Question #5

The New Testament makes a clear distinction between the offices and duties of preachers and pastors. There are
some aspects common to pastoring and preaching, to be sure, but the positions are not one and the same.
"Pastors" in the New Testament were "elders" or "bishops," while "preachers" were simply "evangelists" or
"ministers of the word." In keeping with the organization of the early church, pastors have oversight and rule of a
local congregation, while the work of a preacher is simply to proclaim and teach the gospel. While pastors or
elders are also to be skilled and involved in teaching (Titus 1:9), it does not follow that preachers are, like pastors,
to have any special authority in the church. The popular perception of a pastor today is of one who is the primary
preacher at a particular church, and who also oversees "his flock" or "his church." This is not a Biblical concept,
and to equivocate the position of pastor with that of preacher demonstrates a misunderstanding of the scriptural
organization of the church or simply a failure to apply it.

The word "pastor" occurs only one time in the King James New Testament (Ephesians 4:11). The Greek word from
which it is translated, however, appears many more times in the New Testament. In every one of those other
instances it is translated "shepherd." [It is strange that translators chose to render it "pastors" in that one
passage.] Sometimes it is used in reference to literal shepherds, sometimes to Jesus as our Good Shepherd, and
other times to that class of Christian men who rule God’s sheep, called elders, presbyters, bishops, overseers, and
pastors, in addition to shepherds. There is no distinction between an elder and a presbyter--they are in fact from
the exact same Greek word. There is also no distinction between a bishop and an overseer--they too come from a
single Greek word. We have noted that there is no distinction between a pastor and a shepherd. What many fail to
realize is that there is also no biblical distinction between elders/presbyters, bishops/overseers, and
pastors/shepherds. Each ascription conveys particular aspects of the position (elder indicates older, experienced
men; overseer implies rule and authority; shepherd suggests care-taking, leading, etc.), but they all refer to the
same position. That is easily demonstrated from the following passages.

First, Titus 1:5-7 identifies elders as bishops. Paul left Titus the task of ordaining "elders" in various congregations
(1:5). In the same breath, Paul called such men "bishops" (1:7). The same office and men are under consideration
in both verses.

Second, 1 Peter 5:1-4 equates elders with "shepherds" (or pastors). These verses were addressed to "the elders"
which were among the churches. They were also overseers/bishops, as is evidenced by the charge to "take the
oversight" of the church (5:2). They were clearly also "shepherds," however, as it was their duty to "feed" the flock
of God (5:2). The word "feed" literally means "to tend as a shepherd." Further evidence that these "elders" were
also "shepherds" is in the comparison of their work to the work of Jesus, our Chief Shepherd (5:4). Thus, what we
have is elders who have oversight (and are thus overseers) and are charged with feeding the flock (as shepherds).
Remember, there is no biblical distinction between shepherds and pastors.

Finally, Acts 20:17-29 is quite conclusive on the matter. Paul is said to have called for "the elders of the church" in
Ephesus (20:17). The rest of the chapter records the meeting that took place between Paul and the Ephesian
elders. In their meeting, Paul charged the elders to "take heed to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers, to feed the church of God" (20:28). Thus, those elders were given a charge concerning "the
flock," they were "overseers" over the flock, and they were responsible for "feed[ing] the church of God." The
word "feed" is again the verb form of "pastor" or "shepherd," meaning "to tend to as a shepherd." There can be no
conclusion but that these elders were overseers and shepherds/pastors.

If we take the biblical approach, then the term "pastor" is reserved for elders and overseers, men who must meet
the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 and who must be appointed in plurality in individual
congregations (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). We are interested in taking the biblical approach, aren’t we?

WHY DON’T YOU CALL YOUR PREACHER "REVEREND"?

If you are a Christian and you hear others refer to preachers as "reverend," you should be offended and insulted.
What makes a preacher any more "reverend" than any other faithful member of the church? Is he more holy? More
spiritual? Closer to God? Reserving the title "reverend" for a certain class of the church is an insult to Christians
and is without any sort of biblical foundation. It is furthermore a blatant violation of Christ’s teaching on religious
titles (Matthew 23:1-12).