Paul as Pastor and Church Organizer

Paul was no mere wandering preacher moving from place to place, making a few converts and then passing on. Rather he was a great religious statesman; his aim was to plant Christianity throughout the empire. To this end he moves from province to province: Syria, Cilicia, Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia, Asia. For this reason he enters upon the great cities; we can mark the steps of his work by their names: Damascus, Tarsus, Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, Rome. For this reason too we find Paul keeping his churches under most careful supervision. Paul is a great pastor and administrator. Acts shows us the preacher; the letters reveal the pastor. They give us a most lifelike picture of Paul's watchful care of his churches and of the constant thought and labor which this involved. Letters are passing back and forth; messengers are being received; one and another of Paul's helpers are sent on special missions; or Paul himself is planning to revisit the old fields. A single church like that at Corinth received at least four letters and three visits from Paul himself, besides sending letters and messengers again and again and being visited by Titus and Timothy.

There is no finer aspect to Paul's character than his pastoral spirit. Here, as so often, we must stop and marvel at the many-sidedness of the man. This great statesman founding an empire, this missionary of restless zeal, this profound thinker whose ideas have shaped the Christian thought of centuries, was at the same time the thoughtful pastor and friend, bearing upon his heart the care of all the little communities that he had established. His glowing words on love are no mere rhetoric (1 Cor 13). This love is the mainspring of his own life. The moving catalog of his hardships and sufferings he ends with these words: "Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?" (2 Cor 11:28, 29). The same spirit appears in another passage: "For though I was free from all men, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. And to the Jews I became a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are without law, as without law,... that I might gain them that are without law. I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some" (1 Cor 9:19-22). Nothing reveals this spirit better, or shows the real Paul more clearly, than the words in which he bares his heart to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 2:5-12).

Next to the spirit of love, we must admire Paul's tact and kindliness in his relation to his churches. Paul understood "the gentle art of praising." He knows how effective praise is in the training of men. All his letters begin with words of generous recognition. "I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you," he writes the Philippians, "always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy, for your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now" (Phil 1:3-5). Even with the Corinthians, despite all he has to correct, he finds ground for such appreciation: "I thank God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus; that in everything ye were enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge; so that ye come behind in no gift" (1 Cor 1:4-7). The same tact and skill is shown in the way in which he handles the matter of the collection for the poor at Jerusalem (2 Cor 8 and 9). He holds up the Macedonian churches to stir up emulation. He reminds the Corinthians that they had really been the leaders in this and praises their progress in other graces. He appeals to the example of Jesus, to their love for him, to the praise he has given them before others. But nowhere does he rebuke them for their slowness after their first start, or issue a blunt command.

To this tact and kindliness Paul adds courage and insight. He never draws back from any needed rebuke, whether the quarrelsomeness of his dear Philippian friends (Phil 4:1, 2) or the disorders and immorality of the Corinthians. And yet he is too wise to indulge in mere rebuke. Like Jesus, he penetrates to the spirit that is back of the fault and then sets up the principle of the higher life. He confronts the quarrelsome Philippians with his great appeal: "Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5-11). Before the immoral Corinthians he holds up the great spiritual principle: "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, and ye are not your own" (1 Cor 6:19, 20).

There is one other great service which Paul rendered besides this personal oversight, and that was the organization of his churches. Christianity was more than a new faith implanted in the hearts of so many men and women. It was a new fellowship, a society which bound its members together with the closest ties. And these people were joined not simply locally in scattered communities; they were one in a growing brotherhood that stretched throughout the empire, a brotherhood of such strength that it stood firm when the storms of later years swept the empire itself from its foundations. There are three questions to be asked concerning this work of Paul. How were the local Christian communities organized by him? How were these scattered communities related to each other? And what was the relation of the Pauline churches to the other Christian communities, especially the churches under the Jerusalem apostles?

What strikes us first in reading Paul's letters is that so little is said about organization or officers. No doubt this is partly due to the fact that Paul felt that the present age was to last but a short time. The more important reason, however, lay in Paul's thought of the church. The church for him was not a matter of officials and organization; it was a fellowship in the Spirit. It was the Spirit that was the life of the church and that gave it guidance.

This Spirit belonged to all Christians as such. There was no higher or lower among them, for one Spirit filled them all. This same Spirit, however, showed itself in different manner with different people, fitting them for different forms of service. "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord.... To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretations of tongues. God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues" (1 Cor 12:4-10, 28).

In this long list we have the various kinds of activities represented in the Corinthian church. The apostles stand first, men specially commissioned to preach the gospel throughout the whole church. The prophets are the inspired preachers. The teachers are those who have the task of instruction, probably explaining the Old Testament in its Christian meaning and applying Christian truths to daily conduct. The speaking with tongues has already been considered. In the midst of this list occurs the word "governments" (1 Cor 12:28). It probably refers to those who directed the temporal affairs of the little Christian community. Even in the simplest community, some one was needed to provide the place of meeting, to arrange for the care of visiting apostles or prophets or other brethren, to collect and distribute the money for the poor, and attend to similar duties. Stephanas was such a man, of whom Paul writes, "I beseech you, brethren (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have set themselves to minister unto the saints), that ye also be in subjection unto such, and to every one that helpeth in the work and laboreth" (1 Cor 16:15, 16). In Cenchreæ it was a woman, Phœbe, who performed this service (Rom 16:1, 2). In a larger community there would be several such. These are meant by the "overseers" mentioned in Phil 1:1, translated "bishops" in our version. There is little doubt that in Paul's usage of the terms these are the same as the presbyters, or elders. This work would naturally fall to people of means and liberal spirit, such as those in whose houses the little groups of disciples gathered, or to the older disciples.

