Ministers, Ministry, Ministring Your ideas

[In His Service]

I wonder if it might be beneficial for us to give our ideas on what the Word of God speaks as to the meaning of Ministers, ministry, and ministrying.

If you would like give your definition of each of the three Words and whre you find your thoughts in the Word of God for each.

Thanks
Bro. Timothy

[John Atkinson]

Mat 20:25-26
(25) But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
(26) But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;


Oddly the word in the greek used here is doulos which means simply: Servant. So in one sense we are servants one to another.

1Ti 4:6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

Here the word used for minister is diakonos which means "a servant, attendant, minister, deacon,"

Rom 15:16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

Here Paul uses the word leitourgos which means "one who discharges a public office at his own expense, a public servant, minister."

Act 26:15-16
(15) And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
(16) But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;


Here the word used is huperetes which is actually a nautical term meaning "under rower" which came to denote "any subordinate acting under another's direction;"

No New Testament definition translates "minister" as preacher. A minister may preach, but that isn't what defines a minister. There are preachers who have never ministered, and there are ministers who have never preached.

[Sandy]

Amen and amen Bro. Atkinson,

I heard a prophetic Word spoken over a brother in Christ I have known for many years personally. And this brother even unto this day has never officially pastored any given Church, yet the prophecy stated he had pastored many. That was when I realized that we are really very narrow minded so often. Because my vry first thought after hearing that Word was Lord, "he has never pastored". But the Lord revealed to me then, I was wrong. Because he has ministered to many, as well as being a teacher of many. Which was the beginning of my realizing how narrow minded I really was then, and probaly still am today if the truth be known, because of silly traditional beliefs that are not quite right.

[ThirdGeneration]

Bro. John- I love it... Using the Word of God to define the terms. Very interesting about the underlying Greek usage in Acts. Thanks for digging into that. I had never noticed that before.

For with thee is the fountain of life; in light shall we see light (Psalms 36:9).

Sandy- So true. So very true....

[John Atkinson]

Yes, Sis Third, that usage is very interesting, considering that Saul was on his way to Damascus bearing letters of authority.

That usage is almost as though Jesus is telling him "your big shot days are over." An "under-rower" strikes me as being the lowest ranked slave on the ship.

[ThirdGeneration]

Interesting, indeed!

[Bro.Steingass]

We think carnally as a minister as being "over" all, however the truth is that a minister of any kind truly needs to be under more submission than the laity. The minister cannot "do his own thing" as the laity does, because he is responsible for more than his own salvation.

Again, the enemy can creep in from behind the pulpit just as easy as he can from under the pew. Thank God that Jesus waits between the two, at the altar, sword and shield in hand.

[Thelordisone]

Amen Bro. Steingass!!

[In His Service]

Thanks for the thoughts, keep them coming!!!
Bro. Timothy

[John Atkinson]

Actually Bro Dale, we run into the same sort of situation with the word preach as we do with the word minister. There are several different meanings.

In Pauls case he was engaging in dialog with people who were Jews, not yet in the church. In the Acts 20:9 case where Eutychus fell out of the window it also indicates dialog. In home group setting dialog works fine, in a church with 300 people in attendance? Probably not.

Other words for preach are:

Galatians 1:8
(8) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

euangelizo With reference to the Gospel the phrase "to bring, or declare, good, or glad, tidings".

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

kerusso signifies (a) "to be a herald," or, in general, "to proclaim,"

Acts 9:27
(27) But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

parrhesiazomai - "to be bold in speech," "To speak boldly"

I think what we call preaching today falls into the category of exhortation, reproof and rebuke, as well as euangelizo when the theme is outreach.

I also do not believe it is far off the mark from the original church.

Acts 20:9
(9) And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

the word dialegomai was used here to indicate that Paul was engaged in dialog.

I am actually being studious with this thread, crossreferencing between KJV-Strongs and Greek-Interlinear and the Greek New Testament using Vines and Thayers.

Thank God for Esword. :D

[Xerf]

I would add a very serious and indepth remark right here but no one would take it serious.


:rolleyes:

[tufluv]

I would! :D

[ThirdGeneration]

Oh Bro. John- I am glad someone else is doing the leg work! Keep it up....:D