Genuine Ministry-feeding the flock and fighting the wolves

Aug 13, 2020 by

By Melvin Tinker, VirtueOnline:

[…] The task of Christian theology is ‘the attempt to know God in order to give God his due (love, obedience, glory).’ Given that Christ is the ultimate revelation of that knowledge, the pastor’s task in teaching that ‘truth which leads to godliness’, is to witness to the ‘reality which is in Christ’ (which is another phrase for ‘orthodoxy’) and in so far as he does this he is a ‘minister of reality.’

Kevin J. Vanhoozer writes, ‘The gospel is a reliable indicator of reality insofar as it reveals the nature, purpose, source and destiny, of the whole created order.’ This reality is revealed in the Scriptures which provides the authoritative account of what is true in Christ, ‘If we would have the mind of Christ, we must be students of the Scriptures, able to relate the law and the prophets to the person of Jesus Christ, as Jesus himself did.’ Here is the task of biblical theology. There is also the need to co-ordinate the doctrines which arise out of a considered study of the Scriptures, including dialogue with theologians of the past (historical theology). This is the stuff of systematic or dogmatic theology. Furthermore, as well as ‘exegeting Scripture’ the pastor is to ‘exegete the world’ and bring the two together in critical engagement….

…Being a pastor is therefore no mean task! Thankfully, it is primarily Christ’s work in which we are privileged to participate so that, ‘The pastor is simply a St. Johnny-come lately to the cause.’ This of course means that the pastor himself must be regenerate and ‘in Christ’ if he is to teach faithfully, model effectively and lead sincerely the congregation, not least in public worship…

…The picture of a pastor as a general practitioner is a helpful one for providing insight into the necessity of maintaining and promoting orthodoxy and resisting and correcting heresy. The pastor has a solemn responsibility for the health of the body of Christ for which teaching sound (healthy) doctrine is crucial together with ‘prayer for all the saints.’

Read here

See also (as an example of “resisting and correcting heresy”:)

A thin gruel for the soulby Canon Phil Ashey, AAC:  a review of the book, What Do Anglicans Believe? (Anglican Consultative Council, 2020). “Throughout the 48 pages of this study, you will find …a simple but profound reversal of the way we approach the Bible, reinforcing the doctrinal drift in the Anglican Communion that has occurred over the last 50 years. Using their approach, “the context of the learner” is as authoritative as the text of God’s revealed word, the Bible.  When we begin with our own context, we begin by listening to ourselves rather than to God.”

and

The gathering storm in the church, by R Albert Mohler

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