Shepherds, Pastors, and Teachers

Dr. Couch, are the shepherds (pastors) the same as the teachers in Ephesians 4:11? ANSWER:  Yes, indeed. The charismatics are dead wrong by trying to make these two separate gifts, or gifted men given to the church. Paul writes:  "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as PASTORS (Shepherds) EVEN TEACHERS."    The reason there is confusion and mistranslation is that pastors today are so ignorant, and few today can work the grammar of the Greek text. So the church is becoming more and more ignorant about what the Bible is truly teaching!    The grammar is saying "pastors EVEN, INDEED, THAT IS, TEACHERS!" So then, how does a pastor pastor? By teaching! Most pastors are foolish and do not study nor do they teach from the pulpit. They emote, devote, promote, and do not exegete the Word of God line by line. They haven't been trained that way; they don't think that way; nor do they know that this is what they are supposed to do from the pulpit.    One of the greatest grammarians concurs with me grammatically—Dr. Kenneth Wuest. He says almost line by line what I have been saying, though I only learned recently that grammatically this is what he has always taught!    He says in his Greek commentary on Ephesians:    "Paul only mentions four individuals (not five) in verse 11. The student of the English Bible could never know that the words, 'pastors' and 'teachers,' are in a construction in the Greek text called Granville Sharp's rule which is stated as follows: 'When two nouns are in the same case, connected by the word "kai" (and), the first noun having the definite article, the second noun without the article refers to the same person or thing to which the first noun refers and is a further description of it.' Not knowing this rule, the pastor would fail to see that Paul was only referring to one individual when he spoke of pastors and teachers. Thus, he would miss the important truth that God's ideal pastor is a teaching pastor, one who specializes in expository sermons, one whose ministry is a teaching ministry."    Wuest and I have been yelling in the dark. Few are getting it or listening to what Paul is saying here. This is why most pastors are ending up being cheer leaders, CEOs, psychologists, advertising agents, etc., giving puny sermonettes for weak-minded and simple christianettes!    Satan just loves it! Because the full explanation of the Word of God is not going forth, nor are the pastors able to explain it!      Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Oct., 09)

Did Paul Know When The Canon Was Going To Be Closed?

Dr. Couch, how do you understand 1 Corinthians 13:10 which speaks of “when the perfect has come, the partial will be done away.” Some Bible teachers are saying this refers to the close of the canon of the NT, not the second coming of Christ. Did Paul know when the canon was going to be closed? What do you think? 

 

    Of course Paul did not know when the canon of Scripture would be closed, i.e., when the final book of the NT would be written. It happened to be, of course, the book of Revelation that was written by the last apostle, John, around AD 90-95. To understand what is going on in 13:10, one must look at the context of verses 8-11. Paul is discussing the issue of communicating the truth. His point is that spiritual truth is not simply communicated by one of the “communication” gifts (prophecy, tongues [languages], or knowledge), but by love. 

    These three gifts were used by the early church to convey spiritual truth that had not be recorded or written down yet. That was what these three gifts were all about. Some believer had the special gift of teaching (prophecy), or the gift of sharing truth in a mixed linguistic setting, or had an additional dose of spiritual knowledge that others did not have. When the canon was completed these gifts gradually faded away. 

    We know this especially about the gift of “languages” (tongues). In my book The Coming of the Holy Spirit, I quote Eusebius, Irenaeus, Chrysostom, and Augustine, who tells us tongues was a language and that it was with the early church but had ceased. This would fit what Paul said. 

    The apostle said (in Greek), “Prophecy will in the future be made inoperative, will be set aside.” “Tongues will in the future stop themselves.” He says of knowledge, “It will in the future stop itself.” The early church concurs this happened! These statements of Paul work perfectly with what we know in church history. 

    By the way, when Paul writes “when the perfect comes,” the word perfect is teleion and means that which is complete or whole. In is in the neuter gender and could not refer to Christ. He is masculine! I have the greater proof that Paul is referring to the cessation of the special gifts for communicating spiritual truth than others have that it is referring to the second coming. And besides, the rapture comes before the second coming. The church will be gone in the rapture. Paul has something else in mind in this passage besides the rapture! 

    You need my book "The Coming of the Holy Spirit". 

   Thanks for asking,

   Dr. Mal Couch