This 13-part series of classes has been many years in the making. About 25 years ago I began in earnest to examine the features, character and characteristics of the church as it existed in its earliest years. As I sometimes do, I kept my notes all along the way, and this series of classes is to a large extent the product of those years of on-and-off studying the subject. Several things in my experience contributed to my interest in making this 25-year study which I will mention along the way, and those go much further back.
There may be some difficulty in using the individual parts of this series separately, although viewer are free to do so if it serves their purposes. But to those whose interest is in knowing what the church was like in its earliest years, I recommend starting with Part 1 - Introduction to the Church of the New Testament and proceeding through the parts consecutively.
I have prepared some slides that I used in presenting the series in a classroom setting before adapting it to use as sermons. I have left my cues to advance slides or activate animations in the notes as posted on Sermon Central. If anyone is interested in having the PowerPoint files with the slides, I will be happy to send them. Send me an Email at sam@srmccormick.net and specify what part(s) you are requesting. Be sure that the word “slide” appears in the subject line. It may take me several days to respond, but I will respond to all requests.
THE CHURCH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
OUTLINE OF THE STUDY
I. Introduction
II. The Origin of the Church
III. What is the church?
IV. The First Christians
V. Authority in the First Century Church
VI. Problems in the New Testament Church
VII. How the Church Functioned
A. Introduction to Functions
B. Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers
C. False Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers & Various Gifts and Functions
D. More Gifts and Functions
E. Evangelists, Preachers, and Ministers, Servants and Deacons
F. Pastors, Elders, Bishops, etc.
VIII. How the Church Worshiped
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EVANGELISTS, PREACHERS AND MINISTERS/SERVANTS/DEACONS
We go now to the third of the primary texts where Paul lists functions of members in the church.
*Advance to Eph 4:11-13 slide
Eph 4:11-13 (ESV) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, (12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Having already discussed apostles, prophets, and teachers in the church of the New Testament as being listed in 1 Cor 12 and Rom 12, we now move to two functions that are not mentioned in those passages – evangelists and pastors. We will consider evangelists first and then, in the next part, pastors.
*Advance to 1st Evangelist
EVANGELISTS, PREACHERS: The Greek words most frequently associated with this function are:
kerusso, which means to herald, announce, or publish
euaggeliste, meaning bringer of good news (3)
*Advance to 2nd Evangelist
There are some other forms of the word euaggeliste:
euaggelizo, means to bring good news (52)
euaggelion, is the good news itself - the word means “gospel” (73)
Parallel texts of the Gospels of Luke and Mark reveal a synonymous relationship between euaggelizo and kerusso, which means "to herald, announce, or proclaim," the only difference being that kerusso is specifically public, and euaggelizo may be, but is not necessarily public.
*Advance to 3rd Evangelist
Eu, Latinized to Ev (because of the absence of U in the Latin alphabet), means “good.” “Angel” means messenger.
From this bit of etymology, we deduce that an evangelist is a “good messenger,” or “bringer of good message.”
The Euaggeliste, or evangelist, then, is a herald, or announcer, of the gospel.
Acts 8:2-4 tells us that following the stoning of Stephen, the church at Jerusalem was scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (except the apostles), and those who were scattered went about “preaching” the word. The word Luke used there is euaggelizo. They were (euaggelizo-ing), telling good news.
In the late 14th century the idea was prevalent that the “evangelist” was a preacher who was itinerant—a circuit riding preacher; and a “preacher” worked in a local church.
Remnants of that idea continued into my lifetime.
There is no biblical basis for the distinction.
Neither the words used nor New Testament history demands that for one to be a bearer of the gospel, he must be itinerant, though in the first century some were because of the requirements for performing the function at the time. Being heralds, or announcers of good news, their work often took them to where the news had not been heard.
Only two New Testament evangelists are so designated by name:
• Philip, one of the only two New Testament evangelists so designated in the original language, appears to have remained in Caesarea for years (Acts 8:40, 21:8), after his engagement with the Ethiopian treasurer on the Gaza road.
• Similarly, it was in connection with an extended assignment in Ephesus that Paul’s instructions to Timothy, the other person called an evangelist in the New Testament (KJV), included that he "do the work of an evangelist;" that is, a messenger of good news – the gospel (2 Timothy 4:5).
