Table of Contents
Volume 41, Number 4
July - August 2010

The Pastor-Teacher Myth
Samuel Fisk

The “PASTOR-TEACHER” Myth

By the late Samuel Fisk, Missionary/Bible Teacher

Does the New Testament teach that the minister of a church is to be a pastor-teacher in distinction from other divinely appointed ministries, such as evangelist?

It has become popular in some quarters to quote Ephesians 4:11 as justifying that conclusion. We have heard young men repeatedly state that this work of pastor-teacher is what they would like to prepare for. The term “pastor-teacher” has become a cliché among them.

Ephesians 4:11 reads: “And he gave some apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” The last two designations are said to refer to one function and we are given the understanding that the verse could end with the rendering “pastor-teacher.”

True, that is one possibility in interpreting the text, but only one! And even that one possibility has been pressed beyond sound exegesis. It is not a compound term. It does not refer to one fused function, but rather to the possibility of one person fulfilling two distinct ministries.

A theology student who had been glibly speaking of “pastor-teacher” was taken much by surprise when told that in the Greek there was an “and” (kai) between the two terms – that it was “pastors and teachers.” He had never bothered to look it up.

This double ministry is just one way of looking at it, as stated, for other passages in the New Testament present other ways of viewing these functions; that is, either as separate ministries or ministries in other combinations. For example, while in Ephesians 4:11 apostle and teacher seem widely separated, in I Timothy 2:7 and II Timothy 1:11 Paul says that he was a preacher, an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. Yet he does not say that he was a pastor.

In II Timothy 4:5, Timothy is told to do the work of an evangelist; yet in I Timothy 6:2 he is told to teach and teaching here is not coupled with pastor. All of this simply shows that various aspects of serving the Lord are presented in different ways, that there are various combinations of ministries, or single ministries (I Corinthians 12), and that no one statement should be seized upon as the one and exclusive designation.

These observations are borne out by prominent scholars who have spoken on the subject. A.T. Robertson, commenting on Ephesians 4:11, says: “Here Paul groups ‘shepherds and teachers’ together. All these gifts can be found in one man, though not always. Some have only one” (Word Pictures in the New Testament, Volume IV, page 537, emphasis added).

Fausset, in the Jamieson, Fausset & Brown commentary, says on this Ephesian text: “... ‘pastors and teachers’ are the ordinary stated ministers of a particular flock, including, probably, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Evangelists were itinerant preachers like our missionaries ... The evangelist founded the church; the teacher built it up in the faith already received. The ‘pastor’ had the outward rule and guidance of the church” (New Testament, page 350).

However, Ellicott’s English commentary suggests that the work of evangelist may be fused with the later functions named: “It is clear that the same person may be invested with the two offices, as Timothy, when in pastoral charge at Ephesus, is bidden ‘to do the work of an evangelist’; and that in some degree the two offices must always be united, for the evangelist, like the apostle, is generally called upon to organize and ‘confirm the churches’ (Acts 14:22, 23; 15:41), and the pastor must always find men unconverted, to whom he must be an evangelist. But the two elements of duty will co-exist in different proportions in different persons.”

Turning to a scholarly and highly regarded treatment of the subject of Christian ministries, The Pastoral Teaching of St. Paul by W. E. Chadwick, we do not find that the Ephesian passage is regarded as pivotal. Paul’s leading teaching in the area is set forth and analyzed (with less emphasis on the pastoral epistles). Numerous passages are given detailed treatment, but a careful check fails to show Ephesians four as being regarded as crucial. The one place where this text is spelled out we find the presentation ending with “pastors, and teachers” (page 136).

Note the and, as well as the comma, separating the two. Also note that the terms are in the plural (as in the original) and not in the singular, as so often heard.

Another treatment of the subject, this by a famous church historian, is Neander’s Planting and Training of the Christian Church by the Apostles. Commenting on Ephesians 4:11, Neander says: “The ‘pastors’ and ‘teachers’ are, it is true, placed together, in so far as they are both distinguished from those who presided over a more general sphere of labor, but only in that respect. Now the term pastors denotes exactly the office of rulers of the church, the presbyters of bishops; it is not at all clear, therefore, that we should class the teachers with them ... Thus originally the office of overseer of the church probably had nothing in common with the work of instruction” (pages 152, 153).

