Celebrating the Pastor/Theologian
In our day of shallow American Christianity, we are faced with the mega nonsense of celebrity pastors. I have a friend who attends a local church with thousands of “members.” He once referred to the man on the jumbo-tron as his “pastor.” I laughed, “Have you dined with ‘your pastor’ before?” His response was, “No, I have never met him.” I laughed, again, “Do you have plans to invite him to your place for dinner?” My friend blushed, “No, of course not. He is too important for someone like me.” I looked my friend in the eye and said, “Brother, that man is not your pastor.”
Christian pastors come in a variety of flavors, on the professional spectrum. One man is a manager. Another man is a therapist. Another man is a comedian. Still another is a political pundit. The worst one of all is the circus showman/entertainer. These men are something, but they are not pastors.
By definition, a pastor shepherds Christ’s sheep (1 Pet 5:1–5). The sheep are God’s beloved people (Jn 10), whom He chose before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5), whom Christ redeemed at the cross (Gal 3:13; Eph 5:25), and who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, at their regeneration (Mt 3:11; Acts 2:38; 10:47; 1 Cor 12:13). It is the Spirit of Christ who guides the sheep to green pastures (Ps 23:2). It is Jesus Christ, who leads His people (Mt 23:10) because He is their Lord (Jn 6:68). Pastors are sheep, themselves, who love the Lord, who appoints them to be elders (Acts 20:28).
An elder in a local church is a man of God (1 Tim 3; Titus 1:5–9), who is called of God, and who is apt to teach (1 Tim 3:2; 2 Tim 2:24). The exclusive subject for the elder/pastor is sound doctrine (Titus 1:9), that is, the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word, carried along by the Holy Spirit, to prophets and apostles of old (2 Tim 3:16). They wrote, as the Holy Spirit inspired and moved them (2 Pet 1:20). A doctrine is what the Bible teaches on a certain subject. There are many doctrines in the Bible.
Christians grow to maturity, spiritually, by their exposure to the teaching of the apostles and prophets via their pastor. With the Bible being God’s book about Himself, the pastor/teacher is one who studies God (Eph 4:11). He is first, a pastor theologian.
Pastor theologians are men of God, who set their heart to study the law of the Lord (Ezra 7:10). When a pastor is in his study, he is a theologian. He is learning God from God, for it is the Spirit of truth, who illumines the Word of truth for him (Ps 119:160; Jn 16:13). He consults with fellow theologians, either in person or through the books they have written. Pastors do have friends, but most of the pastor theologian’s friends sit on the shelves of his library, waiting for consultation.
When a pastor theologian emerges from his study/library, he must remain a pastor theologian. The man of God takes what God has taught him, in his study, and he ministers the knowledge of God in Christ to others. The minister of the Word is a preacher of the Word (2 Tim 4:2). He preaches from a pulpit, at a hospital bed side, in a parishioner’s home, wherever and to whomever the Spirit leads him (Acts 8).
One tragedy of American Christianity is the lost view to this public office. When I have a toothache, I naturally go to the dentist. When my car is broken, I take it to the mechanic. This specialization of labor makes it easy to acknowledge one’s need, and the one who can remedy that need.
The natural man does not detect the plight of his soul (Gen 6:5; Rom 3:23; 6:23; Heb 9:27; Rev 20:11, 14–15). He is not even able to discern the meaning of life (Rom 8:7; 1 Cor 2:14). This is why some preachers head to the street. They serve as prophets of God, telling others about our collective, tragic, life story. They also proclaim new life and hope via Gospel truth. Pastor theologians are also priests, as they pray for and with others.
Christian pastor/theologians are who you go to, when you need to be oriented to King Jesus Christ. When the Greeks approached Philip, in Jerusalem, they recognized him as one who had been with Jesus. Their request is the same as people today, “Sir, we would see Jesus (Jn 12:21).” The pastor theologian knows the Triune God, and he is known for that fact, alone.
David Norczyk
Hillsboro, Oregon
July 31. 2022