Preacher: I find no information that enables me to make a biblical distinction between a preacher and an evangelist. Indeed, the same word that is translated "evangelist" is often translated as "preach," or one of its forms.
However, evangelists are distinguishable from prophets and teachers, as they appear separately in Paul's list in Eph. 4:11.
We do not see the word “preachers” in any of the lists of functions given in Rom. 12:6-8, 2 Cor. 12:28-30, and Eph 4:11. The need for the function to produce belief in Jesus is addressed directly by Paul in Romans 10:14. He asks, "How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?"
Read Romans 10:14-18
Paul says they will not hear without a preacher (kerusso, herald of divine truth), and how will they preach if they are not sent. But he follows “Indeed they have [heard], for "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world."
Mark 15:20 shows the apostles to be kerussos, sent first by Jesus into all the world with the good news, the gospel, to make disciples of all nations. Paul wrote to the Romans that it had already happened, or was happening even as he wrote. The apostles, then were functioning as preachers, “bearers of the good news” – kerussos and euaggelistes.
*Advance to Preaching collateral
To understand the function of preaching, let us consider persons in the Bible who were called preachers.
• Peter called Noah "a preacher of righteousness." (2 Peter 2:5)
• Solomon called himself "the preacher" (Eccl. 1:1 and throughout the book).
• Jonah was directed (Jonah 3:2) "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you."
• John the Baptist "came preaching in the wilderness of Judea" (Matt. 3:1).
• Jesus said he himself came to preach the gospel (Luke 4:18).
• Jesus gave the disciples authority to cast out demons and heal all kinds of sickness, and sent them out saying, "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" (Matt. 10:7)
• Paul wrote "...I was appointed a preacher and an apostle." (1 Tim. 2:7)
• Elders who work hard at preaching (and teaching) are to be “honored” accordingly (1 Tim. 5:17).
With the possible (but by no means certain) exception of elders, each person's preaching in this list was to people who were hearing a message they had not previously received through other means. This idea is consistent with Paul's question in Romans 10:14, "how shall they hear without a preacher?"
Alexander Campbell had a very literal interpretation of these words. He pointed out in the April, 1862, issue of Millennial Harbinger that preaching is directed to the unconverted:
“There was teaching, there was singing, there was praying, there was exhortation in the Christian church, but preaching in the church or to the church is not once mentioned in the Christian scriptures! Paul once, in his first letter to the church in Corinth, said he would declare to the Corinthians that gospel which he had preached to them, which also they had received and wherein they stood. We preach, or report, or proclaim news. But who teaches news? Who exhorts news? We preach the gospel to unbelievers, to aliens, but never to Christians, or those who have received it.”
History has idiomized the expression “good news” to mean a good fact, or doctrine, whether it is news or not. But the meaning of the words evangelist and preacher conveyed in the first century environment is news in the literal sense - information the hearer was hearing for the first time. If the same person heard it a second time, it was no longer news.
Preaching was collateral with other functions, both in the Old Testament and the New.
• Solomon was king over Israel and a preacher.
• Noah was the ark builder and a preacher.
• John was the forerunner, baptizer and preacher.
• Paul was a preacher, apostle and teacher, and he worked in various other capacities, including foretelling future events.
• The twelve were apostles, teachers, healers and exorcists, and some--or more likely all of them--were preachers.
• Elders are overseers who work hard at preaching and teaching are to be "honored" accordingly.
• Philip, one of the seven chosen to minister to the Hellenistic widows (Acts 6:5), "preached Jesus" to the Ethiopian treasurer (Acts 8:35), and afterward "preached" all along the way to Caesarea (vs. 40). Years later, still in Caesarea, he was called "Philip the evangelist." (Acts 21:8)
• Timothy’s duties included preaching
Preach (kerusso) the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 2 Tim 4:2
As seen in Acts 8:35 and other examples, preaching is not necessarily a public activity performed from a pulpit (of which there were none in the early church). An instance is seen in Acts 20:7-9, where Paul was gathered with Christians on the first day of the week at Troas. Paul "preached" until midnight, and because of the lateness of the hour, Eutychus went to sleep and fell from an upper story window. This is the only place the Greek dialegomai is translated "preach," and that in the KJV only.
