----- Original Message
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From: Stan
To: craig@bibleanswerstand.org
Subject: Pastor
Accountability
Craig,
Just stumbled across our
web site, We have a pastor who has just started a pattern of every four or five
weeks saying in front of the whole church he is accountable to God only, need
some advise on this one.
Thanks and God Bless,
Stan
Hi Stan,
Thanks for writing
brother. What your pastor says is not
true if he is claiming to be an elder in the church. Furthermore, it is not biblical to have a lone pastor, and the word
pastor itself is not even found in the Scripture, with one exception, a
mistranslation of the Greek word poimen (shepherd) in Ephesians 4:11. Of the roughly 16-18 times that poimen is
used in the Greek New Testament, every place but the verse I mentioned is
rendered “shepherd.”
The New Testament model
of shepherds is a plurality of elders; elder(s) is translated from the Greek
‘presbutérous.’ This word presbutérous
simply means an ‘older’ person, but has applications to younger men, such as
Timothy, in that the spiritual maturity is evident to all. In the New Testament, the ‘elders’ (plural)
are warned and admonished by the apostle Paul in Acts 20:17-31 to look out for
‘each other’ because there would be some of them that would secretly try to
draw away disciples as ‘wolves.’ Below
is an excerpt from Paul’s speech TO the elders at Miletus:
Acts 20:28-31 “Be on guard
for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He
purchased with His own blood. 29 I know
that after my departure savage wolves will come
in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the
disciples after them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that
night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one
with tears.” New American Standard
Bible
There are many such
Bible references, and I have a series of studies that are devoted to this very
topic. Below are the links, which I
strongly advise you to read, print them out, and get yourself grounded in this
area of Scripture. If I were you, I’d
make tracks out of that place, unless you’re certain that God has a purpose for
you staying.
Pastors and Elders: What is the
Biblical Role of a Pastor?
Pastors and Elders: The Ministry
of Elders
What Is The Scriptural Role Of A
Deacon?
Disfellowshipping True
Believers – Pastoral Misuse of Scripture
I hope this helps you
out brother; feel free to inquire further after you read the links.
Love in Jesus,
Craigo (my nickname)
The
Bible Answer Stand Ministry
1 Peter 3:15 Always
be ready to give reasonable justification to anyone who asks you for an
explanation of the hope that is within you,
but do it considerately and courteously.
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