A noted missionary leader, Alexander R. Hay, goes even further. In his careful analysis in The New Testament Order for Church and Missionary, he says: “Some have thought that ‘pastors and teachers’ has reference to a double ministry exercised by one person, not two ministries exercised by different persons. But this is incorrect. The two ministries are definitely separated in the lists of gifts given in Romans 12:3-8 and I Corinthians 12:8-10. There was a separate order of teachers. The elder was to be ‘apt to teach’ (I Timothy 3:2), but not necessarily a teacher in the full meaning of that ministry. It is clearly stated that some were not teachers (I Timothy 5:17)” (page 148, emphasis added).

But it need not be insisted that these functions are always separate, only that they are not always together. Ephesians 4:11 apparently shows that sometimes they both may be found in one individual; not, however, that they must always be so combined.

What about “Granville Sharp’s Rule” and

the “Pastor-Teacher” Myth?

The treatment of Ephesians 4:11 above did not go into certain details and questions which might be raised. The writer was not overlooking the possible application of “Granville Sharp’s rule” here. That rule suggests that in the Greek when two terms in the same case are preceded by the definite article, are joined by and (kai), and the second term does not have the article before it, then the two terms have reference to one and the same thing. That construction is found in the latter part of Ephesians 4:11, which might indicate that pastors and teachers are one and the same. However, several things need to be called to attention here.

First of all, A.T. Robertson points out in The Minister and His Greek New Testament that Granville Sharp’s rule was never intended to apply to plurals. (Sharp said the same about his rule. – Editor). And in Ephesians 4:11, as we previously noted, it is “pastors and teachers,” plural.

Furthermore, in his great work, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, Dr. Robertson cites numerous exceptions to this rule, as we had already discovered for ourselves.

For example, we noted, if this is a standard rule, a glaring inconsistency is found right here in Ephesians. It has been claimed that, since pastor and teacher are combined in Ephesians 4:11, four and only four (rather than five) offices are designated, those of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher. But put it to the test. The first two separate ones would be that of apostles and that of prophets.

Now turn, however to Ephesians 2:20. The church is said to be built upon the foundation of “the apostles and prophets.” Here the Greek article precedes the first term, apostles, but not the second, prophets. The rule pressed upon the last part of 4:11 should apply equally here. Apostles and prophets in 2:20, then, would be one and the same. Yet we have never seen anyone rendering 2:20 as “apostle-prophet,” as would be the case if they consistently applied the rule in all places. But we were told in 4:11 that apostles and prophets are quite separate. Now, are they one and the same or are they not? This merely shows that no rigid rule, as we said, should be pressed upon such terms in the New Testament.

Again, in Acts 15:2 we read that Paul and his companions went up to “the apostles and elders.” Here no definite article is repeated. Applying the “Granville Sharp’s rule,” this would make them one, but we have never found anyone suggesting that it should be “apostle-elder.” Furthermore, note the confusion which would ensue. If, in Ephesians 2:20, apostles and prophets are one, and in Acts 15:2 apostles and elders are the same, this would make apostles, prophets and elders all the same.

Take some other examples which would be in the same category as the offices designated in Ephesians 4:11. A study of the terms chief priests, elders, scribes, Pharisees, etc., reveals the same lack of uniformity in construction relative to them, or that no consistent application of such a rule as Granville Sharp’s can be placed upon them. Very commonly two of these terms will be found joined by and, and each one preceded by the article. Thus they would be separate. But frequently they are coupled by and with the article before only the first. Applying the rule, this would make them identical (?).

Examples of this not repeated article are seen in Matthew 2:4, “the chief priests and scribes”; Matthew 5:20, “the scribes and Pharisees”; Matthew 27:41, “the scribes and elders”; Luke 13:3, “the lawyers and Pharisees.” Now if these, according to the rule which we are urged to follow, are in each case united, then, taking them all together, these positions would be all fused into one and the same. This would only bring things to utter confusion.

(For further exceptions to the Granville Sharp rule, see Matthew 9:22; Mark 15:l; Luke 9:22; Acts 23:7, etc. Even A.T. Robertson points out that in I Thessalonians 1:7 the article is repeated, “while in the very next verse” it is not so repeated (I Thessalonians 1:8).

In the light of all that we have said on the subject, it is not surprising to find that Bishop Ellicott, in his Critical and Grammatical Commentary on the Greek text of Ephesians, says on the last two terms to 4:11: “That the individuals who composed [this class] bore either or both names indifferently, is very doubtful … The pastors might be and perhaps always were teachers, but it does not follow that the converse was true ....”