his 1853 commentary on Galatians zeroes in on this application:

The Christian ministry, if entered on with appropriate sentiments, and prosecuted with conscientious fidelity, will be found replete with difficulties.  Its toils are arduous and unceasing—its trials numerous and severe.

The minister must submit,

to labors often ill-appreciated, sometimes unkindly requited, and with meeting trials and afflictions which are the more severe as coming  from a quarter from which nothing but support and encouragement has been expected.

Brown continues:

It is not an impossible, nor even an uncommon, thing for persons who seemed to be—who were—most tenderly attached to their ministers, and attached to him in consequence of having received from him spiritual advantage, to have their affections entirely alienated from him whom they so greatly esteemed and loved; and what is worse still, it is not impossible, nor very uncommon, to find this alienation of affection to their minister arising out of , or at any rate connected with, indifference about, or rejection of, those grand peculiarities of Christian truths….

He adds:

This is one of the severest trials which a Christian minister can meet with; and perhaps there are few situations in which he is so strongly tempted to indulge something like a resentful, almost a malignant feeling, as when thus situated, in reference to those designing men, whose selfish intrigues have been the means of injuring the best interests of his people, and robbing him of the dearest jewel of his heart.  It is comparatively an easy thing for a minister to be reproached, and ridiculed, and persecuted by an ungodly world; but he only knows who has felt it how bitter it is to see those whose conversion and spiritual improvement he flattered himself he had been the instrument, to guide whom to heaven he felt to be his most delightful work on earth, and to meet with whom in heaven who was not of the least delightful anticipations of eternity—to see them regard him with “hard unkindness, altered eye,” especially if, when they are turning their backs on him, they also seem in extreme hazard of making shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience.

In the end, Brown suggests that Paul in his interaction with the Galatians is a model of how the minister is to deal with such circumstances with discretion, patience, and affection.  Can we learn to do the same?

Horton on ministers as God's covenant attorneys

Here are more gleanings from Michael Horton's The Christian Faith on ecclesiology.  He makes the typical Reformed emphasis on the importance of church officers and distinguishes between ministers, ruling elders, and deacons, noting, "The Spirit meditates Christ's threefold office as prophet, priest, and king in this age through these three offices of pastor-teacher, deacon, and elder" (p. 858).  Thus, "Pastors preach and teach, elders rule, and deacons serve" (p. 859).  Or, as he later puts it, "Pastors feed, elders rule, and deacons service the saints in their temporal welfare" (p. 897).

Here is a paragraph in which Horton explains the role of the minister in the congregation and especially as a worship leader and pronouncer of the benediction upon God's people:

A minister is not a master.  Yet it is also true that a minister is not a facilitator, coach, or team leader.  Ministers do not serve at the pleasure of the people, but at the pleasure of the King.  It is not their church or their ministry, but Christ's; and it is in their office, not in their person, that they represent the heavenly authority.  Not only in the sermon, but throughout the service, they are God's covenant attorneys.  Many Christian liturgies include at some point the Aaronic blessing:  "The LORD bless and keep you....  The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Nu 6:24-26).  These words are not mere well-wishing, but are God's act of blessing his people.  Ministering as diplomats of Yahweh, the priests actually placed God's benediction on the people.  It was a legal, convenantal action, a performative utterance that placed the people under the blessings rather than the curses of the covenant:  "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them" (v. 27 emphasis added).  And in the mouths of ministers of the Word today, it has the same performative nature (p. 892).

Phil Johnson on Mark Driscoll's "Pornographic Divination"

The Reformed Baptist Fellowship blog recently called attention to an August 15 post by Phil Johnson on the Pyromaniac's blog titled "Pornographic Divination."  The post has a clip of Mark Driscoll describing lurid visions he claims to experience.  The clip is disturbing.  It makes clear that Driscoll's view of the ministry is not in the realm of the orthodox.

I did a message a few years ago reviewing Driscoll's ministry at the request of the Society for Baptist Principles and Practices in Roanoke (listen here), in which I raised concerns about the non-cessationist views of Driscoll.  Driscoll has been known as "the cursing preaching."  I learned about him for the first time from a young man who was then a recent graduate of Southern Seminary and who gushed about Driscoll's ministry.  He loaned me the two books written by Driscoll I that I read and used as the primary basis for my review.