Dialegomai occurs thirteen times in the New Testament, and means to discuss by way of dispute or exhortation. In all other locations, it is translated “dispute,” “reason,” or (once) “speak.” Ergo, Paul was simply conducting a protracted discussion, reasoning with the Christians at Troas when they came together on the first day of the week to break bread. The KJV says “Paul preached unto them...” However, other translations say he “spoke with them.” The New Revised Version says “Paul was holding a discussion with them.” This was a group of disciples who had already received the “good news” of the gospel, and therefore it did not have to be announced to them as news.
A difference between the first century and now: To the original readers of these New Testament texts, the function was clearly understood by the meanings of their words, that is, the function of the evangelist/preacher was to announce the good news to people to whom the news was previously unheard. Today the function of a preacher/evangelist is generally thought of as a function for re-teaching Christians from infancy to full maturity, and to deliver inspiring messages in order to retain present members and attract new ones.
Certainly, before the New Testament had been written and compiled, men addressed the first century Christian assemblies with revelations, teaching, and various messages that had not been previously heard, but that activity is not the equivalent of New Testament preaching, for those assemblies mostly consisted of people who had already heard and responded to the good news of the gospel. Today, some preaching to the unconverted is occurring--especially in mission fields--but addressing Christian assemblies is not the primary setting for preaching--breaking news--in the New Testament.
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DEACONS, SERVANTS, MINISTERS:
We will consider first the meaning of the words, and then then examine how the function came to be recognized although deacons are not listed in 1 Cor 12, Rom 12, or Eph 4, our key passages in this series.
The word “deacon” is a transliteration of the Greek word diakonos, which means servant, minister, or deacon.
*Advance to diakonos, diakonia, diakoneo slide
Three words from the same root are used 89 times, appearing in 22 of the 27 books of the New Testament.
diakonos – a servant
diakonia – a service, or ministry performed
diakoneo – to serve
Few would think of the word deacon in any context other than the church, but the original Greek word had no such slant to its meaning. Neither did the word by itself suggest male gender, just as the English word "servant" does not. Deaconess, where found in English translations, is derived from the same genderless Greek word as deacon, and is rendered deaconess where the translators concluded from the context that the word referred to a woman.
*Advance to second Deacons slide.
Diakonos appears 29 times in the NT. Allowing for slight variations in modern English versions of the bible, it is:
• 19 times translated “servant”
• 7 times it is translated “minister”
• 3 times it is translated “deacon” check this
• (2 other references to “deacons” are from the word deakoneo, “to serve as deacons”)
You can easily see from this count that by a wide margin, the word deacon describes a servant – a person who serves, regardless of the formal position or the service performed.
Several uses of the word diakonos and its forms are illustrative of its meaning:
*Advance to first diakonos slide.
• At the marriage in Cana, the servants drew water and bore the wine to the chief butler (John 2:5,9).
• Jesus said the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the servant of all (Matt. 20:26, 23:11; Mark 9:35, 10:43).
• Those who follow Jesus are his servants; Jesus said “where I am, there my servant will be also.” (John 12:26).
• Christ was a servant to the circumcision (Rom. 15:8).
*Advance to second diakonos slide.
• Civil governing authorities are “God’s servant” for your good. (Rom 13:4)
• Phoebe—a sister--was a servant of the church at Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1).
• Paul, Timothy, and Silas, or Silvanus (2 Cor. 1:19) were servants of a new covenant (2 Cor. 3:6).
*Advance to third diakonos slide.
• Apollos and Paul were servants through whom you (Corinthians) believed (1 Cor 3:5).
• Epaphras was a faithful servant (Col. 1:7).
• Paul called Timothy a good servant of Christ (1 Tim 4:6).
*Advance to fourth diakonos slide.
• Satan’s “servants” were diakonos (2 Cor 11:15).
*Advance to fifth diakonos slide.
• Paul was a minister of the gospel (Eph. 3:6-7, Col. 1:23).
• Paul also called himself a minister of the church (Col. 1:25).
• Tychicus was called a faithful servant (Col 4:7), or in Eph 6:21, a faithful minister.
*Advance to sixth diakonos slide
Diakonos as deacons.
• Paul addressed his letter to the Philippian church “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons” (Phil 1:1).
• Paul described for Timothy the kind of men who were to serve as deacons (1 Tim 3:8-10).
All of these references are from the Greek root word diakonos, meaning servant, deacon, and sometimes minister (though not necessarily “minister” in the way it is usually used today).
Although the word diakonos, like the English word “servant,” is not gender-specific, these references definitely included women, not just men.
