2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God
may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (NIV 1983).” Suppose Christians
and ministers hold to the standard that God’s Word has authority in their lives. In
that case, this passage alone should be the accelerant for each Christian to be
informed and studied in Scripture, philosophy, and history.
I had a professor in college make a profound statement that forever shaped my
view on the importance of being informed and studied in the realm of Christian
ministry. My professor stated that every Christian that is in the ministry is like an
ax, and the objective (shepherding, teaching etc.) is to chop down the trees that
stand before you. Those who decide not to pursue an intimate and profound
study of Scripture and theology will be chopping down the trees using a dull ax.
Those who continue the pursuit of lifelong deep theological study will continue to
sharpen their ax and therefore be able to chop more trees down, aka: more
smoothly and effectively fulfill the ministry calling of Christianity. Therefore, it is
not that those who do not pursue to be deeply informed and studied are
disqualified but will face a tremendous feat of chopping down the forest with a
dull ax or, worse, look to lead their congregation on leadership principles rather
than the living Word of God. It is my stance that every person, especially going
into a full-time ministry role, should strive to be a lifelong learner of Scripture,
philosophy, history, etc. As Kevin Vanhoozer states in his book The Pastor as
Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision, churches are no longer placing
expectations on the theological character of the pastor but are leaning toward a
pastor that can execute management skills and strategic plans (Vanhoozer 2021,
1). Christians must strive to be rooted and grounded in the Word of God because
the intention of Christian ethics is advocacy on what God has called us to do
which is rooted in Scripture (Smith 2021). Christians are to be informed in
Scripture, philosophy, and history because we have an ethical obligation in our
community and the world to live out the Christian life (Lecture). In order to be a
Christian who is informed theologically, we must understand that our Christian
ethics leads us to the understanding that Scripture is seen a relevant to all of life
and our decisions and the final authority (Smith 2021).
In living in a postmodern world, pastors must grow in wisdom in knowledge on
how they can effectively communicate and exemplify God’s Word to this culture.
The world’s perspective on the authority of Scripture is sharply fading day by day;
pastors must be able to address the questions and allegations that there are
contradictions found in the Gospels or the allegation that there are “discrepancies
between the lists of named witnesses of the resurrection in different Gospels...
and how (we as pastors) cannot dodge the miraculous claims and the
trustworthiness of Scripture (McLaughlin 2019, 106).” g Therefore, it is vitally
important that we not separate the role of pastor and theologian. Often pastors
will negate the riches of theology by stating that they want to “shepherd” the
people. That is true that they are the first shepherd of the people of God, but all
pastors should be considered pastor theologians because they are called to
engage the word of God in society and to the church (Wilson & Hiestand 2016,
10).
References:
McLaughlin, Rebecca. Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World's
Largest Religion. Wheaton: Crossway, 2019.
The NIV. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Bible Pub., 1983.
Smith, Fred. “Dimensions of Christian Ethics.” PACO 650. Lecture, n.d.
Vanhoozer, Kevin J., and Owen Strachan. The Pastor as Public Theologian:
Reclaiming a Lost Vision. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, a division of Baker
Publishing Group, 2020.
Wilson, Todd A., and Gerald Hiestand. Becoming a Pastor Theologian: New
Possibilities for Church Leadership. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016
