Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MINISTER, MINISTRY

The concept of serving, both secular and sacred. In the OT Heb. šāraṯ refers especially to cultic ministry, applying to priests of the Lord who minister at the altar (Joel 1:9, 13), whether of Aaron (Exod. 28:35) or Zadok (Ezek. 40:46), or to Levites (Num. 3:6). The term also has wider application for attending or serving someone (e.g., Exod. 24:13; 1 Kgs. 1:4, 15; 10:5; Ps. 103:21). In the age to come, all Israelites would be priests and ministers (Isa. 61:6) and even foreigners would minister to the Lord (56:6). The root ʿāḇaḏ, “work (for someone), serve,” often carries a more menial sense (e.g., Gen. 29:15). It is used for serving or worshipping God (Exod. 3:12; Ps. 22:30[MT 31]) or idols (Deut. 4:19); cf. ʿeḇeḏ, “servant,” for God’s redeemed people (e.g., Neh. 1:10) and “the servant of the Lord” (e.g., Isa. 42:1-7; 49:1-9) and ʿăḇōḏâ, “service” at tabernacle and temple (= “worship”).

This range of meanings carries over into the NT primarily through terms related to Gk. diakonía, “service” or “ministry.” Other words include douleúō, doúlos, “(be a) slave” (e.g., Rom. 1:1; NRSV “servant”); latreúō, latreía, “(officiate in) worship” (e.g., Heb. 13:10); and leitourgía, “priestly service” (e.g., Heb. 8:6; Rom. 15:16). Other words specify types of leaders in public ministry: e.g., hypērétēs for a synagogue attendant (Luke 4:20), Christian “ministers,” or “servants of the word” (1:2); or país (e.g., Acts 3:13; 4:25) for Jesus as God’s servant or child.

The ministry of Jesus set the pattern for development of post-Resurrection ministries in the churches. Jesus’ work as teacher, prophet, and healer was taken up, under the Spirit, by itinerant teachers, prophets, and exorcists. He had sent out 12 chosen followers to preach and cure the sick (Mark 6:7 par.). These “sent-forth ones” (apóstoloi) became “apostles” (Acts 1:21-22), a larger group than “the Twelve” (1 Cor. 15:5, 7). Peter had a particular commission (Mark 16:7 par.; cf. Matt. 16:18-19). Paul experienced call and commission as apostle to the Gentiles (Gal. 1:15-16). There were also “congregational apóstoloi” such as Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25) and likely women apostles (Rom. 16:6). “The seven” (Acts 6) seem to be a counterpart for Greek-speaking Jewish Christians to “the Twelve,” preaching and evangelizing.

The fullest picture of developing mission and ministry comes in Paul’s churches and letters. All Christians are there regarded as possessing “spiritual” or “grace gifts” (1 Cor. 12:4-11). Occasionally he lists functions and leaders (e.g., 1 Cor. 12:28-30; Rom. 12:4-8), somewhat ad hoc and always in connection with the Church as the body of Christ and the upbuilding of the whole community in love. Leaders emerge, but the pattern varies (cf. 1 Thess. 5:12-13; Phil. 1:1). This suggests that Paul brought and imposed no set order and allowed local creations of leadership.

In some churches — but not Paul’s — “elders” (presbýteroi) provided leadership (cf. Acts 14:23; 15:2, 4, 6, 22-23; Jas. 5:14; 1 Pet. 5:1, 5). The model came in many instances from the Jewish synagogue or arose out of respect for those who were older in years or longer in the Christian faith. In the Pastoral Epistles elders or presbyters include some who “rule” (1 Tim. 5:17), within a council of elders (presbytérion; 1 Tim. 4:14). Some of these (or the “ruling elder”) served as “bishop” or “overseer” (epískopos; 1 Tim. 3:2-7; Tit. 1:7-9). Gk. diákonos begins to take on a technical sense in 1 Tim. 3:8-13, but it is not yet the “liturgical” or any other type of “deacon” found later. “Ordination,” from rabbinic practice, may be reflected in the “laying on of hands” (1 Tim. 4:14; 5:22; 2 Tim. 1:6). But “threefold ministry,” in the particular sense of one bishop, (a college of) presbyters, and a group of diákonoi under him, is attested only after the NT, initially in Ignatius of Antioch, and spreads then in the late 2nd and 3rd centuries.

Eph. 4:11-12 poses the issue of whether the four groups of leaders there mentioned equip “the saints for the work of ministry” (NRSV) or equip the saints and do the work of ministry themselves (KJV). The “priesthood” (Exod. 19:6) of all baptized believers — “priest” never appears in the NT of an individual Christian leader — occurs in 1 Pet. 2:4-10 (cf. Rev. 1:5-6; 20:6). All such people, gifted by God’s grace, “serve” (NRSV; 1 Pet. 4:10-11) and/or “minister” (KJV).

Bibliography. D. L. Bartlett, Ministry in the New Testament. OBT (Minneapolis, 1993); J. N. Collins, Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources (Oxford, 1990); J. T. Forestell, As Ministers of Christ (New York, 1991); N. Mitchell, Mission and Ministry: History and Theology in the Sacrament of Order (1982, repr. Wilmington, 1990); J. H. P. Reumann, The Ministering People of God and Their Leaders (Minneapolis, 1998); E. Schweizer, Church Order in the New Testament. SBT 32 (Naperville, 1961).

John Reumann

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MINISTER, MINISTRY

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)