The list given above includes Phoebe, one woman of the New Testament who was a servant of the church.
It did not matter what particular service they performed that fits the use of word diakonos, and no evidence is present that they held an "office," in any other sense than performing the service itself being an “office.”
These references make it plain that in bible language, a diakonos - whether translated as deacon, servant, or minister - is one who serves, regardless of the service performed. To be a Christian is to be a diakonos - a minister, servant, or in the literal meaning of the word, a deacon.
Today there is a complicating factor in the modern usage of the word “deacon,” which is practically always used to describe some officially recognized function. The qualifications for a deacon in 1 Tim 3:8-12 describe a male, and point to a capacity recognized in a specific way.
To be appointed for that work, men were required to meet the stated qualifications.
So there is an officially recognized functionary in the church called a deacon, to which any number and kind of duties may be ascribed. However, those men appointed were not called by a different name than were other male and female Christian servants. It is the same with many words in our language; the same word can have different meanings, and when we use them we make our meaning clear by the context.
Examples:
• Foot is a part of a person’s body (or an animal’s, or a part of a structure), the lower part of a bed, or a distance of 12 inches.
• Yard is a lawn, a place to buy lumber, or a distance of 36 inches.
• Matter is substance (wood, stone, air, vapor, water), or the subject of an inquiry or discussion.
• Love can describe anything from the way we feel about food or activities we enjoy, to casual affection, the way we feel about our children and grandchildren, to the way we feel about our spouse, or the way God felt about the world (John 3:16).
We sort the meanings out quite conveniently as we speak. When we use a word that has multiple meanings, we generally know which meaning is intended (although occasionally misunderstandings occur).
Based on the foregoing, if there is a single function in the church of the New Testament that I believe has veered off-course beyond usual bounds of latitude, it is that of the evangelist/preacher, who is confusingly called the church’s “minister.”
In my experience, a preacher is generally the only functionary the church pays to work full-time (I see no problem with financially supporting evangelists/preachers to do their work). When some churches pay a second or third salary, it is often for another preacher, called a “youth minister” or “outreach minister,” with a slightly different emphasis than the “pulpit minister” - often viewed as the central functionary in the local church - or for a secretary to perform services for the preacher(s), or for the congregation at large. Part of the problem I see with this is that a single individual (or two or three) has come to be considered the designated “minister” of the local church, whereas every Christian is to be a minister (the original word is diakonos, which literally means “servant”), which is the essence of the Christian walk.
In many years of being closely involved with churches, I have only known of one compensated minister--who happened to also be an elder (a function to be addressed in the next part of this series)--whose work was principally among the elderly, poor, and distressed members. Thus, within churches with which I am acquainted, the practice has evolved to the point of compensating only preachers, and conglomerating to him (or them) the work of evangelists, prophets, teachers, preachers, and ministers. For various reasons, much shepherding of the flock also ends up being done by preachers. This is in stark contrast to the situation in the New Testament in which the work of preachers in the New Testament is directed principally to the unsaved.
I am convinced we cannot, as some suppose, fully examine the work of a New Testament evangelist or preacher by merely looking at the instructions of Paul to Timothy and Titus. Some take the instructions of Paul to these two attaches' as preachers' Magna Charta. Preaching (public or private) as defined earlier in this part was a function many members performed in the first century--conceivably every member. But, apart from preaching, Timothy and Titus received highly specialized assignments to perform in new frontiers, which not all preachers or other members received. Their assignments reflected the relatively undeveloped condition of the churches to which Paul assigned them, and the fact that the assignments were made and performed in the apostolic period when Christianity was burgeoning.
Our idea has been that each church should have a resident preacher to be successful, and that the preacher should do the things Timothy and Titus were instructed to do in fledgling churches which had much to do with setting up and organizing the functions--as well as preaching. But let us contemplate whether the age and maturity of a church has a bearing on the kind of service needed to make and keep it healthy. When a church has been in existence for twenty years or more, should it operate like the Antioch and Jerusalem churches, which sent evangelists out to new frontiers?
