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Listen "Unit 6: Lecture 1 - Introduction | Albert N. Martin"
Episode Synopsis
A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THIS UNIT
First, in what I regard as a classic exposition of 1 Peter, John Brown, in his preliminary remarks to his exposition of chapter 5:1-4, asserts that the whole work of the eldership can be subsumed under two major categories: namely, teaching and ruling, or instructing and superintending.
Second, in a similar way, (and perhaps John Brown was influenced by him), John Owen asserts that pastoral feeding of the flock of God involves “teaching or instruction and rule or discipline.” He then goes on to assert that under these two categories, all of the activities and duties of a shepherd to his flock are to be administered.
Third, having spent three units focusing upon the public preaching and teaching of the Man of God, our attention now will be placed upon the second major category of the God assigned tasks of new covenant shepherds.
John Owen, The Works of John Owen, vol. 16, (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), p. 48.
I. In its Essence
The importance of this starting point
1. To impart a positive, exegetically based standard to which you may aspire or by which to evaluate your present labors as a pastor.
2. To challenge and expose any false notions concerning this task which you may have imbibed along the way.
3. To equip you with a working acquaintance of those pivotal texts and concepts which you ought in turn to convey to the congregation you serve.
In addressing the “Essence of the Task” we will first of all examine the major verbs and nouns by which the task is set before us in the New Testament
A. Shepherding/shepherd (ποιμαινω) (ποιμην)
1. Acts 20:28
In verses 18-27, Paul reviews for the Ephesian elders the nature and substance of his years of labor among them. In verse 28, he then charges the Ephesian elders with their task in relationship to the church at Ephesus. A paraphrase of that charge is as follows:
“Pay close and constant attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers with a view to shepherding the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.”
In this text the people of God are designated as a flock of sheep. The essence of the task of elders is to fulfill the role that a shepherd fills in connection with the sheep committed to his care.
Hence, the rendering of the verb as “feed” is both inaccurate and too restrictive. Passages such as Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34 and John 10 clearly indicate that the task of a shepherd goes far beyond merely leading the sheep into green pastures in order to nourish themselves.
Furthermore, according to this text, the work of shepherding is not performed from the position of an ordinary Christian, but from the position of the authority of office. Paul clearly indicates that the Holy Spirit has constituted these elders as “overseers.”
Summary: When we put these lines of thought together, what do we have? A charge which says that the task of a pastor is that of paying close and constant attention to all the people of God under His care, with a view to fulfilling the functions of a shepherd to them in the consciousness of his appointment to this task by the gracious and sovereign activity of the Holy Spirit.
2. 1 Pet. 5:1, 2
B. Overseeing (επισκοπεω) (επισκοπος)
1. 1 Pet. 5:1, 2
Richard C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1966), p. 218.
2. The verb means to “look over” and is found in its verbal form in connection with pastoral labors only here in 1 Peter 5:2.
First, in what I regard as a classic exposition of 1 Peter, John Brown, in his preliminary remarks to his exposition of chapter 5:1-4, asserts that the whole work of the eldership can be subsumed under two major categories: namely, teaching and ruling, or instructing and superintending.
Second, in a similar way, (and perhaps John Brown was influenced by him), John Owen asserts that pastoral feeding of the flock of God involves “teaching or instruction and rule or discipline.” He then goes on to assert that under these two categories, all of the activities and duties of a shepherd to his flock are to be administered.
Third, having spent three units focusing upon the public preaching and teaching of the Man of God, our attention now will be placed upon the second major category of the God assigned tasks of new covenant shepherds.
John Owen, The Works of John Owen, vol. 16, (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), p. 48.
I. In its Essence
The importance of this starting point
1. To impart a positive, exegetically based standard to which you may aspire or by which to evaluate your present labors as a pastor.
2. To challenge and expose any false notions concerning this task which you may have imbibed along the way.
3. To equip you with a working acquaintance of those pivotal texts and concepts which you ought in turn to convey to the congregation you serve.
In addressing the “Essence of the Task” we will first of all examine the major verbs and nouns by which the task is set before us in the New Testament
A. Shepherding/shepherd (ποιμαινω) (ποιμην)
1. Acts 20:28
In verses 18-27, Paul reviews for the Ephesian elders the nature and substance of his years of labor among them. In verse 28, he then charges the Ephesian elders with their task in relationship to the church at Ephesus. A paraphrase of that charge is as follows:
“Pay close and constant attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers with a view to shepherding the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.”
In this text the people of God are designated as a flock of sheep. The essence of the task of elders is to fulfill the role that a shepherd fills in connection with the sheep committed to his care.
Hence, the rendering of the verb as “feed” is both inaccurate and too restrictive. Passages such as Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34 and John 10 clearly indicate that the task of a shepherd goes far beyond merely leading the sheep into green pastures in order to nourish themselves.
Furthermore, according to this text, the work of shepherding is not performed from the position of an ordinary Christian, but from the position of the authority of office. Paul clearly indicates that the Holy Spirit has constituted these elders as “overseers.”
Summary: When we put these lines of thought together, what do we have? A charge which says that the task of a pastor is that of paying close and constant attention to all the people of God under His care, with a view to fulfilling the functions of a shepherd to them in the consciousness of his appointment to this task by the gracious and sovereign activity of the Holy Spirit.
2. 1 Pet. 5:1, 2
B. Overseeing (επισκοπεω) (επισκοπος)
1. 1 Pet. 5:1, 2
Richard C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1966), p. 218.
2. The verb means to “look over” and is found in its verbal form in connection with pastoral labors only here in 1 Peter 5:2.
In God we trust