If we consider all these passages, certain interesting facts stand out. (1) These officers are for Paul not so much people of authority as people who serve. It is the service, not the authority, that Paul emphasizes with Stephanas. That is, Paul's test here as with every gift is, "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal." It is the service of the church, and not authority over the church, that Paul is concerned with. He is expressing here simply the principle of Jesus: "If any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all" (Mark 9:35). (2) These offices, like all others, are gifts of the Spirit. God helps one man to prophesy, he helps another to serve the church in these practical affairs. (3) These men are not placed above others in the church. In direct contrast with the later thought of the church, these overseers, or bishops, seem to have been placed pretty well down in the list. In Corinth, at least, the church seems to have thought more of the gifts of prophecy and of tongues. Paul finds it necessary here and elsewhere to exhort the church to appreciation of the service of these men and to a proper respect for them. It was natural that the people should think more of the spiritual gifts than of these everyday affairs with which the overseers, or bishops, concerned themselves.

As the church grew the work of these men increased in importance. The supervision of the poor funds, the provision for place of meeting, for the common meals, and other church matters added to their influence. The other gifts were matters of individual endowment and would change; these men formed a permanent body. Other duties would naturally be added, such as the supervision of the worship and matters of church discipline. Meanwhile, as the church at Corinth shows, the gifts of prophecy and of tongues might easily lead to excesses and even fraud. After Paul's day conflict arose between the men who appealed to their inspiration by the Spirit and the regular officials, and the church decided for the officials.

Paul's day was still one of freedom and spontaneity. The life of the local church was democratic. The picture of the worship in the Corinthian church shows that any one might take part as he felt moved by the Spirit. More significant is the fact that when matters are to be decided Paul calls upon the church as a whole. It is to the congregation as a whole that he addresses his letters and arguments and appeals. Nowhere does he ask any officer or body of officials to take any action or pass any decision. Furthermore, Paul himself does not decide for the church. It is true, he is an apostle and these are his churches, the children whom he has begotten in toil and pain. He argues and appeals, he praises and censures, he sometimes makes demands; but he never comes forward simply with command and the assertion of authority. They are a church of God and the Spirit of God is in them. When Paul has a word of Jesus to quote, then that is final (1 Cor 7:10). He distinguishes carefully between this and his own authority (1 Cor 7:12, 25, 40). As for the authority of any central church council or other body, that is nowhere so much as suggested. Neither the church at Jerusalem nor the twelve apostles have any right of rule in Paul's churches.

What, then, was the relation between the scattered communities? Were they simply so many individual congregations? On the contrary, no man of his generation seems to have had so clear an idea of the unity of the church or laid such stress upon it as, Paul. It is the doctrine of the Spirit again which gives the answer. The churches are one in a real sense, not because of officers placed over them or a central authority which unites them, but because they have one spirit which is their "life and which unites them in the one body of Christ.

This spirit of unity Paul seeks to further in every possible manner. He knows no Christian life that is not a life in the Christian fellowship. He seeks to promote that fellowship in every possible way, and first of all within the single Christian community. His letters abound in exhortations to kindliness and patience and mutual helpfulness and service, and no man has ever so glorified the spirit of love and fraternal loyalty. He seeks to promote the same spirit among the churches, that they may all be united in one fellowship. His collection for the Jerusalem church is the great evidence of this desire. The space which this occupies in his letters shows how much pains he gave himself in this. And no opposition of the Judaizing brethren from Jerusalem ever made him swerve from this self-assumed task.

The constant travel of Christians was the most important practical means of securing this unity among the scattered brotherhoods. First among these were the twelve and the other apostles. Two of these he found in Ephesus (Rom 16:7). We know little of the work of the twelve, but it seems that others besides Peter traveled about the church (1 Cor 9:5). The prophets too went from church to church. But more important still were the travels of disciples of the rank and file. Such were Priscilla and Aquila, whose names we find connected in turn with Pontus, Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus. One of their moves was due to persecution suffered as Jews; the others were presumably for reasons of business. Such traveling and visiting kept alive the sense of brotherhood and of a vital unity. The Christians knew what was happening to their brethren all through the empire. Paul tells the Thessalonians that their faith is known not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place. He informs the Corinthians that the Macedonians know of their first collections for Jerusalem. To the Romans he writes that their "faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world" (Rom I. 8). By such mutual acquaintance and interest the bond of brotherhood became very definite and very strong. Nothing added more to the power and attractiveness of the new religion than this spirit of fraternity, both in the local church and throughout the empire. The new disciple found himself at once received into a community that was more of a family than a mere organization. On the first day of the week they met for worship in which each might have a part. During the week they sat down at common meals. When one disciple was in need, the love, the sympathy, and the material help of the whole brotherhood were behind him. And he soon realized that the little fellowship of his own city was part of a greater fellowship that embraced the Roman realm. Rome itself began at last to take notice, not so much of Christianity's creed, as of the power of this great fraternity.

Directions for Reading and Study

Note Paul's qualities as a pastor as revealed in 1 Thess 2:5-12.

Select two good illustrations of Paul's praise of his churches. In what letter does Paul omit this praise from the introduction?

Read 2 Cor 8 and 9 and make a list of the different motives to which Paul here appeals.

Read 1 Cor 12:4-10, 28; Eph 4:11, 12; Phil 1:1; Acts 14:23.

Make a list of the gifts, or offices, mentioned in these passages.

Which of these are represented in the accounts of the Jerusalem church?

What significance, if any, is there in the fact that no two of these lists agree? Does it suggest the absence of fixed forms of church life and organization?