Or is an appropriate guiding example--for mature churches--the fledgling Ephesus church where Timothy was left, or the Crete frontier, where Titus was instructed to remain? In circumstances similar to those at Ephesus and Crete, perhaps even without direct apostolic appointment, the instructions to these men might be a reasonably good fit for a new church's need. But if Timothy or Titus decided to apply the same instructions regarding setting things in order, ordain elders, etc., in some established church such as the one at Antioch from which Paul and others were initially sent, might not their attempts discombobulate the church? When my children were infants, I washed their faces and hands as they needed it, but when they matured, that ministry was useless. If I should try to serve them in that way now, they would be amused or annoyed.
Then why should we isolate Timothy and Titus and distinguish them others who preached, and ascribe their entire set of instructions to preachers in all situations, as if all parts of their work were incidental items under the heading of “preaching?” Why not similarly assign all instructions given to the apostles to today’s preachers? The instructions to elders? Deacons? Noah? Jonah? These and others were instructed to do various things and also to preach, just as Timothy and Titus were. Someone might answer, "But Noah and the others were in different circumstances." That is exactly my point. Do the circumstances of all preachers or evangelists today sufficiently resemble those of Timothy and Titus, that they should assume, as their charter, Paul's entire instructions to those two personal envoys? Some suggest that all preachers are to exercise rule over presbyters and thus function as a check and balance system in local church government; i.e., to prevent tyranny or apostasy by unchecked elders. Let's take that proposition to the New Testament to see if it can be verified.
Consider the way a matter was handled that had caused difficulty in Antioch. Men from Judea were teaching that circumcision was essential to salvation. "The brethren" at Antioch determined that Paul and Barnabas should go "to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning the issue." (Acts 15:2) In Jerusalem, "the apostles and elders came together to look into this issue." (Acts 15:6) Note that (1) the apostles did not dispose of the matter independently of the elders, (in fact, other references show that some apostles were elders) and (2) that no Timothy-like or Titus-like person was there to exercise authority, or to check and balance the outcome?
A logical conclusion is that Timothy, and perhaps Titus, though the functions they performed included preaching, were given authority and instructions pertaining to internal matters, not because they were preachers, but because they were hand-picked apostolic aides, and the local converts at the time did not have the maturity to perform it. In the instance just mentioned involving Antioch and Jerusalem, the apostles and elders dealt with the matter. If there was someone in either Antioch or Jerusalem with responsibilities such as those Timothy and Titus had in Ephesus and Crete, his role was not evident in the matter of circumcision dealt with in coordination by the churches in Antioch and Jerusalem.
I suggest that today's established churches should more nearly resemble those at Antioch and Jerusalem, and that the Paul's instructions to Timothy and Titus must be viewed in consideration of the fields into which he sent them, and the authority given them by Paul to work in those fields. This is not to say that there were no preachers within established churches–simply that the instructions to Paul’s aides “on the frontier” did not pertain to every preacher in every church, then or now.
At another time, Titus also operated in a special capacity to the churches in Macedonia and at Corinth (2 Cor 8:1-6, 16-23). His function at Corinth was to complete what he had begun in Macedonia; i.e., that they in Corinth would abound in the "support of the saints" (vs. 4). While performing this work, Titus likely preached as well. There were brethren who assisted Titus in this assignment. One is mentioned in vs. 18-19 as having been "appointed by the churches." Another, Paul says, "we have sent with them," (vs. 22). Notice carefully verse 23, in which Paul says of Titus, "He is my partner and fellow-worker among you," whereas he says of the brethren, "they are messengers of the churches." That distinction shows that Paul saw Titus, as his partner, in a capacity distinctly different from that of "the others," who were the churches' appointees. This reinforces my view that Titus was in a particular relationship with Paul which every preacher in every church does not have.
Most of the New Testament was written during a time when the apostles' colossal task was to tell the world the good news of Jesus. As indicated earlier, I doubt that the task today is identical to that in the first few decades of the church’s existence because the global environment is different. It may be that the task is altered somewhat by the condition that most people around us--at least in the United States--have heard of Jesus and--to some degree--comprehend the tenets of Christianity, though not all have been fully introduced to the relevancy and blessings of the gospel message.
There is a function in today’s church approximating that of New Testament preachers. It is telling the story of Jesus' saving work of redemption to receptive hearers who have not previously been able or willing to comprehend its meaning, hoping that it will strike a spark that will ignite a response, and ultimately lead to the salvation of those who are receptive to the message. This function is not to be wasted on any who obdurately ignore or reject the gospel. But sometimes hearts that once were stony ground become fertile, allowing the gospel to sink in.
