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).” i 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