Driscoll remains popular on the YRR scene.  He speaks at Gospel Coalition events and has done conferences at Southeastern Baptist Seminary.  His Acts 29 network is promoted by YRR parachurch groups like Together for the Gospel and the 9 Marks ministry.  Johnson's post ought to serve as a chilling caution to those who have embraced and promoted Driscoll's ministry.

JTR

Comma or no comma in Ephesians 4:12?

The “New Perspective” on Ephesians 4:11-12:

I was reading Peter Master’s booklet “Your Reasonable Service in the Lord’s Work” (Sword and Trowel, 1987, 2011) encouraging the active involvement in service and ministry of all Christians. I agreed with most of what Masters was promoting. I stumbled, however, on his interpretation of Ephesians 4:11-12 (see pp. 14-15).

Masters takes exception with the punctuation of v. 12 in the AV:

KJV Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

He would remove the first comma in v. 12, so that the first phrase reads, “For the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body.” Removing the comma interprets Paul's point here as meaning not that pastors and teachers themselves are given “for the work of the ministry,” but so that they might equip or perfect the saints to do the work of the ministry.

Masters then states his preference for the NASB rendering, which reflects this interpretation:

NAS Ephesians 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

The NIV goes even further by rendering the phrase in dynamic equivalence as “to prepare God’s people for works of service”:

NIV Ephesians 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

The ESV also offers a dynamic equivalent spin, rendering v. 12: “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”

The Message does the same: “…and pastor-teachers to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body…”

The NKJV, as well, removes the comma:

NKJV Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

Masters cites William Hendriksen’s commentary on this text to support his position, noting Hendriksen’s argument that Paul’s point is that “the entire church should be involved in spiritual labor.”

So also, the MacArthur Study Bible note on the phrase “for the work of ministry” explains that this refers to “The spiritual service required of every Christian, not just of church leaders (cf. 1 Cor 15:58).”

The ESV Study Bible, likewise, comments on v. 12: “Those church leaders with various gifts (v. 11) are to equip the saints (all Christians) so that they can do the work of ministry. All Christians have spiritual gifts that should be used in ministering to one another (1 Cor. 12:7, 11; 1 Pet. 4;10).”

The “Old Paths” Perspective:

One wonders, however, if the removal of this comma is justified. Is it justified on grammatical grounds or has this been theologically driven? Does its removal reflect a modern, democratic, egalitarian interest in “every member ministry” and even a subtle anti-clericalism? Does the pastor exercise his ministry by training non-ordained persons to minister? Or is he himself given “for the work of ministry”? No doubt if he exercises his ministry of word and prayer the saints will be equipped. Retaining the comma by no means negates the fact that each Christian is to find avenues for appropriate ministry and service at home and in the church. But has adding a comma also added an emphasis that is less in view here? In the Greek of v. 12 there are a series of three prepositional phrases. Pastor and teacher are given “for [pros] the perfecting of the saints, for [eis] the work of ministry, for [eis] the edifying of the body of Christ.” There are certainly grounds for arguing that Paul intended three distinct description of the work of pastors and teacher, rather than just two.

This is the way that the old Protestant commentators took verse 12. Examples:

John Calvin in his commentary on v. 12 exegetes each of the three phrases independently. He takes “for the work of the ministry” as a specific reference to pastoral labors, adding, “Paul asserts that a ministry is required, because such is the will of God.”

The Geneva Bible, like the AV, includes the comma in v. 12: “For the repairing of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ.” The note stresses that the verse shows “the end of Ecclesiastical function” as aiming for the unity of the church.

Matthew Henry comments on all three phrases noting that “for the work of the ministry” might be rendered “for the work of dispensation; that is, that they might dispense the doctrines of the gospel, and successfully discharge the several parts of their ministerial function.” Thus, he sees this phrase as relating directly to the pastors and teachers and not the saints in general.

Matthew Poole, likewise, takes “for the work of the ministry” as a reference to the minister’s work in particular. It is “for the work of dispensation, i. e., for dispensing the word, and all those ordinances which it pertains to them to dispense; and so it implies their whole work.” He even suggests that the middle phrase might be transferred to the front of the verse in meaning so that the work of the ministry is the perfecting of the saints and edifying the body of Christ “both in bringing in new members to it, and strengthening those that are brought in already, in faith and holiness.”

Conclusion:

So, we see a divide between the old Protestant translations and commentators and the new. The old include the comma and thereby see the reference to “the work of the ministry” as the word and sacrament ministry of the pastor. The new take away the comma and see “for the work of the ministry” as referring to equipping given to all saints. Masters, a conservative Baptist, sides with the new interpretation. As for me, I find that the old is better.

JTR

On Conferences

Carl Trueman (a Brit who teaches at Westminster Seminary) had an interesting recent post after attending a conference in the UK contrasting such events with US ones:

Summary:

First, the conference was built around content not speakers....

Second, no speaker made reference (almost obligatory when speaking at trendy Reformed evangelical conferences in the US) to how gorgeous his wife is....

Third, no middle aged speaker (and we were all middle-aged and unashamed of the fact) felt the need to talk like a teenager in some kind of embarrassing street lingo....

Fourth, the only person who cried at my seminar was Bob Kauflin. And he is an American. And he is in Sovereign Grace Ministries. I do not think I need to explain further.

Fifth, the appetite for serious theology in the UK church seems to be rising.....

Sixth, no clones, no groupies, no wannabes....

The not so thinly veiled critique seems to be of the upsurge of neo-evangelical Calvinistic, "celebrity" pastor-driven mega-conferences like "The Gospel Coalition" (held last week) and "Together for the Gospel."

Along these lines, see Daryl Dash's post "How to Cope With Not Attending The Gospel Coalition Conference" and Daryl Hart's (typically) more bitingly sarcastic (and "edgy" if not "over the edge"--see comments)  "Advantages of Not Going to the Gospel Coalition Conference."

JTR 

Friday Bible Study with CCCC

Photo: Pastor Beine leads the opening of the Friday evening Bible study at CCCC.

Last Friday evening, I had the opportunity to lead the Bible Study at the Charlottesville Christian Church of Charlottesville which meets at JPBC. I taught on Romans 1:18-21. My interpreter was a UVA student named "Paul" who eagerly told me how he came to believe in Christ after his family immigrated to Virginia when he was 16 years old. It was a good time of fellowship.

JTR

Bridges on the Minister's Avoidance of Worldliness

In Charles Bridges’ (1794-1869) classic work on The Christian Ministry (Banner of Truth, 2006 [1830]) he lists the minister’s conformity to the world as one cause for inefficiency in ministry. He quotes from "Cecil’s Remains":

I fell into a mistake, when a young man…in thinking that I could talk to men of the world on their own ground, and could thus win them over to mine. I was fond of painting, and so I talked with them on that subject. This pleased them: but I did not consider, that I gave them consequence to their pursuits, which did not belong to them; whereas I ought to have endeavored to raise them above these, that they might engage in a higher. I did not see this at the time, but now I see it to have been a great error (p. 118, n. 3).

What a contrast from what most of us hear today! We are encouraged to relate to the cultural pursuits that capture our people. For the word "painting" above we could insert:

Movies
Sports
Technology
Politics
Finances, etc.

Bridges will have none of that. "Would the Levitical high-priests have descended from their sacred elevation of immediate intercourse with God, to participate in the frivolities even of decorous worldliness? And why should we, under a more spiritual dispensation, be less separate, or our standard less heavenly?" (p. 118).

JTR

The Indefatigable Industry of John Calvin

Charles Bridges in The Christian Ministry (Banner of Truth, 2006 [1830]) in a section on "habits of general study" praises the industry of John Calvin whom he describes as "the most diligent preacher." He adds this in a footnote:

‘What shall I say of his indefatigable industry, even beyond the power of nature, which being paralleled with our loitering, I fear I will exceed all credit, and may be a true object of admiration, how his lean, worn, spent, and weary body could possibly hold out? He read every week in the year three divinity lectures, and every other week over and above; he preached every day, so that (as Erasmus saith of Chrysostom) I do not know, whether more to admire the indefatigableness of the man, or his hearers. Yea, some have reckoned up, that his lectures were yearly one hundred and eighty-six, his sermons two hundred and eighty-six, besides Thursdays he sat in the presbytery,’ &c. &c. Clark’s Lives. Calvin's own account in one of his letters to Farel, thus speaks—‘When the messenger called for my book (The Commentary on the Romans), I had twenty sheets to revise—to preach—to read to the congregation—to write forty-two letters—to attend to some controversies—and to return answers to more than ten persons, who interrupted me in the midst of my labors, for advice' (p. 43, n. 3).

JTR